The New Newgate Calendar

The U.S. states of Washington and Oregon both hanged murderers on this date in 1902. Oregon The death knell for local public(ish) hangings in Oregon took... read more »

We’re often asked for advice about finding out more about defendants than is contained in the digitised Proceedings. This guest post by Chris Barnes... read more »

Tuesday 14 January 1840 The Rules, Sarah Martin’s Everyday Book The Gaoler stops the prison visitor on her way to teach the boys in the House of... read more »

On Saturday, January 3, 1857, the Archbishop of Paris Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont when Jean-Loiuis Verger stepped... read more »

Part III: Battles in courtThe Victorian alienists had to fight innumerable battles in court, but no one victory ever won the war.  The most caustic... read more »

Henry Charles Lea‘s A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages brings us the following anecdote of the Kafkaesque legal trap in which those... read more »

January 28, 1820 was the scheduled hanging-date for Stephen Boorn in Vermont, who was spared by the stroke of luck in one of the Republic’s seminal... read more »

On this date in 1868, a trio of notorious Italian brigands went under the French guillotine in Marseilles. Joseph Coda-Zabetta, the leader, had escaped... read more »

My attention was caught by Marion Diamond's recent blog, 'Reading Old Letters.' learnearnandreturn.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/reading_old_letters Marion... read more »

We turn today to William Crookshank’s (certainly partisan) narrative of the hanging of two Scottish Covenanters on this date in Edinburgh, as told... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this day in 1928, a lawman was electrocuted in Nashville, Tennessee for the... read more »

Monday 13 January 1840 Today the prison visitor must chide 'the little boys' again: 'it made me very unhappy every day I came to find either one or other... read more »

Ten men were executed at dawn on this date in 1962 in Tunis for an assassination plot against President Habib Bourguiba. Lazhar Chraiti. His daughter... read more »

During the last year of the First World War, on the night of 17/18 May, over 70 leading members of Sinn Fein were arrested under the terms of the Defence... read more »

A guest post by Adrian Teal, who will be well known to some readers as a caricaturist with leanings towards the 18th century… When you're spending... read more »

The Neapolitan King Robert “the Wise”* dominated Italian politics for his 34-year reign, but his death in 1343 left a disastrously disputed... read more »

For every crime, and every offender traced to the streets of sprawling Victorian cities, we capture a few moments of life unfolding before us on the page.... read more »

The winner of England’s last fatal duel was hanged at Newgate on this date in 1855 … but not for the duel. Both participants in that duel,... read more »

January 21 is the feast date and traditional martyrdom date (in the year 304) of Agnes of Rome, a 13-year-old put to death in the Diocletian persecutions... read more »

A 37-second security camera clip of a Tehran being mugged by machete-wielding assailants went viral to great outrage in Iran in December 2012, and resulted... read more »

Welcome to the new occasional series on celebrity cases...Broken Criminal Minds : I - Richard Dadd: artist, murderer, inmateAt the time of Daniel M'Naghten's... read more »

Sunday 12 January 1840 Sarah Martin gathers her strength to deliver her Sunday morning sermon in the prison chapel. Rarely does she miss a visit to the... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this date in 1891, middle-aged widower James M. Eubanks was hanged in the yard... read more »

I started blogging in about May 2004, near the end of the early phase of the history of blogging, although the history blogosphere and academic blogging... read more »

On this date in 2000, music producer Bill Ham — noted as the manager of ZZ Top — settled into the witness booth at Huntsville to watch Spencer... read more »

This week the Office of National Statistics has reported that they are no longer designating the Police Recorded Crime figures as 'National Statistics'.... read more »

On this date in 1944, German freethinker Max Sievers was beheaded at Brandenburg Prison for “conspiracy to commit high treason along with favouring... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this date in 1942, Senitsa Vershovsky was shot in the city of Kremenchuk in... read more »

Detail from George Cruikshank's illustration for original serialisation of Oliver Twist (1837-9). Courtesy David Perdue's Dickens Page Wednesday 8 January... read more »

On this date in 1973,* under the then-new martial law regime of Philippines strongman Ferdinand Marcos, a 52-year-old Chinese businessman was shot at Fort... read more »

January 14, 1730, was the date appointed for the public hanging in Philadelphia of James Prouse and James Mitchel for burglary. Prouse, for his part, admitted... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this date in 1869, a man named William German was lynched by the newly formed... read more »

Samuel Wright and George Townley both murdered romantic partners late in 1863. Both were tried, convicted, and condemned to hang in very short order and... read more »

The British Society for Eighteenth-century Studies has awarded its 2014 prize for the best digital resource supporting eighteenth- century studies to Locating... read more »

Warning: Graphic severed head pictures await at the bottom of this post. On this date in 1911, the guillotine returned France after an absence of more... read more »

'Sarah Martin the Jail Missionary' Women of Worth: A Book for Girls (London: James Hogg, 1859), p. 58 Tuesday 7 January 1840 Yesterday the boys in the... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) One year ago today, 57-year-old Zhang Yongming was executed in China, just six... read more »

In the days of capital punishment, The M'Naghten Rules, first drafted in 1843, were Britain's early response to criminal behaviour acted out while apparently... read more »

A year ago today, a blindfolded, white-clad Rizana Nafeek had her head chopped off in public in Dawadmy, near the Saudi capital of Riyadh. Rizana Nafeek,... read more »

In my earlier post, “How many prisoners were buried at Gloucester Prison?”, I reported that out of the 121 prisoners who were hanged at Gloucester... read more »

On this date in 1690, the Russian stolnik (an administrative office in the Russian court) Andrei Ilyich Bezobrazov was put to death with the magicians... read more »

On this date in 1355, the 29-year-old lover of the Portuguese crown prince was put to summary death by the reigning king’s minions. Ines de Castro... read more »

Monday 6 January 1840 Detail from 'Sarah Martin the Jail Missionary' Women of Worth: A Book for Girls (London: James Hogg, 1859), p. 58 'The young Boys... read more »

Felix Platter is our narrator for Guillaume Dalencon’s death at the stake on this date in 1554. This book portrays the 16th century through the... read more »

Sunday 5 January 1840 Underground cells, Tolhouse, Great Yarmouth Borough Gaol On Friday, Sarah Martin wrote of a sixteen-year-old factory girl imprisoned... read more »

(From the Newgate Calendar) At the Admiralty sessions, held at the Old Bailey, on the 17th of December, 1770, David Ferguson, master of the merchant-ship... read more »

War in the Shadows: the Irish-American Fenians who bombed Victorian Britain. Dr Shane Kenna, Merrion, 2014. read more »

LONDON, Jan. 4 (U.P.) — The Morocco radio tonight quoted an announcement from General Henri Honore Giraud’s headquarters that an unspecified... read more »

Thursday 2 January 1840 Market Row, Great Yarmouth where 2 boys broke into Mr Cohen’s shop.Courtesy Norfolk County Council We do not know if prisoners... read more »

On this date in 1898, an ornery gold prospector became the victim of an Alaskan miner’s court … and a great gold rush scam. This is a tragic... read more »