Brownhills:

The Life, Trial, Character & Behaviour of Thomas Oliver
Who was Executed at STAFFORD, on Monday the 28th of August 1797 for the shooting of Mr. JOHN WOOD

- A local tragedy from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook

This is the tragic life story of 28-year old former apprentice surgeon Thomas Oliver, once of Stourbridge and Rugby, then of Burslem.

"A diligent, regular and humane young man..."

The people of Burslem held Oliver in the highest regard - until he became fatefully attached to the daughter of Mr. John Wood.
 

Suddenly, the couple were forbidden from seeing one another, and Oliver became "melancholy," or depressed.

He set his mind upon suicide if, upon pleading with Wood, he could not get a fair hearing.

But having attempted - and failed - to "destroy himself in the presence of the family," he was presented at the summer Court of Assizes in 1797.

In fact he had shot John Wood.

Guilty

After a gruelling nine-hour hearing, Oliver was pronounced guilty, and advised to "prepare for eternity."

He was shown no mercy despite a reported history of mental illness.

The notice records that the Judge then spoke as follows:

"That you, Thomas Milward Oliver, be taken to the place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution on Monday next, there to be hanged by the neck till you are dead, and your body given to the surgeons for dissection, and may the Lord have mercy on your soul."
 

All present were shaken by the experience of the trial.

"Such a scene," writes the author, "thank God, is scarcely ever seen."

"Turned off."

After praying at the gallows on that summer Monday in 1798, it is simply reported that Oliver was "turned off."

His body was passed to surgeons and friends for dissection and burial.

Local legend suggests that Oliver still haunts the Brownhills area of Burslem today.
 

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