Life, Trial Confession and Execution of T.H. Hooker, for the murder of Mr J. De la Rue

Execution broadside printed with an account of the life, crime, trial and execution of Thomas Hocker convicted of the murder of James De la Rue at the Old Bailey in 1845. The broadside printed by James Paul and Company includes woodcut engravings depicting the Newgate gallows and the crowd of spectators and portraits of both Hocker and De La Rue. Also included is an account of the murder in verse.

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.