© OCCPA

The Town Hall opened on 28 July 1753, and in its court room two weeks later John Billingsgate was sentenced for several offences including scandal, abuse and swearing. His fate was to have his tongue cut out, and a scaffold was duly erected in front of the Town Hall for the purpose of carrying out his sentence. As Billingsgate went to the scaffold he was attended by a large crowd of women from the fish markets of London, expressing great concern for their friend though the significance of this is unknown. He was reported to have behaved decently, as he ‘did not swear above a dozen times from his house to the foot of the scaffold’.

When on the scaffold Billingsgate announced to the assembled crowd that he would make final use of his tongue to confess his many sins. He told the gathering that he was born of honest parents, and that he would have never met this end had he stayed in school rather than spending his time gambling in the cockpits. He had moved on to bullying debtors in the hope of spiriting up clients in the form of the unfortunate people’s creditors. He confessed to having killed a famous antiquarian and from that day forward had continued on a spree of slaughter until he had finally satiated his desire for abuse. He turned to the sheriff and whispered something, but only the ending could be heard as he concluded, ‘Theodocia was a good girl, but God damn Sarah Walker.’ At which point he began to rant and rave. The executioner told him that his time had come and immediately carried out his business.