The New Newgate Calendar

On this date in 1851, Ruben Dunbar hanged in New York for murdering two little boys: the 8- and 10-year-old nephews to his widowed mother’s second... read more »

If you’re into your crime history, it’s well worth signing up to this year’s Scottish Association of Family History Societies’... read more »

Today we move south of the river and up to Woolwich, home of the Arsenal (the ordnance factory that is, it would be another three years until the football... read more »

On this date in 1937, Georgy Pyatakov was condemned to death and shot in Moscow as a Trotskyist conspirator. Pyatakov (English Wikipedia entry | the more... read more »

Continuing my analysis of one whole week in the reporting of the Police Courts here is the case of a man who claimed to be related to a famous politician... read more »

On this date in 1696, Thomas Randal was executed and hanged in chains for the robbery-murder of a Quaker named Roger Levens or Leavens. Despite what the... read more »

The story of George Wyatt, who admitted to robbing a jeweller on Houndsditch in January 1883, resurfaced in Monday’s papers. Wyatt had been remanded... read more »

On this date in 1591, Agnes Sampson, the “Wise Wife of Keith”, went to the stake at Edinburgh during the North Berwick Witch Trials. Perhaps... read more »

An old clothes shop in the Jewish community of Houndsditch  In 1883 Mr Samuel Morris Samuels ran a jewellers shop at 157 Houndsditch in the City of... read more »

Another 1920s murder case this week; and although all murders are upsetting, this one is particularly so, as it involves a young girl from Wales, and her... read more »

The Council of the Rats by Gustave Doré (1867) This case demonstrates the power of the Victorian press in highlighting social issues, albeit on... read more »

Original Dublin broadsheet via James Kelly’s Gallows Speeches: From Eighteenth-Century Ireland: THE LAST SPEECH AND DYING WORDS OF JAMES CASADY Beggar... read more »

On this date in 2015, Islamic State militants occupying the Syrian oil city of al-Shaddadah or al-Shaddadi horrifically beheaded a man on a public square.... read more »

The Union Jack, juvenile reading matter from 1880 Thomas and Roger Casement were avid readers, or so their father believed. The pair of adolescents (Thomas... read more »

On this date in 1830, the Galician or Portuguese pirate Benito de Soto was hanged at Gibraltar. One of the very last of the dying breed of high-seas pirates,... read more »

Tonight will be the last episode of my new favourite TV programme; A House Through Time. If you know me or my research, you'll know that it's right up... read more »

Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum in the late 1800s. Munster House was much smaller but I can’t find a surviving image of it. The Victorian Police Courts... read more »

South Korea’s dictator reluctantly commuted the death sentence of democracy activist Kim Dae-jung on January 24, 1981 … a gesture that would... read more »

The First Fleet entering Port Jackson (26 January 1788, Wikimedia Commons). Digital Panopticon PhD student Emma Watkins (University of Liverpool) has created... read more »

In January 1861 three ‘hearty-looking men’ appeared at the Southwark Police court in front of Mr Combe, the magistrate presiding. The trio... read more »

The Society of Genealogists is holding a half-day course on crime records. The course, hosted by professional genealogist Antony Marr, will take place... read more »

(Thanks to Robert Elder of Last Words of the Executed — the blog, and the book — for the guest post. This post originally appeared on the Last... read more »

  Relaunching and reconfiguring of the website and separating the original blog into three separate sites: chrispaynebooks.com, victoriandetectives.com... read more »

Finsbury Square, c.1828 I am breaking, ever so slightly, with the normal pattern of these blog posts today. This story concerns the police courts but is... read more »

From the New York Times, Jan. 23, 1886: NEW-ORLEANS, La., Jan. 22. — Last July Henry Britton, of Minden Junction, was found murdered in his store.... read more »

Middle Row, Holborn, in the nineteenth century Henry Holesworth was strolling along High Holborn early on Friday evening, the 19th January 1855, when he... read more »

On this date in 1716, the Ottomans extinguished their Wallachian (Romanian) client king — and with him native rule on that soil. The Cantacuzino... read more »

When Mr Abrahams returned from a visit to the music hall on the 2nd of January he realised he’d lost a scarf pin. It was a valuable item, set with... read more »

In 18657 Henry Mayhew wrote that that there were 8,600 prostitutes in London who were ‘known to the police’ (others suggested that in total... read more »

Actor Lytton Grey, on the right in this image, was married to one of my ancestors; and attended her 18-year-old sister’s illegal marriage (©... read more »

Pennsylvania, that state once described as Philadelphia in the east and Pittsburgh in the west with Alabama in between, had dueling hangings in its two... read more »

In January 1856 the Crimean War was nearly at an end. The battle of Balaklava (25/10/1854) and Inkerman (25/1/1855) had both taken place and as Austria... read more »

From the London Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, Feb. 2, 1767. An Account of the CRUELTIES, exercised by JOHN WILLIAMSON on his wife, whereby she left... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) Shortly after midnight on this date in 1884, a mob of masked men dragged Michael... read more »

PC 45S was making his way down Brewer Street in central London at six in the morning when he heard a cry of ‘murder’ from inside one of the... read more »

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Jan. 18, 1890: CLINTON, La., Jan. 17. — [Special.] — At 1:15 this afternoon the witnesses summoned by... read more »

Coverage of the case from the Sheffield Evening Telegraph made explicit the unlikelihood of the perpetrator being found On 17 January 1920, Mrs Frances... read more »

In the Victorian period the ornamental lake in St James’ Park was occasionally turned into an impromptu  skating rink. There are reports of... read more »

Colonial Massachusetts sailor Bryan Sheehen culminated a life of warped relations with the opposite sex at his hanging on this date in 1772. According... read more »

Jewish immigrants on Petticoat lane, by George Eastman House The newspaper reports of the late Victorian police courts offer us a window into a past society.... read more »

Villainous blacks, and MORE VILLAINOUS WHITES who have reduced to the level of the beasts of the field these unhappy Africans — and are now obliged... read more »

Today living with someone you are not married to is almost as normal as being wed. There is no stigma attached to unmarried cohabitation and similarly... read more »

Speaker John T Smith (photo via Bucks FHS) A quick heads-up for those of you in or near Buckinghamshire: this Saturday (20 January) will see John T Smith... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this date in 1792, sailor John Philips was hanged in Dublin, Ireland after... read more »

The reports of the Victorian police courts reveal much about society in the 1800s. Some of this is very familiar to us and we can imagine ourselves in... read more »

On this date in 1400, the Thomas le Despenser was beheaded — as much a lynching as an execution — by a mob at Bristol. “I have to London... read more »

When Isaac Sinclair appeared at Worship Street police court on 12 January 1854 it was his second time in a fortnight. He had been remanded the week before,... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On January 12, 1949, Margaret Allen was executed by Albert Pierrepoint at Strangeways... read more »

Guest post by Shannon McSheffrey; posted 12 January 2018. In 1430, Henry Ciprian and Roger Bukke, two Augustinian canons, fled from their priory at Waltham,... read more »

Thank you to everyone who has followed the blog over the past 5 years or so. Also thank you to those who have commented, provided additional information... read more »