Recent content by Mercian Liam

Hi. As pjmburns has already written, inquest records for Birmingham are held in the archives of Wolfson Centre, Birmingham Central Library. I emailed the centre to make an appointment to see the inquest records on my great-grandfather who was killed in a railway accident in 1903; and take...

Hi Pedro, thank you for your interest in my article on Philip Matsell. I don`t know where Twyford is buried, I can certainly try and find out for you. As for the book, it is very nearly finished. Unfortunately, I`ve suffered severe ill-health these last few years which has made work on it...

Just A Little More On Philip Matsell. After further digging around in the online archives of some of Britain`s newspapers, I`ve discovered a little more on the life of Philip Matsell that some people may find interesting. At a date unknown, Matsell was sentenced to transportation to Botany...

Hi Carol. What years are you looking at for attending Baskerville? I know of at least one person who went to Baskerville. She now lives in Erdington but formerly lived in Harborne. I`m not sure of the exact date she was there, but it was sometime in her teens which would be between 1974-1980. I...

I don`t have any real information on Baskerville House as such, but my mother was struck down with rheumatic fever at the beginning of the Second World War. She was sent to convalesce in Malvern but when her health improved she was sent to Baskerville. Ironically when she married she moved with...

Hi Maxine, I`ve been researching on and off for the last 18 months the executions that took place at Winson Green but have been able to discover little information on the actual gallows and condemned cell that were used there. Hopefully there may be some useful information in the files that...

Hi Ann, I have today met with Bob, (he and his family now live some 50 miles from me,) along with his wife,son and grandson and also with Doreen. Neither Bob nor Doreen have any problem with you getting in contact with them, and indeed look forward to it. As I explained before, Doreen does not...

Hi Ann, I have no doubt that Bob will be fine with my giving you his email address. As I wrote it was pure chance, Ann that I came across your original query while looking up the name `Passey,` and then to discover that Bob and I are related (sort of) was just amazing!! I will pass on your...

Hi Alberta, Thank you I will do that. Regards, Liam.

Hi Ann, I have just come across your post asking for information regarding Doreen and Patricia Gardner. Obviously your request is some years old now so I`m not sure if you have or still want the following bit of information. Doreen did indeed marry a Nickless, Maurice, and had three children...

Her Majesty`s Prison Birmingham, (to give it its official name,) but more commonly known as Winson Green, or the `Green,` was built as a replacement for the Moor Street Goal which had become wholly inadequate given the rise in crime and imprisonment of felons. The prison was built by the...

Paul, I think this is the case you are referring too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Forsyth https://www.facebook.com/CrimeandExecution/posts/239207682905609

You are quite right Paul, far more people were reprieved than were executed as the following figures for the years 1800-1899 show: Number of people sentenced to death: 33,720. Number of people hanged.................: 3,524 Number of people reprieved..............: 30,196. (Figures from the...

Thank you for your kind words, Wendy, they are very much appreciated. I have for some months now been researching the history of the executions for murder which took place in, or were in some way connected to Birmingham, and which I hope to publish in book form in the future. What I have...

A Little More on the Execution of Philip Matsell. Philip Matsell was not executed for the murder of Robert Twyford, (or Twiford,) as is generally believed because Robert Twyford was not murdered. On July 26 1806, he was shot in the chest, but he survived his wound. He died eight years later on...