Death of Robert Twyford

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Robert Twyford was a watchman in Birmingham, England, who was shot in July 1806 while carrying out his duties, and died as a result in November 1814. Philip Matsell, a former sailor, was hanged for the shooting. His guilt has since been disputed.

Background

In the first decade of the 19th century, Birmingham was, thanks to the

Birmingham Town Police in the following year, watchmen were employed to patrol the streets at night.[1] Robert Twyford was one such watchman.[2]

Public executions were common at the time, and those for crimes committed in Birmingham, tried at

Warwick Assizes, usually took place at Gallows Hill, Stoneleigh.[3]

Shooting and death

On the night of 15 July 1806,

post mortem determined that the hernia operation had been successful, but that his lungs remained badly damaged by the shooting.[2]

Conviction

Philip Matsell, then aged 30,

sentenced to death, with a pardon conditional on being transported to Australia.[3] An attempted escape resulted in the reinstatement of the capital sentence.[3] The execution by hanging took place on 22 August 1806 at the corner of Great Charles Street and Snow Hill, close to the site of the shooting, witnessed by an estimated 40,000 people.[2][3] It was the first and only public execution in Birmingham.[a][2][3]

It was subsequently claimed that, at the time of the shooting, Matsell was drunk in a nearby

public house and so could not have been the gunman.[2]

Legacy

Robert Twyford is commemorated on the West Midlands Police's roll of honour,[b] displayed at its Lloyd House headquarters, in Birmingham, since 2018.[6]

A Birmingham Civic Society plaque marks the site of Matsell's execution.[2][3]

In 2012 Kay Hunter, an amateur historian, suggested that Matsell had been framed by his erstwhile lover, Kit Pedley, a "femme fatal".[3]

Notes

  1. ^ The last public hanging in England, of Michael Barrett, occurred in London in May 1868.[2]
  2. ^ West Midlands Police are the successor to Birmingham Town, later Birmingham City, Police.

References

  1. Wikidata Q66438509
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Watchman Robert Twyford". West Midlands Police Museum. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lockley, Mike (19 August 2018). "Grim story of Birmingham's only street hanging revealed". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  4. ^
    Jackson's Oxford Journal
    . No. 2777. 19 July 1806. p. 4. On Tueſday night, about twelve o'clock, Robert Twyford, a Watchman, ſtationed upon Snow Hill and its environs, being informed that ſome ſuſpicious characters were lurking about his round, made for the quarter he was directed to, and, upon queſtioning one of the villains of the object of his being out at that time, he received a piſtol ſhot in his breaſt; and the ruffian immediately decamped. The unfortunate man was directly taken to the Hoſpital, where he remains with ſome hopes of recovery. The ball, which has been extracted by Mr. G. Freer, entered at his left breaſt, paſſed through the lungs, right blade-bone, and was lodged in the fleſhy part of his ſhoulder.
  5. ^ "Roll of Honour". West Midlands Police Museum. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  6. ^ "Force's dead remembered as new roll of honour unveiled". European Union News. 1 March 2018.
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