By Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
April 29, 2008
IT reads like a tale straight out of Oliver Twist. A young boy falls under the spell of a hardened criminal and is schooled in the art of pick-pocketing and thieving on the streets of London.
But for this young criminal from Edinburgh there was to be no happy ending - he was executed at the notorious Tyburn gallows, near the site of the modern Marble Arch, on May 18, 1743.
The account of the behaviour, confession and dying words of George Watson - a 17-year-old of "honest and reputable parents in the City of Edinburgh [but] very much disposed to thieving, picking pockets and breaking of houses" - is just one of the 200,000 or so cases from London's central criminal court archives from 1674 to 1913 set to go online.
George's execution is the earliest record of an Edinburgh man to fall foul of the London courts. He was the prodigal son of a "Scotch merchant" who ran away from home and found his way to London, where he was "reckon'd one of the most dextrous pick-pockets about the town".
The account continues: "Being in London, he associated himself with the vilest company of men and women he could meet with, and they finding him a very wicked boy fit for their purpose, trained him up in their works of darkness."
George's father, a hardware salesman based in Edinburgh, would often be in London on business but shunned his son's attempts to get in touch for fear it would harm his reputation. George was eventually caught and indicted for breaking into the house of a Thomas Meckwold on February 24, 1743.
The record says that on the day of his death he "believed in Christ, repented of his sins, and was in peace with all men".
As well as offering access to over 210,000 trials, the newly released material provides biographical details of around 3000 men and women executed at Tyburn.
The archive was compiled by the humanities research institute at the University of Sheffield and the service is free of charge. Dorothy Tweedie, treasurer of the Scottish Genealogy Society, said: "London has always been a magnet for ne'er-do-wells running away from home and thinking they can get lost in the big city - but they invariably ended up in some kind of trouble.
"There was also a lot of trade between the Port of Leith and London and sailors in these times also had a habit of getting into trouble when they were away from home.
"I think this will be a fabulous resource for anyone looking to see if they've got a black sheep in the family."
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