Site of Edinburgh's Last Public Execution and George Bryce
WARNING, THIS POST IS VERY GRUESOME AND AT PARTS UPSETTING. Very surprisingly, we couldn't find out much about the site of the last execution in Edinburgh. It has it's own plaque, it's an important part of the city's history, and yet there wasn't a lot to know. We do know that the last man executed here was George Bryce, but again couldn't find much. The site, marked by two plates, one on the wall and another on the pavement, held the last public execution on the 21st of June 1864. The man hung? One George Bryce. His crime? Murdering Jeanie Seaton. Now this execution, while the last so naturally due to have a large audience, was actually sought after for a different reason. Jeanie Seaton's murder was so brutal and so blatant that the local community took it as a personal attack and by the time Bryce was to be hung they were baying for blood. This soon changed when it came to the act itself. It was customary for the gallows to have it's tra...
