Original British press photograph showing a large crowd gathered outside the main entrance of HM Prison Wandsworth during an execution.
The typed newsroom caption verso reads:
“Prison Execution Scenes. Outside a London prison.”
The prison can be identified as Wandsworth Prison from the distinctive monumental entrance, with its heavy timber gates set within the rusticated stone frontage.
The photograph records the public reaction to an execution at a time when capital punishment remained in force in Britain. Although executions took place within the prison, crowds often assembled outside to await news and to read the official notice confirming that the sentence had been carried out.
Wandsworth was one of Britain’s principal execution prisons and the scene of numerous hangings during the twentieth century. This image therefore provides a striking record of British criminal, penal and social history, showing the degree of public interest that still surrounded executions in the post-war period.
The reverse retains the original typed newsroom caption and Fleet Street photographic-agency stamp. It later formed part of the working photographic archive of the Shields Gazette.
Good condition. Minor edge wear and creasing, with heavier wear and surface damage along the left edge.
Please study the photographs carefully as they form part of the description.
Photographer: Not named
Date: Probably c.1950s
Location: HM Prison Wandsworth, London
Subject: Crowd outside the prison during an execution
Photo size: 10.1 × 15.3 cm
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Hornseys – Established 1976
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