The Trial and Execution of those unfortunate Criminals who suffered this Morning opposite the Debtor's Door, in the Old Bailey

Execution broadside printed with an account of the crime, trial and execution Charles Thomas White found guilty of arson, George Houghton and James Bishop found guilty of assault and Amelia Roberts aged 32 and her boyfriend Patrick Riley aged 26 found guilty of stealing from Mr Austin, of Red Lion-street, Clerkenwell, with whom Roberts lived as cook. The broadside includes a ballad about the crimes together with generic wood cut engraving of the gallows and the crowd witnessing the public execution that took place at Newgate in October 1826.
Until 1868 public hangings were a popular form of entertainment for the London crowd. Such occasions provided an opportunity for cheap printers and street vendors to 'turn a penny on the street' by selling accounts of the crimes, trial and 'dying speeches' of executed criminals as souvenirs to the baying spectactors. As soon as the trap fell the street vendors began running amongst the crowd selling the broadsides. Execution broadsides were published by a small number of printers many of whom, such as Thomas Birt, James Catnach and James Pitts were based around the Seven Dials area of London. Spelling and grammar was often poor and the details not always accurate. Although ususally printed between the end of the trial and the date of the execution (usually a gap of a few weeks) they could be quickly changed to accomodate last minute information such as reprieves and dying confessions. The printers often used battered woodcuts, and, for the gallows scene used a stock block with a pierced central section to allow the sex and required number of hanging figures to be changed as required. Female criminals were depicted by using a block for a male figure, cut square at the knee to represent a skirt.