At Ford’s Theatre in Washington on 14 April 1865, Abraham Lincoln was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth.

After shooting President Lincoln, Booth jumped down to the stage and shouted, ‘Sic temper tyrannis’ (‘thus always to tyrants’).

Wilkes Booth was a member of one of America’s most famous acting families and was also fanatical in his support for the Confederacy.

To mark the sad day, here are two early reports of the assassination, as carried by English newspapers in April 1865.