The Trials and Execution of William Henry Rawlinson and John Rawlinson, for Robbing on the Thames, who were Executed this Morning before the Debtor's Door, Old Bailey

Execution broadside printed with an account of the crimes, trial and execution of William Henry Rawlinson (aged 21) and John Rawlinson (aged 19) convicted of stealing goods including nine pairs of boots, handkerchiefs and lace from vessels on the River Thames. John Rawlinson senior was also convicted of the same offence receiving a sentence of transportation for 7 years. Printed by George Pigott the broadside includes a generic woodcut engraving of the Newgate gallows and the crowd of spectators together with witness statements heard at the trial.

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 usually printed between the end of the trial and the date of the execution (usually a gap of a few weeks) they could often 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.