Broadside concerning the trial and sentence of Reverend Joseph Robertson and William Pearson

Commentary

This report begins: 'A Particular Account of the Trial and Sentence of the Rev. Joseph Robertson, and W. Pearson, accused of Falshood, Fraud & Forgery, and of celebrating unlawful marriages, on Wednesday March 18, 1818.' This sheet was published by R. Lindsay of Edinburgh and cost one penny.

This content of this broadside is rather hard to follow. It seems that the Rev. Joseph Robertson was moonlighting and had started marrying people unofficially in order to make some extra cash. Hence the accusations of fraud and the forgery of marriage lines. His accomplice in this unusual crime was one William Pearson, a spirit-dealer. After their initial sentence of three months in jail, Robertson was banished from Scotland for life, and Pearson banished for 14 years.

Broadsides are single sheets of paper, printed on one side, to be read unfolded. They carried public information such as proclamations as well as ballads and news of the day. Cheaply available, they were sold on the streets by pedlars and chapmen. Broadsides offer a valuable insight into many aspects of the society they were published in, and the National Library of Scotland holds over 250,000 of them.

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