Broadside entitled 'A Full and Particular Account of the Execution'

Commentary

Following on from the title, the report continues: ' . . . of five whiteboys, who were hanged at Newcastle, in the county of Limerick, on Monday the 7th of January, 1822. Also, their Address from the Scaffold to their deluded fellow-country-men. With an account of their funeral procession from the place of Execution to Croppies Hole, where they were buried by the Public Authorities.' The sheet was published by John Muir of Glasgow, and the story was sourced from 'The Limerick Chronicle'.

This fascinating broadside describes the executions of five 'whiteboys', who were, presumably, sentenced to death for committing various offences under the Whiteboy Act of 1765. A Whiteboy was a member of an organisation first formed in County Tipperary around 1761, for the purpose of redressing grievances. Members of this movement wore white shirts and committed agrarian sabotage during the night. Most of the text focuses on what the men said while on the scaffold and how they conducted themselves. The sheet closes by emphasising the sobering effect that the men's dead bodies had on passers-by.

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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