King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

Private John Muckett – Executed for Murder

From The Morning Post, 16th March 1807:
“John Muckett, convicted of the wilful murder of his wife, at Colchester, in September last (1806), was at length executed for the offence. He was a private soldier in the 1st Battalion of the 4th Foot. The miserable culprit was brought upon the platform at half past eight, when he addressed the spectators in a firm and audible manner, acknowledging the justice of his sentence; though he solemnly declared he had not the most distant idea of causing the death of his wife, when, in the intemperance of passion, he inflicted the blows which had been the occasion of terminating her existence; and earnestly exhorted the spectators to bear in mind the dreadful example they had then before them, of the consequence of suffering a sudden impulse of anger to get the better of the understanding.”