Spence Broughton

Spence Broughton ( – 14 April 1792) was an English highwayman who was executed for robbing the Rotherham Mail and was then gibbeted at the location of the robbery.

Born in Horbling near Falkingham, Lincolnshire, Broughton married and having three children. He developed a strong gambling habit which led to the loss of his family's finances and thus his wife's divorce. As such, he turned to robbery to earn enough money for his gambling habit. Alongside John Oxley and Thomas Shaw, Broughton robbed the Rotherham, Aylesbury and Cambridge mail for their bank bills, which were cashed in by Oxley.

The group were apprehended by police in October 1791, though Shaw turned King's Evidence and Oxley escaped from prison. Broughton faced a guilty verdict alone, and on 24 March 1792 was sentenced to death by hanging followed by gibbeting. He was hung in York on 14 April.

Broughton's body was taken 50 miles to be gibbeted in the morning of 16 April on Attercliffe Common, between Sheffield and Rotherham, where he had robbed the Rotherham Mail. 40,000 visitors attended the event, after which the gibbet remained hanging for 36 years. The gibbet gained notoriety and was subject to folklore, music and poetry, though was removed in 1827 or 1828 due to trespassing concerns. In 1867, the gibbet post was allegedly rediscovered, and what may be the remains of Broughton's gibbet cage were donated to Weston Park Museum in the 1930s. Broughton Lane and the Noose and Gibbet Inn are named after Broughton's gibbet.

Biography Spence Broughton was born in Horbling near Falkingham, Lincolnshire. Little is known of Broughton's early life, though he grew to become a tall man of a comfortable, honest and hardworking family and was well-to-do. The son of a farmer, he took up farming too; also enjoying races and games of chance such as EO tables (similar to roulette).

Robberies Broughton turned to theft to bring a cash supply to his gambling habits, working with John Oxley and Thomas Shaw to rob mail coaches. Oxley was known to have been able to exchange stolen bills for cash, Shaw could give information and funding, and Broughton led the thefts themselves.

Rotherham Mail (Attercliffe Common) The robbery for which Broughton was tried took place on 29 January 1791, at Ickles, on the Rotherham edge of Attercliffe Common, located between Sheffield and Rotherham. The trio of Oxley, Shaw and Broughton worked together to rob the Rotherham Mail. Broughton and his accomplice Oxley stayed in Sheffield the night before the robbery and then walked out of the town on the Rotherham road. They initially met the mail coming towards Sheffield, though intended to rob it on its way back to Rotherham and so lay in wait for it to arrive.

Broughton and Oxley escaped towards Mansfield. They found that the only item of value was a French bill of exchange worth £123, and disposed of the rest of the contents in a brook and parted, with Oxley proceeding to London to cash the bill. leaving Broughton to stand trial alone. The fate of John Oxley became the subject of speculation, with reports that he was smuggled out of Folkestone to America.

Trial Broughton was taken to York in January 1792. At the Lent assizes there, beginning 19 March that year, Broughton's trial took place on 24 March, taking 2.5 hours. Broughton was "indicted for feloniously assaulting George Leasley on the King's highway in the county of York, putting him in fear, and taking from his person the Rotherham Mail". Shaw testified that Broughton and Oxley had come to him after robbing the Rotherham mail to ask him where they could cash the £123 bill. Next to testify was John Close, who said that he had met Broughton in London looking for Oxley, and Broughton had complained to him that Oxley had not given him his share of the proceeds from the robbery. John Townsend, the arresting officer, described the events on the day of the arrest. I At his execution he is reported to have professed his innocence, "saying that he was a murdered man; that, though he came down with the intent to rob the mail, he was six miles from the place at the time of the robbery", though he admitted receiving part of the proceeds. In 1819, the Sheffield Iris reported that after a robbery near Attercliffe, the "daring offender must have passed through the field in which is the gibbet of the notorious Spence Broughton". 36 years later, the gibbet was mostly empty, though was still attracting visitors.

Removal The gibbet was finally removed in 1827 or 1828, when Henry Sorby, who had bought the land it stood on, had it cut down because he had grown tired of trespassers on his land. The discovery once again drew large crowds of hundreds to Attercliffe Common. Songs were also written about Broughton including Spence Broughton reported by C. J. Davison Ingledew, and Spence Broughton's Lament by Joseph Mather:

By 1900, folkloric tales stated that Broughton wrote to his estranged wife the day prior to his execution, and that she sat alone in the window od the Arrow Inn, watching his body on the gibbet with "tear-dimmed eyes".