The Trial and Execution of Thomas Attrell Aged 20 Who Suffered this Morning at Newgate

Execution broadside printed with an account of the trial and execution of Thomas Attrell aged 20 who was capitally indicted of extorting money from Mr Pearsall of the India House. The broadsheet ends with a letter from Attrell to his lover Louisa in which the prisoner laments about his situation, says he is glad to now have found comfort in God and pleads with her to put her faith in God. The broadside, printed by Daniel Henry Carpue, has a circular floral border decoration and includes two generic woodcut engravings - one representing the crowd at Newgate before the gallows the other representing a condemned prisoner in his cell. A third woodcut engraving is intended to represent a more lifelike portrait of the convict.

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. This broadside was printed by Thomas Birt. 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.