Event of 1868: The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Capital Punishment Amendment Act

Background. The Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The abolition of public executions was one of the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1864-1866. A similar measure, the Capital Punishment within Prisons Bill, had been introduced in 1867, but failed for lack of parliamentary time.

Implementation. The act received royal assent on 29 May 1868, putting an end to public executions for murder in the United Kingdom. The first execution under the new law was carried out by William Calcraft on 13 August 1868 at Maidstone Gaol. Thomas Wells was hanged for the murder of Edward Walshe, the stationmaster at Dover Priory railway station.

Transition. William Calcraft had previously carried out the last public execution in the UK, when he hanged the Fenian Michael Barrett in front of Newgate Prison on 26 May 1868 for his part in the 1867 Clerkenwell Outrage. In theory, those convicted of such offences could be executed in public up until the final abolition of capital punishment in the United Kingdom in 1998.