Broadside entitled 'Trials'

Commentary

This crime report begins: 'A Full, true and particular account of the Trial and Sentence of John Ramsay, who was tried a second time on the charge of rioting at Ayr; Together with the trials and sentences of the different prisoners who were tried this week.' The broadside is not dated, nor does it carry any publication details.

The charges described in this broadside all relate to a riot that occurred during an Orange Walk in Girvan, Ayrshire. Although the date is not given on the broadside, these are probably some of the lesser cases emerging from a serious riot in Girvan on 12th July 1831, in which a Special Constable was killed and several more injured. The riot was part of a series of confrontations between Orangemen and Reform Movement protestors that blighted Girvan from April until October 1831. The five men mentioned in this broadside were weavers, and as such, were probably members of the Reform Movement.

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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