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
editIn the first decade of the 19th century, Birmingham was, thanks to the industrial revolution, a rapidly-expanding town in the county of Warwickshire. Prior to Birmingham's incorporation in 1838, and the establishment of 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
editOn the night of 15 July 1806,[4] Twyford was patrolling the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, when he approached a group of suspicious characters, one of whom shot him, before they fled.[3][4][2] The bullet entered his chest, passed through his lungs and lodged in his shoulder.[2] It was removed during surgery by George Freer,[4] after which there were still fears for his life.[2] Nonetheless he recovered, but was too ill to return to work, and with no welfare system in place, his family became destitute.[2] In 1814 he underwent further surgery, for a strangulated hernia, but developed a bad cough and died on 22 November that year,[2] aged 54.[5] A post mortem determined that the hernia operation had been successful, but that his lungs remained badly damaged by the shooting.[2]
Conviction
editPhilip Matsell, then aged 30,[3] a former sailor and a highwayman, was accused of the shooting, convicted at the Old Bailey on the evidence of an accomplice who turned King's evidence, and was 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
editRobert 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
edit- ^ The last public hanging in England, of Michael Barrett, occurred in London in May 1868.[2]
- ^ West Midlands Police are the successor to Birmingham Town, later Birmingham City, Police.
References
edit- ^ Thomas T. Harman (1885), Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham: A history and guide, arranged alphabetically: containing thousands of dates and references to matters of interest connected with the past and present history of the town – its public buildings, chapels, churches and clubs – its Friendly Societies and Benevolent Associations, philanthropic and philosophical institutions – its colleges and schools, parks, gardens, theatres, and places of amusement – its men of worth and noteworthy men, manufactures and trades, population, rates, statistics of progress, &c., &c., Cornish Brothers, p. 245, Wikidata Q66438509
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Watchman Robert Twyford". West Midlands Police Museum. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c "Tuesday's Post continued". 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.
- ^ "Roll of Honour". West Midlands Police Museum. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ^ "Force's dead remembered as new roll of honour unveiled". European Union News. 1 March 2018.