Robert Colvin Smith (died 12 May 1868) was the last person to be publicly executed in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. On 1 February 1868, Smith, a 19-year-old labourer, encountered 9-year-old Thomasina Scott at the home of Jane Crichton in

Cummertrees Cummertrees is a coastal village and civil parish of Annandale in the historical county of Dumfriesshire in Dumfries and Galloway. It lies about inland, on the Pow Water to the northwest of Powfoot, from Dumfries and from Annan. Etymolog ...

and offered to accompany her to Annan, where her mother had sent her to run an errand. Upon reaching Crofthead Wood, Smith took Scott's money,

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

d her and then strangled her to death. Two hours later, Crichton came upon Smith returning from the crime scene; fearing she could implicate him, Smith threw her to the ground and attempted to cut her throat, but she managed to escape. A group of men set out after Smith and found Scott's body several miles away. Smith fled to a boarding house in nearby

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

, but was soon found and apprehended after the proprietor reported a man staying with blood on his clothes. A bootlace presumed to have been used to strangle Scott was found in his pocket. Smith was convicted of murder, rape, robbery and attempted murder and sentenced to death by hanging. He was hanged by Thomas Askern on 12 May 1868 at Buccleuch Street Prison (which, coincidentally, had hosted the hanging of Mary Timney, the last woman publicly executed in Scotland, some five years earlier). This was the last execution in Scotland before the Capital Punishment Amendment Act abolishing public executions came into force. Smith's

death mask A death mask is a likeness (typically in wax or plaster cast) of a person's face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse. Death masks may be mementos of the dead or be used for creation of portraits. The m ...

can be viewed in Dumfries Museum to this day.

References

1868 deaths 1868 in Scotland 19th-century executions by Scotland British people executed for murder British people convicted of attempted murder People convicted of murder by Scotland People executed by public hanging Scottish murderers of children Scottish people convicted of murder {{crime-stub Scottish rapists