Broadside entitled 'Dreadful Death of Eleven Soldiers Belonging to the Artillery'

Commentary

This report begins: 'Full, True and Correct Account of the Explosion of the Power Magazine, at Gibraltar, on the 27th of December last, when Eleven Soldiers belonging to the Garrison were blown up 300 feet in the air, with an account of their dreadful and horrid Death, most of them being shattered to pieces, also an account of the number of men bruised and wounded.' The date stated on the sheet is the 27th of December, and a hand-written entry inserted after the printed text identifies the year as 1830. The sheet was published by John Campbell of Edinburgh.

This broadside news account tells of a tragedy involving an explosion at an army camp in the British colony of Gibraltar, which killed 11 soldiers. Most of the story comes from a letter of explanation written by a corporal of the 42nd regiment (known as the Royal Highland Regiment or the Black Watch) to James Bryce in Lanark, father of William, who was one of the deceased soldiers. The corporal's letter is extremely graphic in its description of this dreadful accident, which occurred during gunnery practice.

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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