History Plate: Philip Matsell – Birmingham’s last public hanging

The fatal night
In the early hours of 15th July 1806, Robert Twyford, a watchman patrolling the Snow Hill area of Birmingham, approached a group of suspicious individuals. One of them shot him, and the group fled. Twyford was seriously injured, with the bullet lodging in his shoulder after passing through his lungs. While he initially survived, his health was severely impacted, and he eventually died in November 1814, aged 54, as a direct result of the lingering damage from the shooting.

The accused
Philip Matsell, then around 30 years old, a former sailor and highwayman, was accused of the shooting. He was convicted at the Old Bailey, largely based on the testimony of an accomplice who turned King’s evidence. Matsell was initially sentenced to death, but this was commuted to transportation to Australia. However, an attempted escape led to the reinstatement of his capital sentence.

Grim entertainment
The execution of Philip Matsell by hanging took place on 22nd August 1806. It was carried out at the corner of Great Charles Street and Snow Hill, very close to the site of the shooting. An estimated crowd of 40,000 people gathered to witness this grim spectacle, making it the last public execution ever to be held in Birmingham.

The case has been subject to historical re-evaluation, with some modern historians, such as Kay Hunter in 2012, suggesting that Matsell might have been framed by a former lover. Regardless of the truth of his guilt, his execution stands as a solitary and dramatic event in Birmingham’s history of capital punishment.