Episode 1 of 3

Last Public Execution

Name: Last Public Execution
Start: 1868-05-26
Location: Newgate Prison

When: 26 May 1868
Where: Newgate Prison
Part of: Event of 1868: The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Capital Punishment Amendment Act

William Calcraft carried out the last public execution in the UK on 26 May 1868 at Newgate Prison.

Michael Barrett, a Fenian, was hanged in front of Newgate Prison for his part in the 1867 Clerkenwell Outrage. This occurred shortly before the act received royal assent.

Sources

Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868 Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-20

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.