James Pratt and John Smith

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James Pratt (1805–1835),[1][2] also known as John Pratt, and John Smith (1795–1835)[1][2] were two
London men who, in November 1835, became the last two to be executed for sodomy in
England.[3] Pratt and Smith were arrested in August of that year after being convicted of having sex in
the room of another man, William Bonill.

Contents

 1Biographies
 2Arrest
 3Trial and execution
  4Representation in other media
 5Notes
 6References

Biographies[edit]
James Pratt was born in 1805 and worked as a groom.[3] He was married and lived with his wife and
children at Deptford, London.[Note 1] John Smith was born in 1795 and was from Southwark
Christchurch,[1] He was described in court proceedings[4] and contemporary newspaper reports as an
unmarried labourer,[2] although other sources state he was married and worked as a servant.[3]

Arrest[edit]
William Bonill, aged 68, had lived for 13 months in a rented room at a house near the Blackfriars
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.
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
sexual intimacy between Pratt and Smith, so the landlord broke open the door to confront them.
Bonill was absent, but returned a few minutes later with a jug of ale. The landlord went to fetch a
policeman and all three men were arrested.[1]

Trial and execution[edit]

An execution outside Newgate Prison, early 19th century

Pratt, Smith and Bonill were tried on 21 September 1835 at the Central Criminal Court, before Baron
Gurney,[4] a judge who had the reputation of being independent and acute, but also harsh.[5] Pratt and
Smith were convicted under section 15 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1828, which had
replaced the 1533 Buggery Act, and were sentenced to death.[Note 2][Note 3] William Bonill was convicted
as an accessory[6] and sentenced to 14 years of penal transportation.[4] A number of witnesses came
forward to testify to the good character of James Pratt.[1] No character witnesses came forward to
testify on behalf of John Smith.[4] The conviction of the three men rested entirely on what the landlord
and his wife claimed to have witnessed through the keyhole; there was no other evidence against
them. 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.[7][8]
The magistrate Hensleigh Wedgwood, who had committed the three men to trial,[9] subsequently
wrote to the Home 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 Wedgewood was a deeply religious individual, he contradicted the prevailing view that gay
sex was harmful. He also cited the injustice that only poorer men were likely to be caught having it.
Even if a rich man was arrested, he would have the resources to post bail money, and then flee
abroad.[Note 4][10] However, despite this degree of sympathy, Wedgwood described the men as
"degraded creatures" in another letter.[11]
On 5 November 1835, Charles Dickens and the newspaper editor John Black visited Newgate
Prison; Dickens wrote an account of this in Sketches by Boz and described seeing Pratt and Smith
while they were being held there:[12]
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.

— "A Visit to Newgate"

The gaoler who was escorting Dickens confidently predicted to him that the two would be executed
and was proven correct. 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
the Royal Prerogative of Mercy with the exceptions of Pratt and Smith.[13] There had been previous
reprievals of men sentenced to death for sodomy, such as Martin Mellet and James Farthing who
had been condemned in 1828 but were instead transported to Australia.[14] But this was not granted
to Pratt and Smith despite an appeal for mercy submitted by the men's wives that was heard by
the Privy Council.[15]
Pratt and Smith were hanged in front of Newgate Prison on the morning of 27 November. The crowd
of spectators was described in a newspaper report as larger than usual;[16] this was possibly because
the hanging was the first to have taken place at Newgate in nearly two years.[17][Note 5]
The report of the execution in The Morning Post[2] states that when the men were led onto the
scaffold the crowd began to hiss, and this continued until the moment of their execution. Possibly
this indicated the crowd's disagreement with the execution,[7] or it may have indicated disapproval of
the men's alleged acts.[18] James 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 a printed 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 John Smith to a friend.[19] William Bonill was one of 290 prisoners transported to Australia on the
ship Asia, which departed England on 5 November 1835 and arrived in Van Diemen's Land
(now Tasmania) on 21 February 1836.[20] Bonill died at the New Norfolk Hospital in Van Diemen's
Land on 29 April 1841.[21]