was received into the best society, and was 'universally allowed an accomplished scholar and a man of great science.' He frequented especially the Scots and Irish colleges at Paris, and is even said to have served in the French army. He ventured one or two visits to England and Scotland, during one of which he was married. In 1797 he came to live in England, having apparently a 'distant intention' of surrendering himself. On 28 Oct. 1801 he wrote to the home secretary, Lord Pelham, offering to stand his trial, and was soon after arrested at a house in Upper Thornhaugh Street, Bedford Square, where he was living with his wife under the name of Thompson.
Wall was tried for the murder of Armstrong on 20 Jan. 1802 at the Old Bailey by a special commission, presided over by Chief-baron Sir Archibald Macdonald. Wall, himself addressed the court, but had the assistance of Newman Knowlys, afterwards recorder of London, and John (subsequently Baron) Gurney, in examining and cross-examining witnesses. The chief evidence for the prosecution was given by the doctor and orderly-sergeant who were on duty during Armstrong's punishment. All the officers had died. The evidence was not shaken in any material point, and the charge of mutiny was not sustained. Wall declared that the prejudice against him in 1784 had been too strong to afford him assurance at that time of a fair trial; that the charges then made against him had been disproved, and that the one relating to Armstrong came as a surprise to him. The trial lasted from 9 A.M. till eleven at night, and resulted in a verdict of 'guilty.' After having been twice respited, he was ordered for execution on Thursday, 28 Jan. Great efforts to obtain a pardon were vainly made by his wife's relative, Charles Howard, tenth duke of Norfolk [q. v.], and the privy council held several deliberations on the case. His fate was probably decided by the apprehension that, in the temper of the public, it would be unwise to spare an officer condemned for brutality to his soldiers while almost contemporaneously sailors were being executed at Spithead for mutiny against their officers. At eight o'clock, when Wall appeared from his cell in Newgate, he was received with three shouts by an immense crowd who had assembled to witness the carrying out of the sentence. The event is said to have excited more public interest than any of a similar character since the death of Mrs. Brownrigg, and in case of a pardon a riot was even apprehended. The body was only formally dissected, and, having been handed over to his family, was buried in St. Pancras Church. Wall left several children by his wife Frances, fifth daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie, lord Fortrose (afterwards Earl of Seaforth). He was six feet four inches in height, and of 'a genteel appearance.' Mr. F. Danby Palmer had in his possession a drinking-horn, bearing on one side a carved representation of the punishment of Armstrong, in which a label issuing from Wall's mouth attributes to him a barbarous exhortation to the flogger, and on the reverse a descriptive inscription. Evans mentions a portrait by an unknown artist (Cat. Engr. Portraits, 22456).
Wall had a brother Augustine, who served with him in the army till the peace of 1763, and afterwards went to the Irish bar. He died about 1780 in Ireland. He is described as 'a very polished gentleman of great literary acquirements,' whose productions in prose and verse were 'highly spoken of for their classical elegance and taste;' but his chief title to remembrance was the fact of his having been the first who published parliamentary reports with the full names of the speakers.
[An Authentic Narrative of the Life of Joseph Wall, Esq., late Governor of Goree, to which is annexed a Faithful and Comprehensive Account of his Execution, 2nd edit. 1802, was written by 'a Military Officer,' who describes himself as an intimate of the family. See also State Trials, 1802-3, pp. 51-178 (from Gurney's shorthand notes); Trial of Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Wall, 1802 (from shorthand notes of Messrs. Blanchard and Ramsey); Manual of Military Law, 1894, pp. 194-5, 206-8; Browne's Narratives of State Trials, 1882, i. 28-42; Trial of Governor Wall, published by Fred Farrall (1867?), described as 'the only edition extant,' with some additional preliminary information; Gent. Mag. 1802, i. 81; European Mag. 1802, i. 74, 154; Ann. Reg. 1802, Append, to Chron. pp. 560-8; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. viii. 438, 6th ser. viii. 208, 9th ser. ii. 129; Georgian Era, ii. 466.]
WALL, MARTIN (1747–1824), physician, son of John Wall (1708-1776) [q. v.], was baptised at Worcester on 24 June 1747. He was educated at Winchester school, and entered at New College, Oxford, on 21 Nov. 1763. He graduated B. A. on 17 June 1770, M.A. on 2 July 1771, M.D. on 9 June 1773, and was a fellow of his college from 1763 to 1778. He studied medicine at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and in Edinburgh. He began practice at Oxford in 1774, and on 2 Nov. 1775 was elected physician to the Radcliffe infirmary. He was appointed reader
