Spence Broughton
Spence Broughton from Sleaford in Lincolnshire was convicted of robbing the Rotherham Mail and executed at Tyburn near York on Saturday April 14, 1792.
It is recorded that the master of the Old Grammar School, Sheffield, gave all the boys a holiday and took them in procession to see Spence Broughton gibbeted on Attercliffe Common. It was a general holiday in Sheffield. The chains in which he hung and part of the gibbet were removed to a roadside pub. During excavations in 1867 the gibbet was found.
The story is told with Newspaper Extracts:
Mail Robbers 18th October, 1791 »
Further Particulars of the Examination of the Mail Robbers 20th October, 1791 »
The last dying words of Spence Broughton »
The Execution »
The Gibbet on Attercliffe Common »
Discovery of Spence Broughton's Gibbet in 1867 »
The Broughton Jug by Don Pottery »
Divided Spoil Advert »