Lichfield Gallows

June 1st 1810 and on the western side of London Road at its junction with Shortbutts Lane, gallows were used for the last time to hang three forgers.

John Neve, William Wightman and James Jackson were found guilty of having uttered forged bank notes, these they attempted to pass to Mr Marshall, a Lichfield draper. Led by the Sheriff of Lichfield, the cavalcade departed the Guildhall, with the three men in an open cart. Along Boar Street and St John’s Street they came to the aptly named Gallows Wharf by the canal bridge on London Road. Each was permitted to say his last piece before being ‘despatched to eternity’. Emphasising the morbid fascination surrounding executions at this time, these speeches from the condemned men were quickly committed to print and published in a broadsheet from the printing works at the corner of Bird Street and Market Street, the property of a Mr Lomax – who charged one penny for each copy.

Lichfield's Last Execution

June 1st 1810 is an inauspicious date in history. Indeed the whole year lacks any real major milestones - Napoleon was being Napoleon, Lord Byron went swimming, Chopin's mother went into labour with Frederick, Moose went extinct in the Caucasus, and in Ruthwell in Scotland the Rev Henry Duncan opened the world's first commercial savings bank.

Meanwhile in Lichfield an open cart leaves the Guildhall. From there the procession passes up Boar Street and St John's Street to Gallows Wharf with the Sheriff of Lichfield leading the procession. Here, by the canal bridge on London Road, John Never, William Wightman and James Jackson were, as the local paper termed it at the time, "allowed to say their piece before being despatched to eternity".

The men had earlier been convicted of uttering forged banknotes to a Mr Marshall, a draper in the city of Lichfield. These were the last three men to be executed in the city of Lichfield.

Of particular note is those last words spoken of. Someone, or someones, managed to make note of their last words and within days on sale courtesy of Mr Lomax's Printing Works. Based in Lichfield on the corner of Bird Street and Market Street, these words of wisdom were available for an old penny.

Note the canal was filled in years ago. However there are plans to reinstate this historic stretch of canal and work has already started as can be seen on their website.