Wm. GUEST (condemned for High Treason) Drawn on a SLEDGE to Tyburn

Public executions were often the subject of popular literature and prints. William Guest was a clerk at the Bank of England who was convicted in 1767 of 'coining' or filing down guineas to sell the gold. This offence was treason and meant the death penalty. Those convicted of treason were taken on a sledge to be hanged at Tyburn.

In this print Guest is depicted in the sledge under armed guard with a clergyman reading him his last rites. Guest's execution was featured in the Newgate Calendar, a popular publication produced by the keeper of Newgate Prison where condemned prisoners were held in the 18th and 19th centuries.