James Pratt (1805–1835),[1][2] also known as John Pratt, andJohn Smith (1795–1835)[1][2] were two British men who, in November 1835, became the last people to be executed forsodomy in England.[3] Pratt and Smith were arrested in August of that year after allegedly having "carnal knowledge" of each other in a room rented by another man, William Bonill. Bonill was not present when this took place, but was nevertheless convicted of being an accessory and wastransported to Australia, where he died.
Some modern human rights activists have cast doubt on the facts and legality of the convictions.[4] In January 2017, Pratt and Smith were among those who were posthumously pardoned by theAlan Turing law which pardoned those who had been convicted of same-sex carnal offences which no longer exist in the UK.[5]
James Pratt | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1805 |
| Died | 27 November 1835 (aged 30) Newgate Prison,London, England |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Conviction | Buggery (posthumously pardoned in 2017) |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
James Pratt was born in 1805 and worked as agroom.[3] He was married and lived with his wife and children atDeptford, Kent.[Note 1]
John Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1795 |
| Died | 27 November 1835 (aged 40) Newgate Prison,London, England |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Conviction | Buggery (posthumously pardoned in 2017) |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
John Smith was born in 1795 and was fromSouthwark Christchurch.[1] He was described in court proceedings[1] and contemporary newspaper reports as an unmarried labourer,[2] although other sources state he was married and worked as a servant.[3]
William Bonill, aged 68, had lived for 13 months in a rented room at a house near theBlackfriars Road, Southwark, London. His landlord stated that Bonill had frequent male visitors, who generally came in pairs, and that his suspicions became aroused on the afternoon of 29 August 1835, when Pratt and Smith came to visit Bonill.[1]
The landlord climbed to an outside vantage point in the loft of a nearby stable building, where he could see through the window of Bonill's room, before coming down to look into the room through the keyhole. Both the landlord and his wife later claimed they both looked through the keyhole and saw Pratt and Smith engaging in carnal relations with each other. The landlord then broke open the door to confront them. Bonill was absent but returned a few minutes later with a jug ofale. The landlord went to fetch a police constable and all three men were arrested.[1] The arrest was carried out by Sergeant Robert Valentine of theMetropolitan Police.[6] Valentine took Pratt, Smith and Bonhill to the Union Hall police office inSouthwark, which served as a joint magistrate's court and police station.[7] Local magistrateHensleigh Wedgwood asked some initial questions and found there were sufficient witnesses and evidence to send the group to full trial.[8] As the next sessions of the Old Bailey were not due for a month, they remanded into custody at theHorsemonger Lane Gaol to await trial.[8]
Pratt, Smith and Bonill were tried on 21 September 1835 at theCentral Criminal Court, beforeBaron Gurney,[1] a judge who had the reputation of being independent and acute, but also harsh.[9] Pratt and Smith were convicted under section 15 of theOffences Against the Person Act 1828, which had replaced the1533 Buggery Act, and were sentenced to death by theRecorder of LondonCharles Law.[10][Note 2][Note 3] William Bonill was convicted as an accessory[11] and sentenced to 14 years ofpenal transportation.[1] A number of witnesses came forward to testify to the good character of Pratt.[1] No character witnesses came forward to testify on behalf of Smith.[1]
The conviction of the three men rested entirely on what the landlord and his wife claimed to have witnessed, and the evidence of the police constable who had examined the clothing of both men after his arrival at Bonhill's lodging house. Modern commentators have cast doubts on their testimony, based on the narrow field of vision afforded by a keyhole and the acts (some anatomically impossible) the couple claimed to have witnessed during the brief length of time they were looking.[4][12]
The magistrate, Hensleigh Wedgwood, who hadcommitted the three men to trial,[13] subsequently wrote to theHome Secretary,Lord John Russell, arguing for the commutation of the death sentences, stating:
It is the only crime where there is no injury done to any individual and in consequence it requires a very small expense to commit it in so private a manner and to take such precautions as shall render conviction impossible. It is also the only capital crime that is committed by rich men but owing to the circumstances I have mentioned they are never convicted.
Although Wedgwood was a deeply religious man[Note 4] he did not concur with the then prevailing view of society that sodomy committed between humans should be a capital offence. He also judged it unjust that it was a sentence more likely to befall poorer men than richer men as richer men could afford a private space that would make their arrest less likely. And even if arrested, Wedgwood might have observed, a richer man would have had the resources to postbail money, and then flee abroad.[Note 5][14] However, despite this degree of sympathy, Wedgwood described the men as "degraded creatures" in another letter.[15]
On 5 November 1835,Charles Dickens and the newspaper editorJohn Black visitedNewgate Prison; Dickens wrote an account of this inSketches by Boz and described seeing Pratt and Smith while they were being held there:[16][17]
The other two men were at the upper end of the room. One of them, who was imperfectly seen in the dim light, had his back towards us, and was stooping over the fire, with his right arm on the mantel-piece, and his head sunk upon it. The other was leaning on the sill of the farthest window. The light fell full upon him, and communicated to his pale, haggard face, and disordered hair, an appearance which, at that distance, was ghastly. His cheek rested upon his hand; and, with his face a little raised, and his eyes wildly staring before him, he seemed to be unconsciously intent on counting the chinks in the opposite wall.
The gaoler who was escorting Dickens confidently predicted to him that the two would be executed and was proved right. Seventeen individuals were sentenced to death at the September and October sessions of the Central Criminal Court for offences that included burglary, robbery, and attempted murder. On 21 November, all were granted remission of their death sentences under theRoyal Prerogative of Mercy with the exceptions of Pratt and Smith.[18] There had been previous reprieves of men sentenced to death for sodomy, such as Martin Mellet and James Farthing who had been condemned in 1828 but were insteadtransported to Australia.[19] But this was not granted to Pratt and Smith despite an appeal for mercy submitted by the men's wives that was heard by thePrivy Council.[20] A petition for mercy was even made by the landlord and his wife who had been witnesses against them.[21]
Pratt and Smith were hanged in front ofNewgate Prison on the morning of 27 November. The crowd of spectators was described inThe Times' newspaper report as larger than usual;[22] this was possibly because the hanging was the first to have taken place at Newgate in nearly two years.[23][Note 6]
The report of the execution inThe Morning Post states that when the men were led onto the scaffold the crowd began to hiss, and this continued until the moment of their execution.[2] Possibly this indicated the crowd's disagreement with the execution,[4] or it may have indicated disapproval of the men's alleged acts.[24] Pratt was reportedly too weak to stand, and had to be held upright by the executioner's assistants while preparations were made to hang him.[2]
The event was sufficiently notable for aprinted broadside to be published and sold. This described the men's trial and included the purported text of a final letter that was claimed to have been written by Smith to a friend.[25]
Bonill was one of 290 prisoners transported to Australia on the shipAsia, which departed England on 5 November 1835 and arrived inVan Diemen's Land (nowTasmania) on 21 February 1836.[26] Bonill died at the age of 74 atNew Norfolk Hospital in Van Diemen's Land on 29 April 1841.[27]
While no further executions for sodomy occurred after those of Pratt and Smith, it remained an act that could in theory be punished by capital punishment until 1861.[28]
A collection of contemporary documents, including petitions made on behalf of the men, and letters about their case are held by theUnited Kingdom National Archives.[29]
Both Pratt and Smith are central characters in the stage playParticular Disposition, written by Benjamin Fulk.[30][31][32][33] The song "45 George Street" byBird in the Belly tells their story.[34]
The case of Pratt and Smith is the subject of the non-fiction bookJames and John: A True Story of Prejudice and Murder byChris Bryant MP published in February 2024.[35]
In April 2024,SouthwarkLiberal Democrat councillor Victor Chamberlain proposed arainbow plaque be unveiled onBlackfriars Road to commemorate Pratt and Smith.[36]
