Broadside entitled 'Trials and Sentences'

Commentary

This summary of court proceedings begins: 'Glasgow, April 12th, 1824. - This day, the Circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here by the Right Hon. the Lords Gillies and Meadowbank, when, after an appropriate prayer by the Rev. Mr. Muir, St James's, the court proceeded to examine the following cases?' It was published by William Carse of Glasgow.

The most common punishment meted on these two days of cases was transportation, but some convicts were instead sentenced to imprisonment in Glasgow Bridewell. Bridewells were prisons modelled on the 'house of correction', originally founded to house the homeless, at Bridewell Palace in London in 1550. Prisoners were put to hard labour, and were also whipped frequently, often in front of a public gallery.

Reports recounting dark and salacious deeds were popular with the public, and, like today's sensationalist tabloids, sold in large numbers. Crimes could generate sequences of sheets covering descriptive accounts, court proceedings, last words, lamentations and executions as they occurred. As competition was fierce, immediacy was paramount, and these occasions provided an opportunity for printers and patterers to maximise sales.

previous