The New Newgate Calendar

Chinese serial killer Gong Runbo was executed on this date in 2006. Runbo’s Jeffrey Dahmer-like hidden life had been exposed that February when a... read more »

The publishers of the Penny Cyclopæedia presumably believed they were contributing to public knowledge and entertainment at the same time. From... read more »

In the past few years we have rightly been exercised by child abuse and while most of the dreadful stories in circulation have concerned individuals such... read more »

Elizabeth Woolcock on December 30, 1873 became the first and only woman ever hanged in South Australia. The daughter of a gold prospector, Elizabeth Oliver... read more »

One of the things that fascinates me about exploring the reports of cases in the old newspapers is the references to London landmarks (famous and mundane)... read more »

On this date in 1594, Catholic militant Jean Châtel was dismembered for the near-assassination of King Henri IV. Just two days before his public... read more »

  Today we are protected by considerable and complex laws affecting our consumer rights. Food is labeled (albeit confusingly at times) with levels... read more »

In 1869, the Tasmanian Government had made an bonus offer of 1000 pounds for the first firm that was to make sales of 1000 pounds of woollen goods that... read more »

From the San Francisco Bulletin, Dec. 28 1888: read more »

It is fairly unusual to see the police in the dock at the Police Courts, mostly they appear as prosecutors or witnesses. However, from the creation of... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On December 27, 1864, Richard Hale was hanged at the Stafford Gaol for the murder... read more »

This is the martyrdom date in 831 for the iconodule saint Euthymius of Sardis. Euthymius was just a child when Byzantium’s century-long internal... read more »

The London Police Courts did not sit on Christmas Day but the Boxing Day papers were still published for Victorian fathers and grandfathers to read over... read more »

On this date in 2014, Saudi Arabia beheaded Ismail Khan Sayed for smuggling “a large amount” of heroin into the kingdom. Despite (or because... read more »

  In the 1860s the Police Courts closed at Christmas but just as we are used to that last minute rush for a present so the Victorian court system... read more »

Old Blighty celebrated Christmas Eve of 1744 by weighing the Tyburn’s triple tree with no fewer than 18 thieves — 16 men, one woman, and one... read more »

As Christmas approached I decided to look in the British Newspaper Archive confident it would have some suitably salutary stories about how Christmas... read more »

PC George Stent (186M) was patrolling his beat along Rockingham Street at about 10.30 on the evening of the 14 December 1870 when he heard a noise.... read more »

This date in 1569, Orthodox Metropolitan Philip II of Moscow was martyred for his opposition to Ivan the Terrible. He was elevated in 1566 as Russia’s... read more »

Borough Market in the 1860s Later today I’m off to doing my Christmas food shopping at Borough Market in Southwark.  Today its a cosmopolitan... read more »

On this date in 1651, Sweden’s Queen Christina revenged a libel on the head of Arnold Johan Messenius and his 17-year-old son. The educated and determinedly... read more »

The operating theatre at St Thomas’ Church in London [http://thegarret.org.uk] In December 1836 the Union Hall police magistrate was presented with... read more »

The unique appearance of the Hobart Synagogue is truly remarkable as it the oldest synagogue in Australia and is also a very rare example of a style of... read more »

  In 1827 the Metropolitan Police were yet to be created. Sir Robert Peel (Home Secretary from 1822 to April 1827) was not in post but would... read more »

By Cassie Watson; posted 21 December 2016. The literature that considers law and crime in the city of Oxford is relatively sparse. Giles Brindley’s... read more »

Pakistan Pakistan hanged four militants on December 21, 2014, after abruptly lifting a standing moratorium on the death penalty in response to a Taliban... read more »

The Swan & Sugar Loaf pub in Holborn, c.1919 Joseph Howitt, the landlord of the Swan and Sugarloaf pub in Fetter Lane found himself in front of... read more »

The honor posterity pays to Sir Thomas More‘s valor for his own eventual martyrdom has always been attenuated by More’s own keenness to visit... read more »

Continuing the tradition of a compendium post in the run-up to Christmas - here is this year's selection of seasonal madness and crime…Cruickshank... read more »

Our conference to mark the completion of the Digital Panopticon project will be held on 13-15 September 2017, St George’s Hall, Liverpool,... read more »

Do you know the muffin man? The muffin man, the muffin man. Do you know the muffin man Who lives in Drury Lane? Are you familiar with this old nursery... read more »

From the Monroeville (Ala.) Monroe Journal reported on Christmas Day 1925: For the second time within a period of forty years, Monroe County has had a... read more »

Eastern State Penitentiary (Philadelphia) as it is today Today’s tale from the Police Courts is less of a particular crime and more a report of how... read more »

On about the 18th December 1942 a group of about 6 prisoners intended to escape but were betrayed by somebody. All six prisoners were led out ofthe camp... read more »

As far back as 1827 Archdeacon Scott, at the Instigation of Thomas Anstey, Police Magistrate of Oatlands, had applied to the Government for appointment... read more »

Jack Hall, chimney sweep turned robber turned folk song antihero, hanged at Tyburn on this date in 1707, along with five other men. Two of those others,... read more »

It is the time of year when charities ask us for money to help the homeless, the elderly, refugees and abandoned pets. Of course they do this all year... read more »

On this date in 1946, Alawite prophet Sulaiman Murshid (German Wikipedia) was hanged by the newly independent state of Syria as a traitor and a blasphemer.... read more »

Sketch of the “Shocking tragedy at Bourton-on-the-Water” in the Illustrated Police News, 8 Jan 1881, via British Newspaper Archive. (Image... read more »

1888 is a year which has gone down in criminal infamy for the unsolved murders committed by the person known to history as ‘Jack the Ripper’.... read more »

  Mr. and Mrs Chabot had not long been married when they appeared at the Lambeth Police Court in December 1847. The appearance was a memorable one,... read more »

Merry England – An engraving by William Heath from 1831 showing the artist’s view of justice. Taken from The Hanging Tree by Vic Gattrell.... read more »

Thanks to James Joyce for the guest post on “the ancient tribe of the Joyces”, originally published as “Ireland at the Bar” on... read more »

Mughal prince Murad Bakhsh, the youngest son of Taj Mahal builder Shah Jahan, was executed on December 14, 1661.* There’s blood in the stones …... read more »

  The 13 December 1867 saw a massive terrorist attack in London. Irish republicans (‘Fenians’ as they were called) exploded a bomb at... read more »

Here is something a little different to usual that I discovered whilst reading through one of noted Hobart historian Donald Howatson’s sensational... read more »

On this date in 1943, German troops occupying Greece massacred the entire male population of the town Kalavryta. Weeks earlier, resistance partisans had... read more »

This week I thought I’d do something different, so I have a short film for you. My girlfriend did the flowers for a wedding at Woodhill Hall... read more »

Willow Walk goods yard in the early 20th Century  John Wright was employed as an inspector by the London and Brighton Railway Company*. He was on... read more »

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Dec. 13, 1924: Shreveport, La., Dec. 12 — Alfred Sharpe, about 25 years old, a negro, was hanged here today... read more »