Execution of Edwin Cochran alias James Morrison at the Old Bailey, for Burglary, on Tuesday April 2, 1822

ID:

A2213

Production date:

1822

Location:

In Store

Execution broadside with a woodcut engraving of the gallows. Printed with an account of the crime and execution of 19 year old Edwin Cochran who was found guilty of burglary and housebreaking in 1822. The text includes a moral condemnation of the crime peppered with Biblical references.
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Execution broadside with a woodcut engraving of the gallows. Printed with an account of the crime and execution of 19 year old Edwin Cochran who was found guilty of burglary and housebreaking in 1822. The text includes a moral condemnation of the crime peppered with Biblical references.

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. This broadside was printed by J.S. Hughes and sold by Thomas at Denmark Court, Strand; Catnach and Pitts, for 1d.Spelling and grammar was often poor and the details not always accurate. Although ususally printed between the end of the trial and the date of the execution (usually a gap of a few weeks) they could 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. < Hide

Measurements

H 375 mm

Materials

paper

Last Updated

2024-03-26