Newspaper with details on the beheading of a Englishman Charles Radclyffe, one of the few English participants in the Jacobite Rebellion.
Date
December 15, 1746
Creator
Edinburgh Evening Courant
Publisher
Edinburgh Evening Courant
Language
English
Rights
Edinburgh Evening Courant; Public Domain
Identifier
2024.2
Details
Content
The front page has a brief item: "Yesterday Charles Ratcliff, Esq., condemned for High Treason, was beheaded on Tower-Hill." And a bit further on is more detail concerning his execution, noting in part: "...about eleven o'clock, Mr. Ratcliffe was brought from his lodging in the Tower...to the wharf...carry him to the Iron Gate at which place a mourning coach waited for him & carried him to the place of execution...he went on the scaffold...gave the executioner 10 guineas & told him not to wait for any signal, but to strike as soon as his head was on the block, which was accordingly done, and his head severed from his body at one blow..."
Excerpts
"Yesterday Charles Ratcliff, Esq., condemned for High Treason, was beheaded on Tower-Hill...about eleven o'clock, Mr. Ratcliffe was brought from his lodging in the Tower...to the wharf...carry him to the Iron Gate at which place a mourning coach waited for him & carried him to the place of execution...he went on the scaffold...gave the executioner 10 guineas & told him not to wait for any signal, but to strike as soon as his head was on the block, which was accordingly done, and his head severed from his body at one blow..."
Opinion
This was sensationalism of the times. Or maybe a warning?