Andrews and Moody, a double hanging, 1700.
On Friday the 1st. of March, 1700.these two Persons were conveyed from Newgate to Tyburn in a Cart. Henry Andrews, and Joseph Moody, who being tyed up, Henry Andrews; confest, that he was Guilty of several Robberies on the High-way, that he was also one of those who Robbed Mr. Shard's House in Horsley-Down, which he said, was effected after this manner. Robert Thompson, a Neighbour of Mr. Shards, was the Person who first proposed the doing it, and encouraged him to be concern'd, which at first he refused, but being daily importuned by him, tho' he often told him of the inevitable Danger that attended such a dangerous undertaking: He was so unhappy as to be seduc'd by him, Thompson telling him, how easily it might be done, Thompson, (as he said, employed one Barnes to give them notice when Mr. Shard and his Family were gone to Church, as also how to enter the House, which Directions they followed, and so he, Andrews, with one Oliver Sergeant and Morgan, entred the House, and carryed off a considerable Sum of Money, with one Silver Tankard and Cup; Thompson and Barnes, he protested, were not with them, when they entred the House, but Barnes, (as he said) received his Share of the Money, and they also sent Thompson his Part, but whether the latter received it or not, he knows not: He protested, that if Thompson had not daily desired him to be concerned, he would have had no Hand in it. He desired all Persons to take Warning by his untimely End, that by Gods Judgments executed on him a Sinner in this World, they may learn to fear and avoid those which shall be Eternal in that which is to come.
Joseph Moody owned his Crime, as also another Burglary which he Committed. He desired all Persons to avoid bad Company, which brought him to his Ruin; as also not to indulge themselves in any willful vicious Practices, for that one Sin being allowed of, will open an inlet to a great many others, which without a sincere Repentance will prove the ruin of both Body and Soul for ever. He beseech'd God very earnestly to wash him thorowly from his Iniquity, and cleanse him from his Sins, in that Fountain opened for Sin and for Uncleaness, the precious Blood of the Immaculate Lamb of God slain to take away the Sins of the World, that so having had all his Shame and Sorrow and evil Things in this Life, he might hereafter awake to Joy and Happiness in that which is to come He recommended his poor Wife and Children to the Providence of the Almighty God, and as he said, died in Charity with all Men.
Then they had time allowed them for private Prayer; and then the Cart drew away, they were turned off.
This is all the Account I can give of this Sessions.
Dated March 1, 1700.
John Allen, Ordinary .
ADVERTISEMENTS.
B. Lilburn, that lately Lived on Ludgate-hill, next to the Kings-Arms Tavern near Fleet-Bridge, now Lives at the Golden-Board, and Ball, near the Globe-Tavern, in little Moor-fields, near great Moor-gate, up one Pair of Stairs. Who maketh and selleth, (and has done above 16 Years) the Water for taking away the Freckels, Pimples, Worms, and Morphew in the Face: With Elixir Salutis, Balsamum Vitae, Tinctura Vitae, Waters and Ointments for the Eyes, and Ointments for sore Nipples; Ointments for the Ricketts, Burns, Scalds, Wounds, Aches, Strains, &c. Powders, Dentrifices, Elixirs, Essences, Oils, Spirits, &c. both for Ornament, and Curing most Distempers incident to Humane Bodies; where you may have Advice as well as Medicines, likewise Judgment upon Urines
WHereasMr. Edmond Searle, lately deceased, was so famous at curing all sorts of Deafness, this is therefore to Advertise all Persons that Graves Overton, his only Servant , lives at the Hand and Ear in Pye Corner, alias Gilt-spur-street, near Newgate, where he performs the same Cures by his Masters secret Method. There being now, none of his Masters Family living but himself, that performs the said Cure.
LONDON: Printed for E. Mallet, at the Hat and Hawk in Bride-lane, where any Person may have Advertisements Inserted in this Paper.
Citation
Old Bailey Proceedings Online ( version 7.0, 30 May 2012), Ordinary of Newgate's Account, March 1700 (OA17000301).
COMMENTARY
This is a record printed from the Hat and Hawk public house, Brides Lane, and presumably partly subsidised by the two advertisements at the end. The compiler was the Ordinary of Newgate, a clergyman, who was entitled to sell broadsheets to the public as a valuable perk of his job.
The extract records a double-hanging and the last confessions of the condemned prisoners on the way to the gallows. Newgate is the location of the famous prison next to the Old Bailey, and Tyburn is the place of the gallows near modern Marble Arch. The Tyburn gallows were in operation for hanging common people through to the late 18th century and by 1700 had been improved by making possible multiple hangings at once.The prisoners would have been taken by cart along Oxford Street on the way. The public enjoyed watching the journeys to the gallows and the spectacle of the hangings.
The spelling of the extract is antiquated in parts (egtyed and confest for tied and confessed) but mostly looks fairly modern to the reader in the 21st century. There is some moralising of the kind enjoyed by contemporaries but this part of the account is precise and not salacious. Precision of expression, even in public bills or broadsheets such as this, is in keeping with later reporting styles.
The punctuation conventions are almost those of the present day, save in relation to the giving of street and other addresses. The German convention (which survived until the latter 20th century for High German) of capitalising all nouns (not just proper nouns or names, as in modern English) is still evidently in use. The genitive of possession, however, is not made with an apostrophe: thus Masters Familynot Master’s Family.
Andrews protests that he was talked into his crimes and gives the crowd a warning; Moody appears to have been more religious and died expressing hopes for a joyous afterlife.
The advertisements offer what seem to be basic apothecary skills on the part of Mr Lilburn, but he does not say that is what he is, and he may have got into trouble for such an assertion if he were not a member of the apothecaries’ guild of London. The Worshipful Society of the Apothecaries of London was through the late 17th century in litigation against the College of Surgeons as to the latter monopolising medicine: the matter was only resolved after this report, by the House of Lords in the Rose Case in 1704 in favour of liberalisation, permitting the apothecaries to prescribe medicine.
Some obsolete or unusual words or phrases are to be seen: morphew( a scurfy eruption of the skin), dentrifices (toothpastes), judgment upon urines (diagnosis of illness based on the quality of the sick person’s urine).
The St Bride’s Printing Library is now part of the Bridewell Theatre in Bride’s Lane off Fleet Street in London EC4.