Glimpses into the 19th Century Broadside Ballad Trade

Following the four articles posted in 2005 that considered execution ballads, two caches have subsequently been located at the Norwich Millenium library and at the Norfolk Rural Life Museum in Gressenhall that add to our knowledge of extant execution ballads and, more particularly, the approaches taken by Norfolk printers; and will be examined in this and other articles.2  The majority of the Millenium library ballads were based on local or relatively local cases; but the total discussed here excepts copy from Robert Walker of Norwich, whose output will be considered separately.  The Gressenhall cache spreads a wide geographical net and looks to have come from a newspaper.  Its details will be examined later.  One or two more execution ballads from Norfolk printers have been found in the usual Madden and Bodleian sources - from the likes of Disley - and these and pieces from the Millenium cache are compared and contrasted.  Similarly, by citing other execution balladry as discussed in the aforementioned articles from 2005 a context is offered.

It should be emphasised, as preliminary, that much of the material discussed below does not conform to the conventional single ballad form of printing but, most frequently, includes prose accounts - a clear if not a unique distinguishing mark for Norfolk issues.

The earliest printings to be encountered in the Millenium collection come from R Lane who is of special interest since, as far as can be ascertained, this was Robert Lane who was in partnership with Robert Walker who, in turn, seems to have been an important figure in Norfolk ballad-printing terms - that is as a printer of varied material and as printer of single ballads.  Principally, there are several surviving examples of texts printed jointly and these will be considered more fully in a forthcoming Walker article.3  Meanwhile, consideration of Lane here and in following articles may appear to be offered only in fits and starts.  In mitigation, Lane is proving to be a printer the details of whose life and activities are difficult to assemble.  Certainly, though, there are numbers of local election and national political pieces to be found in another interesting cache, the Colman Ballad volumes in the Norwich Millenium library, which include many from both Lane and Walker and from the two printers separately which help to reveal dates of operation for them and which allow an immediate insight into a field of printing activity still to be fully investigated, both in Norfolk and elsewhere.4

Specifically from Lane, in material connected with murder, there is The Trial and Execution of John Pycraft …5 and this piece, considering its date of 1819, in some ways prefigures a Norfolk pattern of printing of a prose account accompanied by a set of stanzas (as opposed to single ballad), although its actual form is in no way exclusive to Lane.6  The particular prose account introduces the 'unhappy Criminal', this 'miserable' man; and the 'Depravity of human nature'.  Pycraft, a gardener, appears to have led an 'uncomfortable' life with his 'quiet' and 'inoffensive' wife over the course of two years 'in consequence of a secret attachment which existed betwixt him and another woman of a bad character'.  In company with 'another man' he made up a concoction of food and arsenic with the intention of disposing of his wife but it was his child who suffered and died.  Pycraft was brought to a trial lasting six days, witnesses swore against him and 'the Jury found him GUILTY'

The awful sentence of the Law was immediately passed that he should be hung by the neck till he was dead; and his body afterwards delivered to the Surgeons for dissection.

According to the Norfolk Chronicle of August 14th 1819, Pycraft was first acquitted of the poisoning of his child but then (August 21st 1819) taken up again and convicted.  The discrepancy was explained thus:

The error in our Paper of last week, respecting this case, arose from the misconstruction of a note of our Reporter's, in the hurry of business sent out of Court to us before the verdict was returned - In case the conviction upon this indictment had failed, the prisoner would have been put upon his trial for administering poison to his wife, with intent to kill and murder here.

The Lane printing indicated that, although not previously known as a bad character, Pycraft's dislike for his wife induced 'a thirst for her blood'.  And what must his feelings have been when he saw 'the lifeless corpse of his innocent child'?  The latter question is, of course, rhetorical.

At length, Pycraft was executed on August 16th 1819:

pursuant to his sentence amidst a vast concourse of spectators who assembled on the Castle Hill at an early hour to witness the awful retribution of Justice …

DEATH!  'tis a melancholy day
    To those who have no God,
When the poor soul is forc'd away
    To meet her last abode.

In vain to heaven she lifts her eyes,
    But guilt, a heavy chain,
Still drags her downward from the skies,
    To darkness, fire, and pain.

Tempests of angry fire shall roll,
    To blast the rebel worm,
And beat upon his naked soul
    In the eternal storm.

The piece was issued from 'Bridewell Alley' (just to the north of Castle Hill and its scaffold in Norwich) which address appears to have been the earliest and constant location for Lane's activities as a printer.  Many of his election pieces as found in the Colman ballad collection in the Millenium library have the same address.7

Lane's other contributions to murder balladry as found relate to the case of John Stratford (1829 - thus positing an immediate ten-year history of printing activity for Lane that turns out to have continued after Lane's association with Walker).  In one piece, there is a 'Confession' which mixes Stratford's purported own words with independent observation, a very brief summary of Stratford's life and circumstances and an equally brief description of his execution.8

We cannot, though, pass over this account without mentioning the motive for murder.  Our four favourite reasons in murder and execution balladry have been to do with jealousy, money, drunken-ness and the influence of Satan, as discussed in previous articles.  Jealousy, between husbands and wives or sweethearts, is the predominant motive in murder and execution balladry.  We note that it figured, for example, in the cases of Drory (1851), Roberts (1872) and Butt (1874).  Similarly, in a piece on Francis Warne, we find the following lines:

Oh!  Fatal, cursed jealousy,
'Tis then that was the cause,
Of this most dreadful tragedy.

To a public house … went drinking,
The worse for liquor he returned …

Here, though, John Stratford is made, 'with tears', to declare that:

I attribute my downfall primarily to reading the AGE of REASON, and the recent work of Carlile (sic); and the secondary cause is my illicit connection with that abandoned woman Briggs.

A second piece on the same case, Trial and execution … of Stratford, offers a prose account of the circumstances in which Stratford was hanged 'for the wilful Murder of John Burgess, by Poison'.  The piece, declaring that it will consider the life and character of the man, has echoes of the Pycraft piece in certain details such as how it 'excited the most extraordinary interest in the minds of the inhabitants of this City …'.  Stratford is described as a 'wretched man' - a common epithet - although he had been industrious and careful 'until the fatal connexion between him and the infamous woman Briggs', another man's wife (rather like Pycraft).  From then on this 'unfortunate connexion', his 'infatuation', his 'criminal attachment to this disgrace to her sex' encouraged him to sacrifice the well-being of his family and to try to take away the life of 'her husband', a pauper, who already had a cancer of the throat.  To this end Stratford mixed arsenic with flour - to be eaten via 'thick milk' through a tube in the throat.  Briggs, however, could not ingest the substance whereupon the nurse, Rhoda Burgess, figuring it a shame to waste the flour and milk potage, made dumplings of it for herself and her husband, with fatal consequences for the husband.

The piece concludes by saying that Stratford 'was therefore, pursuant to his sentence, brought out for Execution, on Monday, amidst a vast concourse of spectators … ' - thus again, in phraseology, echoing the Pycraft piece already discussed.  One might well think from the detail as noted here that it sprang from trial proceedings and newspaper reports.  If so, there are some interesting omissions; one curious occurrence, at least, that might seem to have been heaven-sent (sic) for a ballad-maker.  Evidently Stratford, on the scaffold, was 'raising his head … ' when, as Calcraft, the executioner:

slipped the rope over his neck, Stratford instantly said, you have got this knot on the wrong side.  The executioner - No, never mind, stand right.  Stratford instantly stood firmly upright.

As a further point of detail and bearing on the fate of Pycraft, Stratford's body, according to the Norfolk Chronicle, was sent for dissection 'to the surgeons of the Hospital' (presumably in Norwich).

Still further, in respect of echoes between the Pycraft and Straftord cases, the accompanying stanzas in the latter instance embody the general tone of Lane's Pycraft piece although, perhaps, in a less absolute, condemnatory fashion:

Look down, O Lord, with pitying eyes,
And save the soul condemn'd to die …

My crimes are great, but don't surpass
The power and glory of thy grace …

There is a third connecting echo between one piece and another, a header block on Lane's second Stratford piece that can be compared and contrasted with those on other printings.  Here, it consists of a fairly rough woodcut with a hooded figure suspended from gallows set alongside a stone gateway and faced by a representation of a crowd which has but one or two distinguishing characteristics in headgear.  Robert Walker, as will be seen in this and other articles, seems to have adopted a similar form of header block - found again in the pieces from other Norfolk printers - containing the same idea of figure and scaffold and a hint of surroundings as in this Stratford piece but much elaborated.  In respect of the partnership between Walker and Lane it is not possible to work out who invented the form.

Yet other points are to be made.  First, a line in the prose account on the Stratford piece declares that he was the first to be executed on the particular spot.  This is puzzling.  We are talking about Castle Hill, Norwich, and the evidence of the Pycraft piece indicates that this was the location for his execution too.  It seems to be supported by listings of other executions.11  On the other hand a new gaol was built between 1824 and 1828 so the exact site of the scaffold may have been changed.

Second, both the Stratford pieces from Lane were printed from 'St George's'.  He had clearly moved premises from Bridewell Alley.  There are, in fact, two St George's in Norwich: one in Tombland, next to St Andrews and another 'over the water' on the north side of the river Wensum.  In respect of the second St George's, we have references for Robert Walker indicating that he printed out of St George's but with the addition of the designation 'Bridge Street' in the address this would seem to confirm his location as being the second one cited here.  Moreover, on copy, Lane never used 'Bridge Street' as named detail of his address so it looks as if 'his' St George's was in Tombland.12

Finally, as far as Lane's second offering on the Stratford case is concerned, his prose account - but not the verses - is found in exactly the same terms in a printing from 1829 issued by George Stewardson in Norwich (although Stewardson has 'admist' when describing the execution).  This is Stewardson's only contribution to the genre as far as has been ascertained but an indication, nevertheless, of how Norfolk printers 'shared' their material, a point taken up again below.  Stewardson, it may be added, can be found issuing material on other subjects such as local elections.  He is not a negligible printer.13

Overall, the style of issue, the relative consistency in the conventions of description and the tone of each piece from Lane (and Stewardson) allow us a chance of comparison with other examples.  The first of these to be considered is from E E Abbott, in Diss, who printed A True And Particular Account Of A Most Cruel and Bloody Murder, Committed At Diss, In Norfolk14, that has a quotation from an unusually explicit source at its head:

“And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen - unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.” 6 Judges xix.  30.

Underlining the religiose tone in the particular prose account, there is a paragraph warning whoever was responsible that they must not deceive themselves since their crimes would be found out: it is not clear that this would be achieved through an earthly or a celestial agency.

There follows an extensive prose section recounting something of the life history of one Lorina (or 'Lorena') Gooderham (currently separated from her second husband) and her murder on May 14th 1829:

… a considerable alarm was excited in the town of Diss, a parish remarkable for the strictness of its police, and the peaceable behaviour of its inhabitants …

But despite the close connection between Abbott's prose account and newspaper reports and trial proceedings, his omission of the fact that a Samuel Kerry was first accused of Lorina Gooderham's murder and then released (as this was reported in the Norwich Mercury, for instance) might well indicate a printer content to take what he wanted from various sources and not to be entirely accountable to one such; how the exigencies of printing - and, maybe a printer's whim - could have confused or bypassed other reports and, perhaps, one more indication that some ballad material was put out before the full 'facts' were known.

At any rate, there follows 'The Murdered Woman's Lamentation' beginning in, conventional ballad 'Come-all-ye' style:

Come all ye thoughtless, gay and fair, a warning take by me,
And in the paths of virtue tread, for quickly you shall you see,
That in a dreary dismal lane, my fate was soon to come,
For to be murdered by someone, was my poor wretched doom.

For to find out the worse than brute, who call'd himself a man.

'Twas over night when dress'd so neat, and walking up and down,
He did betray me from my seat, my cottage in the town;
Then to the sorrow of my friends, leave me as many more,
With stabs and cuts he gain'd his cuds, and left me in my gore.

Be careful when you meet a friend, that he don't prove to be a foe
To you, to gain his brutal end, and leave you for to rue
The unlucky hour you ever spent, with such a monster kind,
And all your friends in sorrow bent, will have upon their mind.

The piece is extended by another farewell to 'ye thoughtless gay and fair' who should think on Lorina Gooderham and pray for her - she, too, was once 'fresh and fair and gay'; and, finally, almost as addendum, it is noted that 'My husband left me in this town, bereft of all my friends' which same, we note, she has just called on; and then she prays to God that he might bless them all.

No other Abbott piece has yet been encountered although he was listed as printer in Diss in both White's and Craven's 1856 directories, these entries, together with the date of the Gooderham murder, confirming an active life as printer for at least twenty years.  No name for Lorina Gooderham's murderer has yet been uncovered.  As we know from press reports the coroner referred to 'wilful murder by some person or persons unknown' so no further development has been recorded.17

The next few cases also leave certain aspects of verification in the air.  Our first piece is from J Broadhurst (almost certainly James Broadhurst) and a location of St Benedict's is given on the piece entitled The Trial Confession And Lamentation Of Thomas A, (sic) Sturley … , concerning the shooting by Sturley of his uncle, Samuel Page.  In this case, no death occurred from the shooting but Sturley was confined to Norwich Castle to await execution.  Copy includes a prose introduction setting out some details of the occurrence and the subsequent trial and ending with the 'Learned Judge' putting on the black cap and saying that 'The sentence of the law is, that you be hanged by the neck till you be dead'.  There is an accompanying engraving of Sturley and such engraving is not at all common in Norfolk printings as will be seen in discussion here and in the case of Robert Walker.

There follow four-line stanzas, with a small picture of a prisoner in a cell, beginning:

Let all persons both young and old,
    Attend unto my cry,
'Tis from a blood-stained guilty wretch,
    That is condemned to die.

But justice did me soon o'ertake,
    And now young people see,
My sentence pass'd, I am condemned,
    To suffer on the Tree.

Oh!  may all atoning blood;
    Cleanse every sin away
Lead me to Jesus crucified,
    And rise in endless day.

In actuality we do know that Samuel Page was, indeed, a farmer in Cawston in 1845 since he appears in a directory and the 1851 census also lists him as a farmer.  Other details indicate that Thomas Aldrich Sturley was aged 39 at the time of the incident which would put it as having occurred in 1847.  This is confirmed in newspaper reports but, importantly, the fate of Sturley is not recorded.18

A second James Broadhurst piece concerns the Commital of S, (sic) Yarham For The Wilful Murder Of Mrs.  Candler A Widower at Yarmouth, an event that took place in 1844 and much exercised the mind of the printer Robert Walker as will be seen in a further article.  In fact, Broadhurst copy is a prose account drawn from a 'report' - we can only assume that this refers to a newspaper - that detailed the last movements of Mrs.  Harriett Candler, a shopkeeper, who, after going out for some porter, evidently sat in the 'Keeping room' at the back of her shop and, so copy says, went into the shop to answer a call and was stabbed in the throat and beat about the head with a hammer (Walker's pieces refer to a set of 'pincers').  Four suspects were apprehended, but three, named Royal, Hall and Mapes, were acquitted and Yarham, at first seen as an 'accessory after the fact', was committed for trial.  That is it.  There is no follow-up from Broadhurst that might take the trial and any execution into account (at least as far as can be ascertained - and Yarham was hanged - much later) but the piece could have suffered, as it were, from the competition offered by Robert Walker who printed no less than five pieces on the case: Broadhurst may not even have thought it worth his while to pursue the fate of Yarham.  The particular case is certainly suggestive once again of the method by which printers sometimes acquired their information, like Abbott's Lorina Gooderham piece … and as was probably so in many other murder ballads.19

One should reiterate that Yarham was not hanged until 1846, another possible reason why Broadhurst offers no follow-up through a certain lack of newsworthy events.  Further still, the Broadhurst piece gives no indication of the full extent of deliberations at trial or the fact that Yarham had initially absconded.  The forthcoming Robert Walker article will give further details.  Once more, though, the often incomplete nature of ballad propositions and descriptions becomes apparent.

A third James Broadhurst piece covers The Trial Execution & Confession, Of Catherine Foster … who poisoned her husband in 1847.  The piece has a crude woodcut of the execution scene - the outline of a skirt indicates that it is definitely a woman who is being hanged … barred windows appear at the right-hand edge; and a back view of a crowd below, headgear hardly distinguished.  The piece continues with 'The Confession' (in fact, a very brief summary) just before which it is noted that 'Her examination is announced for Saturday April 17th, 1847'.20

Immediately, and in a sense through sleight of hand there follows an account of the execution scene suggesting, then, an assemblage of different materials perhaps even first printed at different times although this is also a feature of some newspaper reports.  Catherine Foster is described as a 'wretched prisoner'; a 'miserable culprit' and an 'unhappy woman'; the preparations for her execution as 'awful'.  At length she was 'launched into eternity' and the crowd, first 'horror-struck' into silence and solemnity, dispersed, suitably 'impressed with dreadful scene (sic) they had just witnessed'.  We suspect a pious hope here which is certainly not borne out by subsequent interest in public hanging until it ceased in 1868.

It is only after the reference to the crowd's experience that, in Broadhurst copy, there is a brief recounting of the details of the murder and a brief reference to the trial itself.

Finally, there is a set of stanzas:

If e'er a deed of blood was told.
    Oh list what I impart,
Twill melt I'm sure when I unfold
    The deepest hardened heart.

Some dumplings mixed with arsenic,
    To take away his life!

Oh!  what a dreadful sight to see,
    A female in her prime
Suspended to the fatal tree
    For slaying a husband kind,

Young women all a warning take,
    By her untimely fate,
And consider their latter end,
    Before it is too late.

Where the Broadhurst stanzas on Catherine Foster are concerned, what is also implicit is that in their form and content they would seem to have been meant to be taken almost as a separate item to the prose account of events and this is borne out in several other cases that mix prose and verse accounts but not, as has been pointed out, in the earlier examples from Lane … we may be seeing a sort of development of presentation leading to the fully-fledged ballad alone as found in so many examples from elsewhere.  Robert Walker may have followed this course, two 'late' ballads in his stock being unsupported by prose accounts - the only ones, it should be said.  The stanzas in this case will stand on their own.23

We can pursue the Catherine Foster story a little further through a printing of a set of stanzas from Harkness in Preston, Verses On The Execution Of Catherine Foster For Poisoning Her Husband.24  These begin as follows:

The solemn knell does most awful sound
Oh God in pity on me look down,
Forgive my sins and compassion take,
And grant me fortitude to meet my fate.

Oh what numbers approach to see
A wretched female upon the tree …

Though I married him I did not him like.
That was the reason I took his life,
That was the reason I did him kill,
Maidens never marry against your will …

It was cursed Satan led me astray,
It was Satan tempted me one day,
It was Satan prompted my guilty mind,
To slay a husband both good and kind.

Three weeks I have lain in a gloomy cell
Where my dreadful sufferings no one can tell,
To gain me pardon my friends have tried,
But oh, alas, it has been denied.

Four William Broadhurst printings concerned with murder have been found.  William Broadhurst is known through street directories to have been operating in 1839 and in 1841.  Further, the 1841 census lists a William Broadhurst living in Oak Street with his family which included a son named James - we can, as yet, offer no further comment on the latter connection.  In the 1851 census William Broadhurst is listed, aged 54, living with his wife Mary (57) and daughter Ann (25) - the names and ages of wife and daughter are the same as found in 1841 - at Upper Westwick Street, St Benedict's, Norwich, working as a printer employing one man, a certain William Gifford who may well have been a relative of the Henry Gifford whose name is attached to one murder ballad (below).  The son, James, has gone but the St Benedict's reference given above in connection with James Broadhurst, printer, may be telling … it is impossible to tie up details at present but there are other ballads printed by James Broadhurst - son or not - that obviously offer conclusive proof of his activity (hopefully, to be considered at a later stage).  William Broadhurst is not found in the 1861 census; but a solid enough presence in mid-century is established in the fore-going details.26

The first of William Broadhurst's pieces as found is A True And Correct Account Of A Most Barbarous Murder Committed In The Town Of Great Yarmouth, On Tuesday 23rd Of March, 1841 (with the word 'Murder' printed large).27  It begins with of a brief prose account of the case, the murder of Mary Ann Karrington by Charlotte Yaxley, Mary Ann being an illegitimate daughter.  There is the usual indication that Yarmouth was in 'a state of great excitement' (a 'state' as found on the James Broadhurst piece concerning John Stratford).  'It appears that the Murder was committed by Drowning in a duck-pond'.  This account takes us up to the apprehension of Charlotte Yaxley and her commitment to trial at the 'next Norwich Assizes'.  There follow a set of four-line stanzas, beginning:

Good people all pray give attention,
    Unto this woeful Tragedy,
A cruel Mother I will mention
    Who used her daughter cruely (sic).

Poor little soul she never dreaded
    Her Cruel Mother would her Drown.

While by her side as she was standing,
    Her little eyes with tears did flow,
The savage witch she then did seize her
    Into the pond her limbs she threw.

Charlotte Yaxley, according to the ballad, then went to a neighbour and confessed over a glass of gin; and was subsequently taken up and committed:

And then no doubt she'll be requited
    For the cruel deed she's done.

For murder is a dreadful crime,
    But I my doom must wait,
May God his pardoning mercy send,
    Before it is too late.

However, one should note that there were aspects of the case that Broadhurst did not take account of at all, the sort of omission already encountered.  For a start, the name of the victim given in one newspaper report was Lavinia Kerrison.  Then, Charlotte Yaxley had an alias - Middleton.  Then, she lived with the child's mother, Mary, 'before I married'.28  Not for the first or last time there are complications in Norfolk printing that tease our perception of events.  Was it simply that Broadhurst rushed his piece out without great thought?

A second William Broadhurst ballad was entitled A True And Correct Account Of A Most Barbarous And Inhuman Murder Committed In A Field In The Boundary Of Wymondham On Saturday 17th Of July 1841 and concerned Benjamin Self's murder of Rhoda Timson (aged 'about 15') as a short prose account tells us.  Rhoda Timson was, like Mary Ann Karrington, drowned although her throat had previously been cut.  Self was taken up and committed 'to take his trial 'at the next Norwich Assizes'.  It should be noted that his name is also given as John in a ballad on the same case printed by Robert Walker which piece will be discussed in a future article; and that the name 'John' is the one used in newspaper accounts and in lists of executions, thus suggesting that Broadhurst got it wrong initially.29

The four-line stanzas, given the change in detail of personnel, are very much like those in the Karrington ballad.  They begin as follows:

Good people all pray give attention,
    Unto this woeful Tragedy,
A cruel villain I will mention,
    Who used a female cruely (sic).

Most cruely this wretch did use her,
    No peace nor comfort he has now …

In Yarmouth town in Norfolk County,
    This murder it was done …

In Wymondham in Norfolk County,
    This murder it was done,
Poor little soul she never dreaded
    A cruel monster would her kill.

To Norwich Castle he was brought,
    And will be brought to trial soon,
And then no doubt he'll be requitted
    For the cruel deed he's done.

What is more, the same header block was used in each case, a head and shoulders portrait of a woman in a gown; and the same title to the stanzas given: 'Copy Of Affectionate Verses'.  If ever proof was needed that printers used and re-used material, these two ballads offer it.  Although we should not automatically assume that this always happened, at risk of using a sledgehammer to make a point, cases already described in this article indicate various ways in which Norfolk printers seem to have 'shared' and re-used their material and others to be considered below do the same.  Both ballads cited here are, too, within ballad convention in connection with murders since they include invitations to a public to listen (the Come-all-ye' style) and appeals to God; and they have a range of well-worn vocabulary.

There is one other aspect to consider.  The very same header block described above appears on printings of The Farmer's Daughter and the Gay Ploughboy and The Pirate's Bride from Talbot in Cambridge … possibly, then, evidence for yet another complex of printers as characterised by Catnach's collection of agents noted in passing in discussion above.30

All told, the way that these two ballads were conceived, their shared aspects, their patterns of broadside convention, may indicate how Broadhurst was economical if not careless in his methods of production and how he seems to have relied on an audience familiar with broadside procedure.

This is confirmed in the third and fourth William Broadhurst printings that concern the shooting of J Ayton (as Broadhurst had the name in a first piece: but see below) by George Groom in 1851.  The one piece entitled Full Particulars of the Horrid deed on Friday night July 4th, ON the Body of Mr, (sic) Heighton by G.  Groom near Wells, Norfolk ('Murder' is writ large above the actual account), is in prose and might well have been issued first; it is brief and does not venture as far in proceedings as Groom's commitment to trial.  The spelling of 'Ayton' as 'Heighton' invites suspicion of the printer's incomplete grasp of detail at this point.  Newspaper accounts give the name 'Ayton'.  Another piece, Full Account Of The Horrid Murder …, the two last words being set vertically at either side of an engraving depicting the event - the same header block, in fact, that is found on the 'first' piece, is a prose account which looks very much as if it came from newspaper reports ('we learn', for instance) that ends when Groom was taken up 'fully committed for trial at the ensuing assizes'.  The nature of the pieces together with the brevity of the Groom account on the first sheet suggest breaking news, certainly enough to furnish independent ballads but, as yet, without such issue having emerged.

Wherever William Broadhurst got his details from the murder turns out to have been committed in 1851 by Henry Groom (not George - my italics) 'on the body' - as the Broadhurst pieces have it - of John Ayton, steward to the Earl of Leicester, at Holkham; and was certainly reported in the local press.31  We should note that Robert Walker also produced a piece on this murder, to be described in the next piece in this series.  So much, though, so far, for William Broadhurst except to reiterate that he was, perhaps, a little careless in the way he worked.

We now turn to Henry Gifford of Norwich who issued a piece entitled The Trial, Sentence, Confession, And Execution Of William Thompson in 1854 for the murder of a Lorenz Beha at Tittleshall, Norfolk.  There is a header block that looks to be a representation of the front of Norwich Castle with a gallows erected between two towers or gateways.  A crowd, with backs towards the viewer, is drawn in some detail, with distinguishing headgear - an advance on our Pycraft piece above; and is practically the same representation as found in several Robert Walker pieces although here the castle itself as background is absent.  The Thompson text consists, firstly, of a prose account which appears to use verbatim trial evidence and a description of the execution of 'the wretched prisoner' who, as his time approached, was 'deeply absorbed in prayer' before he was 'launched into eternity' - be it noted that 'William Thompson made a full Confession while lying under sentence of Death'

Secondly, a 'Copy of Verses' begins thus:

Oh, how they flock from far and near
This wretched sight to see
A youth scarce twenty years of age
Suspended on a Tree …

What a dismal sight to see
Exposed on Norwich fatal tree.

Cursed Satan tempted me
Upon that fatal day
To meet my innocent victim
And barbarously him slay …

It is worth recording one aspect of the events of the day of Thompson's execution.  The Norwich Mercury contained the following comments:

… In the course of the afternoon, a man appeared in London Street; carrying a banner, on which was a painting of the criminal; and selling what purported to be an account of the culprit, &c … With this he paraded the street; as we conceive “contra bonas mores,” and certainly disgusting every decently minded person.  The police could take no cognizance (sic) of this violation of propriety, if he did not cause an obstruction …

We apprehend that all vendors of these, and similar bills, as well as of songs, could be proceeded against under the Hawkers' Licence Act, as selling goods not of their own manufacture, &c, without a licence.32

Two aspects of the Gifford piece offer intrigue.  The by now familiar header block, for instance, is worth returning to for a moment.  There is a piece without imprint, The Life, Trial And Execution Of William Flack … for the murder of Maria Steggles in Bacton, Suffolk34 that employs the very same block save that the details of the crowd are a little changed.  More pertinently, the Flack piece, quoting from trial evidence at length in a prose account, also describes the execution in very similar terms to the Beha case which might tempt one to see a straight copy, one printer from the other.  However, the language of the stanzas that follow differs: the puzzle remains - to add to a growing pile.

The stanzas on the Flack piece, straight from the prisoner's mouth, as it were, are extensive.  They begin as follows:

All you that see my awful and a warning take
    by me, (sic)                                 (ly see;
Scarcely arrived at manhood as you may plain-
Yet my young life I id y spent (sic) as you soon shall
                                                                hear,
Religion I did scoff at, and God I did not fear.

I viewed her aged features, her kind and loving
    eye;                                         (did cry;
I am come for blood or money; top her I then
    O spare my aged life she said, but I no pity had
But furiously struck her upon her aged head.

Then pray for me good people all, oh!  pray for
    my poor soul,                       (blood run cold;
Yet pray for me to Jesus Christ, a sinner great
    I am                                       (of the Lamb.
For nothing now can save my soul but the blood

There is one further aspect.  A date of execution (at Ipswich, by the way) is given as 13th August 1853 but, in fact, as noted in the Norfolk Chronicle, the execution was postponed and took place on the 17th August.  This, in the manner of other details given above, illustrates the way in which printers sometimes anticipated events - sometimes, indeed, like William Broadhurst, got it wrong in places.  The very salutary reminder of the fate of Edmund Pook is worth recalling who, in a ballad, is executed for murder when, as it turned out, he was found not guilty.35

The point about the header block, the similarity between the Gifford piece and the piece without imprint on Flack as just described is that, as noted above, they mirror the same header block in Robert Walker printings except where certain details were changed - the gallows sometimes suspends two figures, for instance; and headgear is differently delineated; a sometimes vague and sometimes clearer outline of buildings behind the towers (gateway) can be discerned in Walker printings.  Since Walker seems to have predated Gifford in terms of production this adds to a growing conviction that it was Walker who first propagated the particular header.

Further still, the same header block appeared on one of William Upcroft's printings, The Life Trial, Confession, & Execution Of Charles Daines (1839): yet another example, then, of a persistent, 'shared' Norfolk style of presentation.36  In this case, Daines poisoned his wife, Elizabeth, his daughter and a neighbour, Elizabeth Mills (arsenic again).  The piece has a verbatim account of trial proceedings (we really cannot now doubt the source of much of ballad-printers' material) and ends with the jury returning a verdict of guilty, 'The Learned Judge in a most impressive manner' passing the 'awful sentence of the law', the prisoner making a confession and an acknowledgement of the 'justice of his sentence' and then preparing himself 'for the awful change'.  The execution is described very briefly - 'mournful procession', 'wretched man' and the adjustment of the rope before Daines was 'launched into eternity'.

There follow 'Original Pathetic Verses':

Hark!  'tis a doleful sound to hear,
    Fly from that passing bell;
A guilty wretch condemn'd to die
    Lies now in yonder cell.

The hellish deeds of darkness then,
    Were quickly brought to light!
And justice sternly frown'd on him,
    Who thus the law did slight.

O may thy last repentant sigh,
    Fly to the throne of God.

We should mention copy from Walker on the same case.  The piece will be examined more fully in the forthcoming article on Walker but suffice to say here that it includes a very brief prose introduction and a set of stanzas quite different to those quoted above.  So much, it might be thought, for 'shared' experience and material.  Finally, though, there is a very similar header block.  In this the scene is Norwich Castle but the twin gateways and the hanging figure are reversed and some crowd details differ in comparison to the Upcroft printing.  This suggests that whoever invented the header, different printers had different blocks so as to alter at least portions of the printing as opposed to there being but one block in circulation, a feature to be discussed more fully, hopefully, in a future article.

There are further William Upcroft printings in the Millenium library cache.  The first concerns the murder of Hannah Manfield at Denver, near Downham in Norfolk.  Her murderers, John Smith - or Day - and George Timms, were hanged on 29th April 1837 at Norwich Castle.38  A third man, one Varnham, also accused, did not hang.  He was described in a newspaper report as having been too busy burgling to kill.  It was evidently Smith (Day) who put the knife in and he asserted that Varnham had had nothing to do with the murder.  It was, indeed, reported that 'On Thursday' before the execution a reprieve for Varnham had arrived.

The Norwich Mercurysummed up events, describing:

John Smith, alias Day, aged 26, George Timms, aged 33, and John Varnham, aged 24, charged with having on the night of the 2nd, or the morning of the 3rd of January, broken and entered the house of Hannah Manfield alias Saddler, and stolen there from a quantity of plate, monies, and other articles, and murdered the said Hannah Manfield alias Saddler.

Five pounds of beefsteak were cooking for them at eleven o'clock in the morning, and one of them was playing a match at “puff and dart” …

Thousands - tens of thousands - and amongst them an extraordinary proportion of females - viewed [the] miserable and disgraceful end …

Finally, the Norwich Mercury added that:

John Varnham whose real name is William Maskell, was brought up at Pitcham, near Brighton.  His Father appears to be a respectable poor man, a shepherd to Mr.  Tanner, and to have taken pains to bring up his children properly.39

Another William Upcroft piece concerns the actions of one James Flood, who murdered Jane Field in Norwich in 1851.40  Again, as in the Manfield piece just described, there is a sensationally styled woodcut showing a man with a bleeding woman at his feet; and again a prose account.  Since this latter, first off, indicates that 'William Skelt, watchman, deposed that he was on duty … ' and observed events, it must confirm detail taken from proceedings (my italics), thus underlining the probability that Norfolk printers often but, as we have seen, not always, drew substantially on such reports for material.  The account goes on to describe how Jane Smith and James Flood lived together, often quarrelling (one recalls the life and death of Susan Owen in Banbury as mentioned in the articles from 2005 cited above) before Flood, 'very tipsy', dragged Jane Smith into the street, she meanwhile crying 'Murder'.  Flood was then apprehended by the watchman and Jane Smith died of her wounds at 'about ten minutes past seven on Thursday night'.

There follow some twelve stanzas, with a length of line allowing some elaborate sentence-making, beginning:

Alas!  alas!  What woeful tale to you we now relate,
Of a poor unhappy young girl that last week met her fate …

The man came home that fatal night but found her not at home,
And swore that he would murder her whenever she did come;
And in a raging passion as he went out of the door,
With murder in his furious looks, he stamped on the floor.

As for the murderer, with typical rhetoric the piece asks 'what must be his feelings now in his lonely cell'.  For 'The anguish of his troubled mind no mortal tongue can tell'.  Finally, in a general appeal: 'never give way to passion, 'tis sure to lead to guilt'.

It is a fulsome piece in its way, evasive and titillating by turns, with several elements from known balladry but, as in other Norfolk material, with just that touch of individuality that marks out a printer's notions of presentation.  Thus, despite the inclusion of a typical broadside warning, there is no 'fatal tree' image.

It has not yet been possible to 'complete' this particular story since although a verdict of 'Wilful Murder' was brought in against Flood there does not seem to be a record of his hanging.  The date given, April 22nd 1851, in our one available record is the date of the murder.41

To underline Upcroft's particular styles - that is, considering the variety of Upcroft ballads so far considered - we can turn to his piece on Hubbard Lingley, hanged in 1867 for the murder of his uncle.42  Here there is cleanly-worked header showing a man in a cell with his head in his hands and a striking light issuing down across him from a window left … Two elaborate decorations are set to each side with the significant words of the title, 'Lamentation' (above) and 'Hubbard Lingley' (up and down the page) alongside.  Unlike most other Norfolk pieces, this one consists of stanzas only and one may perhaps see this as a development (as mooted earlier in this article) even if the religiose tone of other ballads already noticed here emerges immediately:

Sinner attend and hear the prayer
    Of one condemned to die;
The sorrow of a guilty wretch,
    Who loud for mercy cry …

Oh!  may the all atoning Lamb,
    Plead for my guilty soul;
And cleanse me with the purple stream
    Which makes the wounded whole …

Throughout, one returns to the attempt to plead for mercy - Christ on the cross offering 'The Sinner's road to Heaven', Christ's blood that would 'Wash all my sins away', an appeal to the Lord who would grant salvation, asking that 'The cloud I so much dread' be 'big with mercy', holy angels to 'waft my soul to Paradise' … ; and, in this context, there is a final plea and, should mercy be offered, 'Oh!  Death where is thy sting'.

More everyday in reference, the protagonist asks his 'loving wife' and his friends and neighbours to pray for him and complains about his 'bursting heart'.  And there is fear of approaching fate in several general gestures:

Whilst I … agitated wait,
    The awful moment near …

We can frame this particular Upcroft ballad by reference to others on the same case, for instance, in another example from the Millenium library cache, this time from W Parfrement, printing in West Winch, his only contribution to balladry as far as has been ascertained.  The piece has three short lines at its head separated from the full, extensive text:

Thou shalt not kill!
Lingley was hung.
Thou shalt do no murder.

How many are they yield to sin?
    And by transgression fall;
You men these lines a warning give,
    Now they upon you call.

Let not temper in you rise,
    Nor angry threats retain;
My uncle, he in Barton Leys,
    Who by Me thus was slain.

The ballad refers to lies told at trial but then follows with what must have been a prior development:

I a prisoner thus were taken,
    To Norwich Castle sent,
Waiting the August assizes,
    For circumstantial evidence.

We've found the murderer that have been,
    This day you have been tried,
And guilty thus you're found of death,
    For truths you have denied.

Bad company I again repeat,
And warn you such to shun,
Before twelve thousands, which I stand
For I've the murder done.

We see how certain ballad conventions of warnings and appeals to God are upheld.  On the other hand, no mention is made of a confession - and we know that one was made - and Lingley's own fears are not portrayed extensively.  All told, in its uneven nature, it is a piece that illustrates both the overall pattern of balladry as discussed and the small individual touch.  To remind us: no other example from Parfrement has yet been located.43

On the other hand, we can compare Parfrement's effort with at least one other on the same case.  This comes from Disley in single ballad form (no additional material)44, well known for his murder ballad output, and begins

Within a dungeon in Norwich gaol,
One Hubbard Lingley in grief bewails,
His own kind uncle he did kill and slay;
On a Friday morning in the month of May.
For that cruel murder he's doomed to die On Norwich's fatal sad gallows high.

At Norwich castle he was tried and cast
And his last moments approaching fast;
The hangman anxious does now await
To terminate Hubbard Lingley's fate.

How could he dare lift his murderous hand,
Base, vile, ungrateful, and cruel man.

Upcroft offers a prose account and then a set of stanzas.  The prose account is detailed, tracing the progress of 'One of the most barbarous and revolting Murders that we have ever had to record … '.  The 'awful crime' took place in a 'hop ground' and, crossing it, a labourer, Thomas Gates, discovered the severed head of a young girl.  He ran to neighbours and they, in turn, found other dismembered pieces of a girl's body.  In ghoulish fashion, the account records that 'Two human eyes were found in the river Wey, but the right breast was missing'.  Frederick Baker, known to have associated with children in the area, was taken into custody, 'trowsers' (sic) 'marked with blood!' The prose account finishes thus:

After other corroborative and satisfactory evidence, a verdict of Wilful Murder was returned against the Prisoner, for whose committal a warrant was at once made out.

Kind friends attend whilst unto you these mou-
                                            rnful lines I read
This tale of horror and of blood will make your
                                            heart to bleed:
To think that such a monster on this wide earth
                                            should move,
A guilty wretch with heart of stone who scorn'd
                                            the Saviour's love.

The dismemberment is described although:

My pen it cannot half describe the horrid awful
                                                      scene,
That was witnessed by the neighbours where the
                                                      murder he had been …

No mortal never heard of such a cruel horrid
                                                      crime,
As this committed by that wretch not in
                                                      his prime.

There is a warning to parents to watch their children carefully so that no villains light 'trepan, and innocence beguile'.  And a further warning is given to 'all young people':

To shun the paths of vice and join all good so-
                                                      ciety;
For if that you commit a crime, there is no kind
                                                      of doubt,
You cannot keep it secret long, your sin will find
                                                      you out.

The piece, like the Upcroft Lingley ballad, has the initials 'W.  U.  Norwich'.  It seems that Mr Upcroft fancied himself as a writer although, whatever his individual attributes, he can be seen to have used familiar enough epithets, proof that he was conversant with ballad convention.

To remind ourselves, Hindley's piece, prefaced with a short prose account of the event and beginning with the familiar 'Come-all-ye' phraseology:

You tender mothers pray give attention,
    To these few lines which I will relate …

There is a chorus, directed at the murderer:

Prepare for death, wicked Frederick Baker,
    For on the scaffold you will shortly die,
Your victim waits for you to meet your Maker, -
    She dwells with Angels and her God on high.

She points at him, and cries, oh tremble, murderer!
    'Tis I, your victim here - that little child!

A piece put out by Henry Watts47 on Franz Muller's murder of Thomas Briggs, in a railway carriage, in 1864, contains a prose account and looks to have taken material from inquest proceedings … Muller, for instance, was 'brought up from the House of Detention … and was allowed a seat near the Coroner's table … '.  The evidence was then read over … after which 'the Jury retired to consider their Verdict'.  Muller was committed to Newgate for trial.  After a few more details 'A Copy Of Verses' follows:

Good people all I pray attend to me both young and old,
And a dreadful tragedy to you I will unfold,
How an aged gentleman most cruelly was slain,
When travelling a passenger in the Great North London train …

… on the ninth of July O dreadful to relate,
By a base assassin he met a most horrid fate.

When he'd done the dreadful deed he ope'd the carriage door,
And threw his victim on the rails covered with human gore.

… in his hurry to escape before the deed was known,
He the hat of Mr.  Briggs put on, in the carriage left his own.

The officers who arrested him when carefully looking round,
The hat and watch of the murdered man on him they found …

Clearly, the narrative is the most important feature of the piece and, like much other relevant balladry, the piece ends before execution - and, indeed, before sentencing.  It offers opportunity for comparison with other pieces on the same case, one from Disley without any prose preliminaries.48  Disley's Lamentation, Confession, and Execution Of Muller has the distinction of being issued at a later stage in proceedings and begins as follows:

The awful moments are drawing nigh,
My fate is sealed, I am doomed to die …

Alas!  Franz Muller is my name,
Doomed to die for murder in the Railway Train.

The passengers all felt assured,
Some cruel murder must be on board;
And in their berths, as they lay below,
Thought they'd every moment, to the bottom go

The piece recounts Muller's arrest in New York and the finding of Briggs' hat, watch and chain and how he was brought back again to England:

And by a Jury I was tried and cast,
My days on earth are now fleeting fast.

Yes, I'm the murderer, the deed I did,
I spilled the blood of poor Thomas Briggs.

Another piece on the same case, Horrid Murder Of A Gentleman, In A Railway Carriage49, is yet again different:

Another base and dreadful murder,
    Now again, alas, has been,
One of the most atrocious murders
    It is, as ever yet was seen;
Poor Thomas Briggs, how sad to mention,
    Was in a first-class railway carriage slain,
Between Old Ford and Hackney Wick,
    Which cause excitement, care and pain.

Briggs, we learn, was 'a faithful servant' 'To Roberts, Lubbock and Company'; and 'Three hundred pounds rewards is offered'.  The piece hopes that the murderer will be taken soon and in pursuance:

… glad we are there is before us,
A clue to the wicked murderer …

They have traced his watch-chain in the city,
The very key, as we are told …

A dreadful murder near to Burslem,
    In the County of Staffordshire,
Has filled each feeling heart with sorrow,
    For the victim so we hear …

What horrid crimes to us are mentioned,
    In the papers from time to time,
So list awhile and pay attention,
    While I relate a dreadful crime;
A fearful one there was committed,
    At No.13, in Park Lane,
The murderess now has her guilt admitted,
    Margaret Dixblanc is her sad name … 50

A fourth Muller ballad is available, this time from Fortey - Verses On The Condemnation Of Franz Muller:

What great excitement has been caused,
    The nation all around,
It mattered not where'er you went,
    In country or in town.
But now the case is ended,
    And Muller's doomed to die
For the murder of poor Thomas Briggs,
    On Newgate tree so high.
Chorus.
He slew him in the railway train,
Then flew across the raging main.

Thousands of pounds were betted,
    While Muller lay in jail,
That he would be acquitted …

By Muller's end we see, my friends,
    That murder will come out, -
That Muller was a guilty man,
    Alas!  There is no doubt …

We see in the case of Muller and Briggs, then, how within an overall narrative line some printers apparently strove to alter a detail here and there.  Nonetheless, the phraseology and the sentiments are well within murder ballad convention and Watts' piece conforms easily enough although it has its own particular extended insistence and tone (bathos, admittedly, being an opinion out of hindsight).  All four ballads discussed here end before the details of execution might be offered (and the execution certainly took place - as Disley indicated on copy, on November 14th 1864).  If there are differences in printers' approach to subject-matter they are relatively small in an overall pattern.

Finally, one should take brief account of two pieces on the execution of James Rush in 1849.  As noted previously, the Rush case may be considered with that of the Mannings during the same year and in conjunction with the 1827 Corder case as being so much celebrated or notorious that it is somewhat surprising that so few ballads have been found in the Norfolk caches (Corder was not actually hanged until August 11th 1828).  There seems to be no obvious reason why not unless there was an intentional emphasis on relatively local cases or, simply, that ballads are still waiting to be discovered.  The first Norfolk piece on Rush in question, a prose account, put out by Josiah Fletcher in Norwich, recounts the court scene and has quotations from Rush himself (so it is supposed) that examine his sin and his conscience.  There is nothing about actuality - this is much more a tirade - and reminds us of the Lane pieces discussed at the head of this piece.  The tone of religiosity has been maintained, the piece ending thus:

“OH!  THAT THOU HADST KNOWN, IN THAT THY DAY?  THE THINGS WHICH MADE FOR THY PEACE; BUT NOW THRY ARE HID FROM THINE EYES!”

There is also a piece from Upcroft - not from the Norfolk cache but from the Bodleian collection - that, in appearance, fits exactly into the format described in previous articles on murders and executions, having a header block and a set of stanzas but no prose account, a comparative rarity in Norfolk through which the date of issue counters much calculation as to the general progress of Norfolk output towards the ballad printed as a single text.  There is, simply, no accounting except to refer once again to the individualistic nature of printers!  The header itself is the same as that found in Upcroft's printing on the case of Hubbard Lingley discussed above - a view of a cell containing a figure, seated, with head in hands, and a strong light coming from a barred window top left.  The title is set above and below the header - The Sorrowful Lamentation On James Bloomfield Rush …53 'Now lying under sentence of Death in Norwich Castle':

Kind Christians hear this doleful tale,
    While I for mercy cry,
And plead unto my Lord for me,
    A wretch condemned to die …

What agony my mind is in,
    All in this dismal cell;
The horrors of my dreadful thoughts,
    No mortal tongue can tell.

Now I do clasp my murd'ring hands,
With horror weep aloud;
I think I see each murdered form,
Wrap't in their deathly shroud.

The passage of the lines fulfils all expectations garnered from other such ballads.  The one surprise, perhaps, is that there is no fatal tree image.

As summary: we see, consistently, how some features of ballad presentation are maintained throughout the century and how printers leaned heavily one on another to the probable extent of filching but, at the same time, did occasionally display an independent treatment of cases even if still relying on the known conventions of balladry - expressed, for instance, through recurring imagery and themes - that find parallel in other execution ballads as discussed on this site previously.  It is certainly worth remembering the use of the header block in so many cases, evidence of Norfolk printers' borrowing to go with the regular employment of a prose account of events that, whatever the differences in wording, nonetheless offers something of a glimpse of an overall approach to their task amongst Norfolk printers; a style of presentation (header block, prose introduction and a set of stanzas) that can be found in several other execution ballads from printers outside Norfolk - such as those on the Mannings (1849), Francis Warne (1864) and F E Kohl (1865) but, to emphasise the point, is one of the strongest elements in Norfolk production.  In Norfolk, the ballad alone is a rare sight and this contrasts quite vividly with execution material frequently found from elsewhere - but one should not forget the Upcroft Rush piece nor, of course, Walker's single ballad issues (to be considered).

Certain aspects of style and tone are, then, evident amongst Norfolk printers; and, to an extent, we learn - perhaps, more properly, we surmise - how and where Norfolk printers found their material.  There is no absolute consistency evident even if the bulk of suggestion is that they took unashamedly and unsurprisingly from newspaper reports and trial proceedings - in this latter case maybe even themselves or through someone employed to do the job.

We then see how sometimes they anticipated events in the rush to offer a scoop of sorts but the 'they' must be qualified by individual names and not used as a blanket term.  The same qualification needs to be borne in mind when considering the detailed employment of language with a discernible trend of quite extensive religious sentiments.  The latter is no real surprise even if its extent may seem unusual.  Hangings were always accompanied by or preceded by extensive sermons.  This went along with prolonged attention to each prisoner during confinement by chaplains who attempted to persuade their charges to admit guilt and seek salvation.  By this means, sometimes, confessions were obtained.  Chaplains, of course, accompanied each prisoner to the scaffold itself.

Ultimately, together with the Walker texts and those from the Rural Life Museum to be discussed in future articles, those surveyed above represent a high level of interest amongst Norfolk printers in the execution trade over a long period of time, extending up to and beyond the cessation of public hanging in 1868.  And, whilst some ballads discussed above are represented in the stock of printers from elsewhere (and some are found in the stock of Robert Walker as will be seen in the next article) the majority as described above appear to be the only extant ones across the country concerned with the particular cases.

Roly Brown - 18.2.07
Oradour sur Vayres, France

Appendix

1.  John Pycraft hanged August 16th 1819 Norwich Castle.
2.  Lorina (sometimes 'Lorena') Gooderham buried May 17th 1829 - murdered at Broome Lane, Diss on May 14th 1829; so far, no trace of her murderer's name.
3.  John Stratford hanged August 17th 1829 Norwich Castle.
4.  John Smith (Day) and George Timms hanged April 29th 1837 Norwich Castle.
5.  Charles Daines hanged April 27th 1839 Norwich Castle.
6.  Charlotte Yaxley hanged March 23rd 1841 Norwich Castle.
7.  John Self (not Benjamin) hanged August 14th 1841 Norwich Castle. 
8.  Samuel Yarham hanged April 11th 1846 Norwich Castle. 
9.  Catherine Foster hanged April 17th 1847 Bury St Edmunds.
10.  Thomas Sturley sentenced to death (report Norwich Mercury April 1st 1848).
11.  James Rush hanged April 21st 1849 Norwich Castle.
12.  James Flood verdict of 'Wilful Murder' (report Norwich Mercury May 3rd 1851).
13.  Henry Groom hanged August 16th 1851 Norwich Castle.
14.  Franz Muller hanged November 14th 1864 Newgate.
15.  Hubbard Lingley hanged August 26th 1867 Norwich Castle.
16.  Frederick Baker hanged December 24th 1867 Winchester.

Notes:

1.  I have to thank the Cambridge University and Bodleian libraries for permission to quote from stock, VWML for supply of material; and the Suffolk Record Office for access to newspaper material and for supply of copy.  I am grateful to Howard Marshall (Old Buckenham) who helped discover detail and forwarded material to me.

2.  For this first part of the survey, special thanks are due to the staff at the Millenium Library in Norwich for help and for permission to quote from stock.  Wendy Sterry, especially, has patiently answered queries over a period of time and has dug out references for me.  I should add that, whilst some incomplete details of the careers of Norfolk printers will be found in this article, it is hoped that more will emerge during the course of this series.  In this respect Keith Chandler (South Leigh) has been particularly helpful in chasing up details for me.  Of course, investigation of newspaper reports and other sources for supporting evidence is still under way although except as fodder they might not yield anything that materially affects discussion of the ballads.  As to the Millenium collection itself, it is housed in a box not kept on open shelves.  Ballads considered here are simply given their full title … the box may be easily located in the library.  Robert Walker's murder and execution material will be considered in the next piece in this series and the Norfolk Rural Life Museum stock of murder ballads in a further article.  The articles from last year are to be found as MT 156, 157, 166 and 168.

3.  The Bodleian Allegro archive has thirty-three joint printings.  Any observation on material is, of course, subject to what is available for inspection.  The every fact that the Millenium cache exists may suggest that other such depositories may yet be found.

4.  The Colman collection consists of four large volumes in which the original pieces are pasted.  It is a compilation, pencilled notes adding that material was, for instance, gleaned from the 'Bulwer Collection' for which no other information has emerged as yet.  Merry of Bedford provides an example of local election printing - see MT article 129.

5.  Details given here additional to those on the ballad sheet come from of the Pycraft case may be found in the Norwich Chronicle for August 14th, 1819, [unpaginated … .but on p.2: henceforth in this article references to pages within square brackets indicate an unpaginated newspaper and my own counting of pages] and August 21st 1819[also p.2].  The date of execution is from G W Swords: List of Executions 1240-1951, an appendix to a law thesis submitted at the University of East Anglia in 1988 (copy housed in the Norwich Millenium library).  The list refers to Norwich only.

6.For examples of the prose and verse format see text and footnotes below.  Such a format does, of course, turn up in execution and murder balladry put out by printers from across the country - one or two examples are cited below.

7.  There is a ballad (found in Vol.II of the Colman collection in the Millenium library) printed jointly by Lane and Walker from Bridewell Alley and, whilst several of Walker's independent pieces come from 'St Andrew's' this particular ballad is in a set of three indicating that the two addresses look, in fact, to be one and the same.  In this connection, pieces from the Bodleian Allegro archive give Lane's address as 'Bridewell Alley, St Andrew's' (and one of them, Sandy the Waterloo man, found as 2805 c. 18(280) and Harding B 25(1733), by virtue of its subject-matter, gives us a date: a quite late one, incidentally, although Lane is also known to have produced a piece on the Queen Caroline affair of 1820 - see Italian liars, or Witnesses against the Queen in Bodleian Allegro archive as Johnson Ballads fol.  245).  Other Lane pieces, of a more generic character, in the Allegro archive include Cheapside frolic, found as 2806 c. 18(59) and Harding B 25(362), and The rage of fashion as Harding B 25(1590).  Bodleian dating of Lane's activities is not specific - he is merely coupled with Walker and no dates are given - and dating is, therefore, at present, reliant on internal evidence.  Walker's dates, too, look to be subject to revision, an overall period of 1780 to 1830 being given, more than anything, it would seem, because that is what the material itself suggests.  At the same time, the Millenium library confirms that Bridewell Alley is, indeed, in the parish of St Andrew's; and an OS map, although a late edition, gives a street layout that allows a further pinpointing, leaving no doubt as to the location.

8.The case was reported in the Norwich Mercury of August 22nd 1829, [p.1].  The report included a 'likeness' of Stratford, his confession and a description of the execution.

9.  These are all brief references … Some may be explored a little further by referring to MT articles 118 and 156 but the essence here is simply to provide a context for Norfolk balladry, such context to be cited again below.

10.  A classic example of ballads being sold that described a hanging before the hanging actually took place is that found in James Cossins' History of Exeter (already quoted in this series - in MT article 118, for instance).

11.  See G.  Swords' list of executions.  It should be said that detail of location is not absolute - at least one execution actually took place in King's Lynn - but the clear general implication is of hanging in Norwich and the 'modern', relevant period begins by listing hangings in 1801.

12.  Bridewell and St George's Tombland addresses are a mere hundred or so yards apart as are addresses for Walker in Duke's Palace and St Lawrence's Steps.  It is conceivable that such addresses may be conflated but printers did move up and down roads.  Merry's case in Bedford - he may have been using two premises at one time - is suggestive (see MT article 129).  A map of locations is being prepared for inclusion in the forthcoming Walker piece.

13.  George Stewardson was certainly printing during the 1840s and 1850s, as census details help to confirm (1841, 1851), but has not yet been identified as working before then.  Hamilton's directory of 1879 has Stewardson in Pottergate, Norwich. 

14.  Ernest E.  Abbott, printer, Diss, can be found in the 1841 and 1851 censuses and in White's 1856 and Craven's 1866 street directories.  Reports of the Gooderham (Goodiham) case can be found in the Norwich Mercury for May 28th 1829, [p.2] ('Murder at Diss'); May 30th 1829, [p.2]; and June 6th 1829, [p.2] ('The Diss Murder').

15.  For printers in Devon and Cornwall see MT articles 144 (Devon), 145 (Cornwall) and 155 (Besley of Exeter).

16.  See Lamentation of Margaret Bell in Bodleian Allegro archive as 2806 c. 14(159), n. i.  (the murder, of her infant baby took place in 1853).  See also Execution of Frederick Baker in Charles Hindley's Curiosities of Street Literature, p.205 - Baker's case, as it happens, is considered below via a printing from William Upcroft.  Baker's dismemberment of Fanny Adams (1867) is well enough known.  The intention here, as with other references scattered through this article to ballads from printers other than in Norwich, is to offer a general context of execution balladry.

17.  See Norwich Mercury for May 28th 1829, [p.2] ('Murder at Diss'); May 30th 1829, [p.2], where Kerry's name and acquittal are mentioned; and June 13th 1829, [p.2] ('The Diss Murder'), where the verdict is given.

18.  I am particularly obliged to Glynn Burrows who, through the auspices of Rootschat, helped to establish some the details that confirm the existence of Samuel Page! The particular newspaper reports of the case are found as follows: Norwich Mercury November 27th 1847, [p.2], describing a 'Shooting with intent'; and April 1st 1848, [p.3] - 'Shooting with intent to Murder' … In this report it is recorded that whilst the jury, finding Sturley guilty, nonetheless made a plea for mercy, the Judge pronounced sentence of death.

19.  The case of Yarham, a shoemaker who actually turned Queen's evidence, was fully reported in the Bury and Norwich Post for 9th May 1845, pp.2-3.  The Norwich Mercury also carried reports on November 23rd 1844, p.2 ('Dreadful and Brutal Murder'); December 7th 1844, p.3 ('The Murder at Yarmouth') - in which Yarham was named as the perpetrator; December 14th 1844, p.3 ('The Late Murder'); and April 18th 1846, p.3 ('The execution of Yarham').  The gap between the two last reports is noteworthy (see text). 

20.  Catherine Foster's trial and execution were reported, as instance, in the Bury and Norwich Post for 31st March 1847, p.2-3, 7th April 1847, p.2 and 14th April 1847, p.2. 

21.  For discussion of the Dazley case see MT article 122 and for Tawell MT article 156.

22.  Several ballads containing features noted here were discussed in three MT articles 156, 157, 158 and 168.  Where the 'fatal tree' is concerned there is a piece entitled Copy of Verses Written on The Condemnation of Elias Lucas and Mary Reader … (1850); Copy of Verses On T.  Drory And Jael Denny (1851); Lamentation of Henry Groom (1851) - another Norwich case (to be discussed); and Execution of Sarah Chesham (also in 1851).  The image also frequently appeared in slightly altered form, in ballads on Francis Courvoisier, for example, where he was to hang 'On the fatal gallows high' (1840); on Palmer the poisoner who was to die 'on the dismal tree' (1856); on Kohl who lamented that 'No one can save me from the dreadful tree … ' (1865); and, even more pertinently, on Hubbard Lingley who was to die 'On Norwich fatal sad gallows high' (1867 - see further below).  Warnings may be found in many ballads such as Lamentation of Thomas Drory and in ballads on the Roberts and Butt (1874) cases.  The intention here, as noted also above, is to set the Norfolk ballads under discussion in a general context of execution balladry. 

23.  For prose and verse accounts see the Bodleian Allegro archive - on Warne (Firth c. 17(180), Henry, 1864), Bull (Harding B 145190), n. i.,1871), Evans (Firth c. 17(102), n. i., 1873), Wainwright (Firth c. 17(182), n. i., 1875), Fish (Harding B 14(221, n. i., 1876) and Revell (Harding B 14(25) n. i.,1878).

24.  The Harkness Catherine Foster piece may be found in Madden Reel 85, Number 1072. 

25.  The Foster ballad without imprint can be found in the Bodleian Allegro archive as Firth c. 17(201).

26.  Mason's 1852 Norwich directory has 'Wm.  Broadhurst' in St Benedict's.  The 1841 census including a W.  Broadhurst at St Benedict's - no profession is indicated - gives the son's age as 8.  For William Gifford see text and footnotes 24 below.  This occupational relationship underlines the possible 'shared' aspects of Norfolk printings. 

27.  For newspaper accounts of the Yaxley case see Norwich Mercury for April 3rd 1841, p.3 ('Murder of an Illegitimate Child by the Wife of its Father') and April 4th 1841, p.2, when Charlotte Yaxley stood charged and pleaded not guilty but when sentence of death was passed.

28.  See Norwich Mercury April 3rd 1841, p.3 where the child's name and that of her mother, Mary and Charlotte Yaxley's associa tion with Mary Kerrison before she - Charlotte Yaxley - married are all mentioned.

29.  For Self, see Norwich Mercury for July 24th 1841 [p.2] ('The Murder at Wymondham'); July 31st 1841, [p.3] ('Murder at Wymondham'); August 7th 1841 [p.3] ('John Self's Confession'); and August 13th 1841 [p.3] - describing the execution.

30.  See Talbot in Madden Reel 86, Number 79 and Reel 96, Number 92 respectively.

31.  At least one other ballad has emerged on the case as printed by Robert Walker who gives the name as 'Hayton' (to be considered in a forthcoming piece on Walker).  Newspaper accounts include those in the Norfolk Chronicle and Norwich Gazette for 23rd August 1851 (unpaginated - I regret the absence of a count) and the Norwich Mercury on the same date (also unpaginated) and these use the name 'Ayton'.

32.  References to the Thompson case may be found in Norwich Mercury for April 12th 1854, p.3 where there is something of a debate on 'The Effects of Public Execution'; the execution itself is described; and a confession given.  There are tangential details available … A William Gifford is found as printer in the 1851 census.  As it happens, in the same census, we find a Samuel Gifford, stationer … A Samuel Gifford, shopkeeper, is found in Mason's 1852 directory and a Samuel Gifford in White's 1854 directory, there listed as stationer … Melville's 1856 Directory and Gazeteer of Norwich has Samuel Gifford as stationer and shopkeeper in St Benedict's.  Once more, possible familial connections may seem to underline 'shared' aspects to Norfolk printing even if in these references there is no specific reference to Samuel Gifford as printer or any direct connection with William evident.  Of course this is all tenuous and investigation continues.

33.  For further detail of the singing and selling of ballads see MT articles 139, 140 and 142.

34.  Newspaper accounts of the Flack case may be found in Norfolk Chronicle for July 30th 1853, p.2 (a long report on the Suffolk Summer Assizes; much detail from a sermon preached on this occasion; and sentence of death on Flack); August 6th 1853, p.3 ('The Condemned Convict Flack'); August 13th 1853, p.2 ('The Murder at Bacton') where Flack's execution is noted as having been set for this day; and August 20th 1853, p.2 which describes how Flack's sentence had been deferred from August 13th because Calcraft was unavailable but how he was eventually hanged on August 17th and his body cut down for burial within the prison.

35.  The Pook case was recounted in MT article 156 but, through the kind auspices of Jonathan Copeland (private correspondence), evidence for Edmund Pook's innocence has been established and was included in the article cited here.

36.  Blyth's 1842 Guide and Directory has 'Wm.  Upcroft' listed as a second-hand book seller in Magdalen Street, Norwich.  White's Norfolk directory for 1845 has William Upcroft in Magdalene Street, listed under 'Printers'.  Hunt's 1850 Directory has William Upcroft as printer in Magdalene Street, Norwich; Mathiesen's 1867 street directory at Church Street and Wensum Street, Norwich.  William Upcroft is also found in the 1841, 1861, 1871 and 1881 censuses.  There is a straightforward advertisement for the National Petition And The Peoples' Charter printed by Upcroft, described as 'Printer & Bookbinder, Magdalene-Street, Norwich' and dated 1838.  So far, no other detail for Henry Upcroft has been uncovered.

37.  Reports of the Daines case can be found in the Norwich Mercury for April 13th 1839, [p.2] and April 20th 1839, [p.4], both describing events; May 4th 1839, [p.3] ('Execution and Confession of Charles Daines'); and May 11th 1839, [p.3] ('The Late Execution').

38.  The date given for the execution is from Swords, op cit, and from other lists on the web.

39.  For reports of the murder of Hannah Manfield see, for instance, Norwich Mercury for April 8th 1837 [p.2] ('The Denver Murder') and May 6th 1837, [p.3] ('The Confession & Execution of Smith (alias Day), and Timms, for the Murder of Hannah Manfield at Denver'). 

40.  See Norfolk Chronicle for April 26th 1851, unpaginated ('Charge of Murder'); May 3rd 1851, unpaginated ('The Murder in Pump Street') - wherein a charge of 'Wilful Murder' was brought against James Flood; and Norwich Mercury for May 3rd 1851, p.6 (' Alleged Murder in Norwich'). 

41.  Flood's execution as listed in Swords, op cit, is not confirmed in other lists on the web; and newspaper reports confirm the date as being that of the murder itself.

42.  See Norwich Mercury for August 10th 1867, p.6 ('The Murder At Barton Bendish'); August 14th 1867, p.2 ('Norfolk Summer Assizes … The Barton Bendish Murder');August 28th 1867, p.2 ('The Barton Bendish Murder The Execution Of The Murderer') and, as a separate piece, 'The Truthfulness Of The Confession?', throwing some doubt on Hubbard Lingley's confession and the usefulness of confessions generally; and Norfolk Chronicle for August 31st 1867, p.2 ('The Barton Bendish Murder.  Execution of Hubbard Lingley').  Reports on the Lingley case may be found countrywide as in Bury Free Press (Suffolk) August 31st 1867, p.3 ('Execution at Norwich'); Newbury Weekly News August 29th 1867, unpaginated ('Execution at Norwich'); and Salisbury and Winchester Journal … August 31st 1867 (I regret the absence of a page number) this last report ('Execution at Norwich') competing, as it were, with reports on the Baker murder of Fanny Adams.

43.  So far, only one reference for Parfrement has been located: in an 1867 directory (West Winch); nothing in censuses.

44.  Disley's piece can be found in the Bodleian Allegro archive as Firth c. 17(243).

45.  Baker's story was reported fully in Hampshire Chronicle ('The Execution and Confession of Frederick Baker') December 28th 1867, p.4.  This is an instance of a much wider reportage.

46.  See Charles Hindley: Curiosities of Street Literature, p.205 (I regret that my copy of the ballad has no details of the publication on it).

47.  Henry Watts can be found as printer in the 1851 and 1861 censuses; in Mason's 1852 directory - an advertisement; and in Mathiesen's 1867 street directory in Rackman's Court Street and Peter's Street, Norwich.

48.  See Disley's piece in Bodleian Allegro archive as Johnson Ballads 316.

49.  See Bodleian Allegro archive as Johnson Ballads 2563 - the ballad has no imprint.

50.  See the Bodleian Allegro archive for the Mannings (as Firth c. 17(267), n. i., 1849); Warne (as Firth c.7(180), n. i., 1864 ); Kohl (Firth c. 17(175), Matthews - Chelmsford, 1865); and Bull (as Harding B 14(190), n. i., 1871).  These examples are set in further context in MT article 159.  Margaret Dixblanc was actually named 'Marguerite'.

51. For Fortey's ballad, see Bodleian Allegro archive as Johnson Ballads 467.

52. Mason's 1852 directory has Fletcher in Pottergate, Norwich. Mathieson's directory of 1867 has J. Fletcher in Castle Street and 8 Market Place, Norwich. Josiah Fletcher's name as printer can be found in the 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871 censuses. His Dissenters piece need not concern us unduly at this point even though the amount of political and social printed material issued in Norwich will be worth a closer look at a later stage as noted in text. However, as a comparatively early piece, it gives us a glimpse of Fletcher's movements - the address is given as 'Upper Haymarket'.

53. The Upcroft piece can be found in the Bodleian Allegro archive as Johnson Ballads fol. 251.

Article MT201

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