Jack Hall (around 1673/7 – 17 December 1707) was an English thief. He is the subject of a traditional British folksong "Jack Hall" (now better known as " Sam Hall",

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

369).

Life

Born John Hall to Rebecca and Anthony Hall, a cobbler, in Bishop's Head Court, near

Gray's Inn Lane Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in Central London, located in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at its junction with Holborn at the City of London boundary, passes north through the Holborn and King's Cross, ...

, Holborn, London. His date of birth is uncertain: before he was executed on 17 December 1707 he gave his age as 32, which would indicate that he was born in late 1673, or in 1674, but parish records show he was baptised at

St Andrew Holborn __NOTOC__ St Andrew Holborn was an ancient English parish that until 1767 was partly in the City of London and mainly in the county of Middlesex. Its City, thus southern, part retained its former name or was sometimes officially referred to as ...

on 18 January 1677. He became a

chimney sweep A chimney sweep is a person who inspects then clears soot and creosote from chimneys. The chimney uses the pressure difference caused by a hot column of gas to create a draught and draw air over the hot coals or wood enabling continued combust ...

(in some accounts he was sold when young to a chimney sweep for a

guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

). In later life he became a notorious thief. In 1707 he was arrested along with Stephen Bunce and Dick Low for a

burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime involving the illegal entry into a building or other area without permission, typically with the intention of committing a further criminal offence. Usually ...

committed at the house of Captain Guyon, near Stepney. All three were convicted and hanged at

Tyburn Tyburn was a Manorialism, manor (estate) in London, Middlesex, England, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. Tyburn took its name from the Tyburn Brook, a tributary of the River Westbourne. The name Tyburn, from Teo Bourne ...

on 17 December 1707.

Song

A broadsheet of his Gallows Confessional was put to the melody of "

Captain Kidd William Kidd (c. 1645 – 23 May 1701), also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd, was a Scottish-American privateer. Conflicting accounts exist regarding his early life, but he was likely born in Dundee and later settled in Ne ...

", previously executed for piracy in 1701. Jack Hall's song was made popular in the 1850s with the adaptation " Sam Hall" by English comic minstrel, W. G. Ross. sources:

References

External links

* Jack Hall's entry from DNB from Wikisource
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey London 1674 to 1913
– Archive of case details for Jack Hall {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Jack 1670s births 1707 deaths 17th-century English people 18th-century executions 18th-century English criminals Criminals from London People from Holborn Chimney sweeps British thieves People executed by England by hanging Executed people from London People executed by public hanging People executed for theft British people convicted of burglary