William Booth

William Booth ( 1776 – 15 August 1812) was an English farmer and forger, who was hanged for his crimes. He is the subject of the song "Twice Tried, Twice Hung, Twice Buried" by Jon Raven and a book. Several geographical features in Birmingham, near his former home, carry his name.

Early life

Booth was born at Hall End Farm near Beaudesert, Warwickshire and was baptised at the church there on 21 February 1776. He was one of eight children of a farmer and church warden, John Booth, and his wife Mary.

On 28 February 1799, Booth signed a 25-year lease for what became known (by 1821 if not earlier) as "Booth's Farm", including a farmhouse and 200 acres of land, Booth converted the top floor of the farmhouse into a fortified workshop where he produced forgeries of those banknotes, as well as promissory notes, coins, tokens and other material of monetary value.

Once his activities came to light, a raiding party was convened on 16 March 1812, led by a constable from Birmingham, John Linwood, and comprising ten special constables and seven dragoons.

Booth was arrested, and charged with five counts: over two days, on 15 August 1812 was bungled, and he fell through the scaffold's trap door to the floor.

He was survived by his father, Several of his tokens, forgeries and printing plates are in the collection of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. One token is in the British Museum. Booth's posthumous notoriety meant that his tokens became so collectable that they themselves became the subject of forgeries. ) was sentenced to 14 years, departing in August 1813 on the . Prior to the voyage, she wrote, from the ship, at Deptford, on 8 July 1813, to the Bank of England:

and received £5 from them She arrived at Port Jackson (now Sydney), New South Wales on 9 January 1814. was demolished in 1974, As late as October 1956, 45 bank tokens forged by Booth, using metal alloy instead of silver, were found in a garden on Foden Road, formerly part of the farm.

What remained of the farm became a sand and gravel quarry (the site is on Bunter Pebble Beds