The New Newgate Calendar

Among the ancient remains, that which, from my childhood, had been remarkable to me, was the skull of a State criminal, fastened up on the tower of the... read more »

Today Haille Rubenhold’s new book on the five canonical victims of ‘Jack the Ripper’ is published in the UK. I’ve chatted with... read more »

The latest annual print edition of Discover Your Ancestors is out now, and includes a couple of features by me. If you want to find out more about Scottish... read more »

On this date in 1794, the French artillery general Jean-Pierre du Teil was guillotined at Lyon. The baron du Teil (English Wikipedia entry | French) numbered... read more »

This is one of those cases that the newspapers probably chose to report because it would have amused their readership, so I hope it amuses you. William... read more »

Prolific French poisoner Hélène Jégado was guillotined on this date in 1852. An orphaned peasant, Jegado (English Wikipedia entry... read more »

Clerkenwell Police court was crowded on the morning of the 25 February 1845 and the magistrate must have quickly realized that local passions were running... read more »

There are those moments in research when your own work links with that of others working in a similar area. Because I know several of the wonderful people... read more »

On this date in 1663, a very pious William Dillon lost his life for a murder during a brawl on London’s Long Acre. Whether he gained, as he anticipated,... read more »

On this date in 1525, a French marshal’s was executed during a crucial battle of the France-vs-Habsburg Italian War, beginning a long posthuous journey... read more »

London Police (c.1891) – you can see their duty armlets on their left wrists. A Victorian policeman was expected to wear his uniform at all times... read more »

Three hundred years ago today, a bad-tempered brute called Lieutenant Edward Bird found he could not buy his way out of a noose. This man’s journey... read more »

Robert Rayhnam cut a miserable figure in the dock at Mansion House Police court. The 14 year-old kept his head down, hardly spoke, and struggled under... read more »

Vietnamese mystic Phan Xich Long was executed on this date in 1916 by the French, after attempting to expel their occupation and situate himself as Emperor... read more »

Animal cruelty is nothing new sadly. In recent weeks there have been reports of dog fighting gangs, hare coursing, even the re-emergence of cockfights;... read more »

February 2O, 1594-5, [Father Robert] Southwell, a Jesuit, that long time had lain prisoner in the Tower of London, was arraigned at the King’s-bench... read more »

It’s certainly a title that makes you stop and look at this book, but it is also a bold one: can Simon Webb’s A History of Torture in Britain... read more »

In 1884 the Imperial Federation League was formed in London and in several other colonial cities throughout the empire. Its aim was to create a federation... read more »

I find all sorts of violent acts being prosecuted at the Police courts of Victorian London but few were as savage and, at the same time, bizarre, as this... read more »

On this date in 1942, 200-plus Australian and Dutch prisoners captured after the Battle of Ambon earlier that same year were summarily executed near Laha... read more »

“I did it and I will swing for it.” –Said by Samson/Sampson Silas Salmon to the police who found him at the scene with the body of his... read more »

A refusal to pay a cab fare was a common enough reason to find a person in court in the nineteenth century. Cab drivers were quite vulnerable to being... read more »

February 18, 1820 was the execution date of South Carolina crime Hall of Famers John and Lavinia Fisher. By legendary repute the first serial killer in... read more »

It is easy to think that the police have always been with us, so much a part of society have they become. Although we may not see them as often on our... read more »

Vasudev Balwant Phadke died on hunger strike against his British captivity on this date in 1883. The “father of armed rebellion” in India,... read more »

For very many poor Londoners the Police Court magistrate was the ‘go-to’ person for legal advice. Not everyone that appeared before him had... read more »

German pastor Heinrich Bosse died for the evangelium at Bolshevik hands 100 years ago today. Bosse followed his grandfather and father into the clergy... read more »

Amidst all the commercial celebration of Valentine’s day, with every supermarket making special ‘dine in’ offers, shops filling their... read more »

Likely around February 706 the Byzantine emperors Leontios (Leontius) and Apsimar were executed by the man they’d deposed. Although a very lesser... read more »

There had been a spate of burglaries in February 1861 in the Clerkenwell area and the police were on heightened alert. Burglary was the quintessential... read more »

Turn on your TV and watch a programme about true crime, murderers or the psychology of offending, and the odds are that David Wilson will be involved.... read more »

Piers Morgan, ITV, 7th February 2019 Piers Morgan meets Giles Bernard in Florida. From the ITV programme ‘Confessions of a Serial Killer’,... read more »

Vicente Guerrero, late the president of Mexico, was executed on this date in 1831. He was once a rebel soldier under Jose Maria Morelos in the Mexican... read more »

Alphonse Bertillon’s mugshot of himself 105 years ago today, a pioneer died. Alphonse Bertillon, the French criminologist who created ‘Bertillonage’... read more »

Today it is Valentine’s Day, and so all the shops are fun of heart themed gifts, chocolates and cards. If you try to buy a bunch of red roses this... read more »

On this date in 1844, John Knatchbull hanged before an orderly crowd of 10,000 at Taylor Square in Sydney, Australia. Knatchbull was among 20 children... read more »

A police constable was on his beat one evening in the Borough, Southwark, when a man came up to him and asked to be arrested. It was a fairly unusual request... read more »

Wally van Hall, the Dutch banker, fraudster, and national hero, was executed by the Nazi occupation on this date in 1945. Walraven — to use his proper... read more »

Although male offenders far outnumbered women, both historically and in the present, the lives of over 6,000 female offenders can be glimpsed through the... read more »

Well, today is exciting! The first editorial queries for my new book have arrived. Jack and the Thames Torso Murders  is due to be published by Amberley... read more »

Great to see that Our Criminal Ancestors website appears in the WDYTYA 50 family history websites to watch in 2019!  This list appeared in the January... read more »

Friend of the site (and sometime guest-blogger) Robert Wilhelm brings this story from his essential Murder by Gaslight Lindsay’s trip to the gallows... read more »

I’ve done a couple of things recently to do with the village lock-up, which anyone interested in the history of crime in England might like to look... read more »

On Saturday I left you with the unfinished case of Louisa Hart who was accused at Marylebone Police court, of the abduction of a young girl for the purposes... read more »

This broadside hails from the National Library of Scotland’s wonderful archive of such documents, and the curator notes that as a “coal-bearer”... read more »

Sometimes there is just no obvious reason behind people’s actions and this is one of those cases. In early February 1844 the magistrate at Queen... read more »

Entry from North Carolina’s colonial records: Minutes of a Court of Magistrates and Freeholders in New Hanover County North Carolina. Magistrates... read more »

This is quite a disturbing case and as yet I’m not sure what the ending would have been. It concerns the trade in virgin girls that had been exposed... read more »

On this date in 1723, Tyburn was graced by a quadruple hanging. Charles Weaver hanged on the occasion for stabbing a creditor to death as they argued about... read more »

  Posted by Sara M. Butler; 8 February 2019. When reading over an anonymous reviewer’s comments on a manuscript I was writing on the subject... read more »