Condemned Prisoners receiving the Sacrament

This print depicts an important pre-execution ritual at Newgate prison where the condemned prisoners received their final sacrament from the ordinary (chaplain). This image is particularly interesting as the chaplain is known to be Revd Cotton and the artist who made it was himself a prisoner of Newgate. Nothing was known of the artist 'W. Thomson' apart from the name being attached to three etchings (of which this is one), a watercolour (Tate) and an oil painting (MOL). Research carried out in preparation for the Executions (working title) exhibition in 2020, however, has revealed that the artist is likely to be William Thomson (b.1800), an ornamental house painter who was arrested for burglary with his two brothers in 1824 and condemned to die. While his two brothers were reprieved and transported, William remained in Newgate prison until 1829 when he was pardoned and freed. The print therefore offers an important first-hand insight into the conditions and rituals at Newgate in the 1820s.