Philip Matsell white plaque

This white commemorative plaque records: Birmingham's Last Public Hanging Near this site, at what was then the junction of Great Charles Street, Snow Hill and Bath Street, Philip Matsell, aged 30 was hanged at 1:25pm on Friday 22nd August 1806 in front of a crowd estimatd at 40,000. He had been convicted of the murder of Robert Twyford, a "peace officer" ( a parish constable or watchman - the percursor of the later Police Officer) on that very spot and was burried in St Phillip's Churchyard. It was over 60 years later, in May 1868, that the last public execution in Britain took place near Ludgate Hill in London Recorded plaque organisation: Birmingham Civic Society.

Philip Matsell was executed for murdering a parish constable in Birmingham; his public hanging drew an estimated 40,000 spectators and is remembered as the last public execution in Birmingham.