Particulars of the Trials and Execution of John Shaw, Wm. Henry Carr, Thomas George Hawkins, Who Were Executed at the Old Bailey this Morning'

Execution broadside printed with an account of the crimes, trial and sentencing of the prisoners John Shaw, William Henry Carr and Thomas George Hawkins who were publicly executed outside the Old Bailey on 19th May 1829. Printed by Thomas Birt the broadside includes a generic woodcut engraving of the Newgate gallows with the crowd of spectactors and notes that John Shaw was convicted of breaking and entering a house and stealing items in the parish of Hillingdon, near Uxbridge. William Henry Carr was 'convicted of uttering a forged check' and Thomas George Hawkins and John Ballard were indicted for breaking into a house and stealing items. Whilst Hawkins was executed, Ballard was sentenced to transportation and Hawkins's parents were sentenced to six months imprisonment for receiving stolen property. The broadsheet concludes with a dying confessional letter written by William Henry Carr to his Mother just before his execution.

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.