Story

Jack Hall was a criminal who, as a young boy, was sold to a chimney sweep

Chimney sweep

A chimney sweep is a worker who clears ash and soot 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 combustion. Chimneys may be straight or contain many changes of direction. During...

 for a guinea

Guinea

Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

. In later life he became a notorious highwayman. In 1707 he was arrested along with Stephen Bunce and Dick Low for a burglary committed at the house of Captain Guyon, near Stepney. All three were convicted and hanged at Tyburn

Tyburn

Tyburn is a former village just outside the then boundaries of London that was best known as a place of public execution.Tyburn may also refer to:* Tyburn , river and historical water source in London...

 on December 7, 1707. The song was made popular in the 1850s with the adaptation Sam Hall

Sam Hall (song)

“Sam Hall” is an old English folk song about a bitterly unrepentant criminal condemned to death . Prior to the mid 19th century it was called “Jack Hall”, after an infamous English thief, who was hanged in 1707 at Tyburn...

 by English comic minstrel, C.W. Ross. The song shares some similarities and tune with a song called Captain Kidd, who was executed for piracy in London in 1701. Comparisons should also be made with the song about Admiral Benbow

John Benbow

John Benbow was an English officer in the Royal Navy. He joined the navy aged 25 years, seeing action against Algerian pirates before leaving and joining the merchant navy where he traded until the Glorious Revolution of 1688, whereupon he returned to the Royal Navy and was commissioned.Benbow...

, who was wounded in action off the West Indies in 1702.

Recordings

Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....

 recorded Jack Hall on their album Tempted and Tried (1989). It was also released as B-side of the single The Fox (1990).

The Group Sex Poets also recorded a slightly modified version of the song, which was re-interpreted by front man Sean Patrick McDonald in 2010 and released on their debut EP The Jack Hall EP (2011).

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