Execution and Confession of H. Wainwright who was executed at the Old Bailey for the murder of Harriet Lane

Execution broadside printed with an account of the crime, trial and execution of Henry Wainwright convicted of the murder of his mistress Harriet Lane. The broadside notes that Wainwright, a brush-manufacturer with a shop at 215 Whitechapel Road shot Lane, the mother of two of his children in 1874 as he was unable to financially support two families. The following year he chopped Lane's body into 16 pieces and placed it in packages for reburial. Asking a former employee to hold the packages containing Lane's decomposing body parts whilst he hailed a hansom cab the employee became suspicious and, on opening one package, found a head and arm of Lane. A constable was alerted and Wainwright apprehended. The broadside is printed with five woodcut engravings comprising portraits of the murderer and victim, two representations of Wainwright mutilating Lane and a depiction of the execution gallows. Wainwright was executed within Newgate prison on 21st December 1875.

Although public executions ended in 1868 execution broadsides detailing the crimes, trial and execution of notorious criminals remained popular with Londoners. Broadsides were primarily 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.