The Dreadful Life and Confession of a Boy, Aged Twelve Years Who was Condemn'd to Die at the last Old Bailey Sessions

Broadside printed with an account of the life, crimes and trial of T King aged 12 who was originally condemned to death at the Old Bailey in 1829 but subsequently reprieved. The broadside, printed by James Catnach includes a woodcut illustration of the boy in his prison cell. The report notes that T King was bound to a gang of thieves by his parents and was finally caught burgling a house in Swallow Street that he had entered through the chimney passing stolen goods out of a cut window pane to his accomplices outside. The broadside also includes a transcript of the 'dying confession' made by the boy in which he admitted several murders and robberies. A concluding moral poem condemns the role played by the boy's parents in his misfortune.

Dying confessionals and criminal broadsides were a hugely popular form of street literature. 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 the spelling and grammar was often poor and the details not always accurate. The printers often used battered woodcuts to illustrate prison and execution scenes.