The New Newgate Calendar

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Archives for October 2013

They say the coward dies a thousand deaths. Executed Today has now made it six full trips around the sun, and died two thousand, one hundred and ninety-two.*... read more »
This entry in our Corpses Strewn series on the October 1698 extirpation of the Streltsy is courtesy of the diaries of Austrian diplomat Johann Georg Korb,... read more »
Gloucester Prison from the east (J. Evans, 2010) In January 1850, the Epiphany County Quarter Sessions began in Gloucester. Before the trials commenced,... read more »
On this date in 1480, Francesco Simonetta — known as Cicco to his contemporaries — was beheaded at the Castello of Pavia. Simonetta (English... read more »
Only about a decade later after the Pace case filled the sensation-hungry press--but seemingly a world away from its rural, isolated Forest of Dean setting--James... read more »
On this date in 1927, Cuban murderer Baldomero Rodrigues was garroted in Pinar del Rio prison. But when his body was laid out on a stretcher for disposal... read more »
(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) October 28 marked the start on the Roman calendar of the Isia, a dayslong festival... read more »
This entry in our Corpses Strewn series on the October 1698 extirpation of the Streltsy is courtesy of the diaries of Austrian diplomat Johann Georg Korb,... read more »
On this date in 1964, Western Australia conducted its last hanging — that of Eric Edgar Cooke. Cooke was one of Australia’s worst serial killers,... read more »
This day is called the feast of Crispian. He that outlives this day and comes safe home, Will stand o’ tiptoe when the day is named And rouse him... read more »
Hanging day — and burning day, and drawing-and-quartering day — at Tyburn this date in 1690 saw a dozen souls condemned to shuffle off this... read more »
This entry in our Corpses Strewn series on the October 1698 extirpation of the Streltsy is courtesy of the diaries of Austrian diplomat Johann Georg Korb,... read more »
Recently I was accused of being a Marxist. Anyone who has read anything I’ve written will know that this accusation is risible. I admit that I don't... read more »
Cincinnati Daily Gazette, May 27, 1875. ST. LOUIS, May 26. — Philip Pfarr, a German, living on what is known as the Skinker road, several miles from... read more »
Hambeldon is a small village near Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, situated in a wooded valley between Marlow and Henley-on-Thames. The name Hambledon derives... read more »
This entry in our Corpses Strewn series on the October 1698 extirpation of the Streltsy is courtesy of the diaries of Austrian diplomat Johann Georg Korb,... read more »
You might have recently seen the Mechanical Curator from the British Library Labs project which posts not-quite-random images from BL’s digitised... read more »
On this date in 1571, Anabaptist Hans Haslibacher was martyred in Bern, Switzerland. Haslibacher (German link) joined the oft-suppressed movement in 1532... read more »
Fifteen years ago today, thousands of Freetown residents piled into a stone quarry on the outskirts of the Sierra Leone capital to cheer the firing squad... read more »
On this date in 1940, Hans Vollenweider became the last person executed in Switzerland. The Swiss had long experience with executions by beheading and,... read more »
This entry in our Corpses Strewn series on the October 1698 extirpation of the Streltsy is courtesy of the diaries of Austrian diplomat Johann Georg Korb,... read more »
 In 1980 I was holidaying in Brixham, Devon and came across a second impression of this book in a second-hand book shop. It is a historical novel... read more »
(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this date in 1946, 29-year-old torture-murderer Neville George Clevely Heath... read more »
“Above all, there was a belief in the revolution and the future, a feeling of having suddenly emerged into an era of equality and freedom. Human... read more »
  Tetbury, 1807 (ancestryimages.com) The Swing Riots were disturbances which took place in 1830 and 1831, mostly in the southern counties of England.... read more »
On this date in 1757, 17 people went to the scaffold over wine prices in Portugal. The seeds of these hangings had been sown back in 1703 when the Methuen... read more »
It was very interesting to read, in Saturday's Guardian, Paul Dacre's piece in which he articulated his opinions on the press today. The particular target... read more »
On this date in 1944, Wehrmacht Oberst Rudolf Körpert, his deputy Hauptmann Carl Frister, and officers Fritz Müsenthin, Otto Mäder, Richard Seidlitz... read more »
On this date in 1435, the Duke of Bavaria-Munich had his son’s commoner mistress drowned. Agnes Bernauer (English Wikipedia link | German) was supposed... read more »
I am currently writing my next book which has the working title ‘Charlie’s War‘. It will be based on the experiences of my grandfather,... read more »
At dawn this date in 2009, Iran hanged Behnoud Shojaee in Tehran’s Evan Prison for a murder committed while he was still a juvenile. His attorney,... read more »
The government has proposed measure to limit the driving of young people in order to reduce road casualties. There can be no doubt about the initial premise... read more »
Dr Chater's use of the term 'black people' included people of both African and Asian origin, since no distinctions are made in the records. A brief history... read more »
Peter the Great’s ruthless destruction of the Streltsy played out as bloody public theater in October of 1698. A strelets (or strelitz in a more... read more »
This entry in our Corpses Strewn series on the October 1698 extirpation of the Streltsy is courtesy of the diaries of Austrian diplomat Johann Georg Korb,... read more »
Natasha Powers, Head of Osteology and Research Co-ordinator at Museum of London Archaeology, presented a paper, 'Written in our bones?' Her talk focussed... read more »
On this date in 1968,* Congolese revolutionary Pierre Mulele was shot by firing squad in Kinshasa. The anti-colonialist (French link) Mulele served as... read more »
Owen Davies presented a paper 'Healing traditions, 1700-1900': He is a professor of Social History at the University of Hertfordshire, currently exploring... read more »
As related by Bartholomew Cotton’s Historia Anglia: A certain knight, Thomas Turbevile by name, who had been taken by the French at the siege of... read more »
Where: Weald and Downland Museum (21-22 September 2013). The subject of medicine was covered in three interesting papers, covering: 'The Time Traveller's... read more »
On this date in 1536, Italian nobleman Sebastiano de Montecuccoli was torn apart at the Place de la Grenette in Lyons for poisoning the dauphin Francis,... read more »
Dr Helen Frisby spoke on: 'Bidding, Baking and Waking: the Moral Economy of the Nineteenth Century Folk Funeral'. This final paper on mortality was presented... read more »
(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) Sometime in early October 1943, fifteen-year-old Yitskhok Rudashevski and his... read more »
The Tudor Group at Bayleaf farmhouse, Weald and Downland Museum.Clare Gittings (Education Department, National Portrait Gallery): 'The bringing home of... read more »
(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this date in 1943, a special transport of 1,196 children and 53 adults arrived... read more »
This is an outrage. We have a failed economy and there's not enough jobs. This is a read more »
One of the wonderful aspects of attending a history conference is the opportunity to delve into topics and periods outside ones' general field of interest.... read more »
(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this date in 1648, 32-year-old Alice Bishop was hanged on the gallows in Plymouth... read more »
I’ve been giving a lot of attention lately to the burial sites of prisoners who were hanged at Gloucester, for murder and other crimes. It occurred... read more »
My initial plan for the operation, which I always adhered to, was to encircle the masses of Hereros at Waterberg, and to annihilate these masses with a... read more »