James Pratt and John Smith were the last men to be hanged in England for the crime of sodomy, reported to the authorities by nosy landlords who later petitioned for clemency. Tom Crewe joins Thomas Jones to explain how exceptional – and unexceptional – the case was. They discuss the change in attitudes to the death sentence in this period and the surprising ambivalence many Londoners felt about ‘unnatural crimes’ in the 1830s.
Unspeakable Acts
Tom Crewe and Thomas Jones
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