Caleb Smith

On 14 April, at their home in Croydon, thirty eight year old Smith and his common-law wife, Emma Elizabeth Osbourne had another in a long series of drunken quarrels during which she slapped him across the face. In a rage he pulled out his razor and cut her throat before turning the blade on himself. He was tried at the Central Criminal Court on 24th July, and pleaded manslaughter through provocation, but the jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out by William Marwood on the 14th August 1877 in Horsemonger Lane.