Trial and Execution of F. Hinson, Who suffered the extreme penalty of the law, at the Old Bailey, this morning, Monday, December 13th, 1869, for the Wilful Murder of Maria Death

Execution broadside printed with an account of the crime, trial and execution of Frederick Hinson (aged 32) who was convicted at the Old Bailey of murdering his wife Maria and executed on the morning of Monday, December 13th, 1869. The broadside, printed by Disley, includes woodcut engravings depicting the gallows and a portrait of the Chaplin who attended the prisoner. It concludes with a moral poem. This execution was conducted in private, public hangings having been abolished in 1868.

Execution broadsides were published by a small number of printers many of whom, such as Thomas Birt, James Catnach and James Pitts were based around the Seven Dials area of London. Spelling and grammar was often poor and the details not always accurate. Although usually printed between the end of the trial and the date of the execution (usually a gap of a few weeks) they could often be quickly changed to accomodate last minute information such as reprieves and dying confessions. The printers often used battered woodcuts, and, for the gallows scene used a stock block with a pierced central section to allow the sex and required number of hanging figures to be changed as required. Female criminals were depicted by using a block for a male figure, cut square at the knee to represent a skirt.