The New Newgate Calendar

Polish mass murderer Ryszard Sobok hanged in Wroclaw on this date in 1984. The horror of the little village of Walim, Sobok suddenly slaughtered six intimates... read more »

John Palmer was an ordinary sort of bloke. He gave his occupation as ‘labourer’ (frequently a default term for those appearing before the courts... read more »

There have been a bumper load of articles relating to the history of crime this month. Here are some of the ones I’ve found interesting. Bella in... read more »

This post for Women’s History Month 2020 explores the Bluestocking Corpus of Elizabeth Montagu’s letters, created by Anni Sairio. This first... read more »

Theodore Dreiser‘s classic novel An American Tragedy was inspired by an infamous 1906 murder whose author, Chester Gillette, was electrocuted at... read more »

Nigerian bandit Lawrence Anini was executed on this date in 1987. Strongman of a well-armed gang whose robberies and hijackings terrorized Benin Cty, Anini... read more »

On this date in 1572, Annecke Lange, Gesche Herbst, and Annecke Rotschroeder were all condemned and burned at Neustadt am Rübenberge, as witches and... read more »

On this date in 1915, Indian revolutionary Pandit Kanshi Ram was hanged by the British. Present on the U.S. west coast for the founding of the heavily... read more »

By Cassie Watson and Laura Sellers; posted 27 March 2020. In our previous work on the Leeds–based forensic expert Dr Thomas Scattergood, we noted... read more »

Gabriel Milan, the governor of the Danish West Indies, was beheaded on Copenhagen’s Nytorv Square on this date in 1689. Born to an emigre family... read more »

Robert Cobb Kennedy, the last Confederate executed by the Union during the U.S. Civil War, was hanged on this date in 1865 as an arsonist. Harper’s... read more »

A gangster named Henri “Le Tigre” Olivier was guillotined in Lille on this date in 1925. According to eyebrow-raising (but widely circulated)... read more »

The Murderess, by Edvard Munch Her crime took even the cynical aback. How could a girl of just 16 become a murderess – and kill her own husband?... read more »

On this date in 1985, 96 Iraqis were executed for an assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein. Though not the only or the largest atrocity of that dictator,... read more »

March 22 is the feast day of Saint Octavian of Carthage — a martyr for orthodox Nicene Christianity to its rival tradition of Arianism. Ninth century... read more »

(Thanks to Richard Clark of Capital Punishment U.K. for the guest post, a reprint of an article originally published on that site with some explanatory... read more »

Akshay Thakur, 31, Pawan Gupta, 25, Vinay Sharma, 26, and Mukesh Singh, 32, were hanged at Delhi’s Tihar Jail today — four of the six* widely... read more »

The old Witch executed was, this moneth the 19. day, She ever had a face of Bras as all the people say, Insteed of pensivenesse and prayer She did nought... read more »

On this date in 1871, the Paris Commune was born, with the execution of Generals Lecomte and Thomas. Paris had come to the brink of revolution by dint... read more »

Seventeenth century Jurist John Brydall‘s “An abridgment of the lawes of England, touching treasons, rebellious murthers, conspiracies, burning... read more »

On this date in 1968, the U.S. Army meted out the signature single atrocity of the Vietnam War, the My Lai Massacre — wanton slaughter of 400 to... read more »

By Dr Ashley Borrett In a previous blog, I looked at how newspapers can provide a wealth of information for the crime researcher looking to gain a... read more »

Over the last few years, Professor Helen Johnston and Professor Heather Shore have been working directly with Leah Mellors, Curator at Ripon Museums Trust... read more »

On or about this date in 1547, the Spanish-born scholar Diego de Enzinas was burned by the Roman Inquisition. Like his (more renowned) brother Francisco... read more »

On this date in 1874, colorful outlaw Sid[ney] Wallace was hanged for murder in Reconstruction Arkansas.* A large enough figure to merit his own entry... read more »

By Joanne Chilman This research was undertaken for a PhD on ‘Women before the Hull Courts in the Nineteenth Century’. It was found that a significant... read more »

If you follow this blog closely you may have noticed that I live quite close to the former Colney Hatch Asylum. Once the largest ‘lunatic’... read more »

Wire report via the Baltimore Sun, March 14, 1979: 12 shot by firing squads in Iran Tehran, Iran (AP) — Firing quads executed two generals, a legislator,... read more »

In the dock of St. George’s Hall Liverpool on the 4th of February 1929, stood 21 year old Joseph Reginald Victor Clarke, arraigned on a charge of... read more »

Mr Justice Cave was not in a good mood as he sat in the courtroom of Gloucester’s Shire Hall on the second morning of the Winter Assizes, which took... read more »

The former women’s prison at Aylesbury Tatler, the magazine now synonymous with gentility and fashionable lives, was, in the early 20th century,... read more »

Jessie King, the last woman executed in Edinburgh, was hanged on this date in 1889. She was a practitioner of that distinctive late Victorian industry... read more »

Irish rebel Felim (or Phelim) O’Neill of Kinard was executed on this date in 1653. “A well-bred gentleman, three years at court, as free and... read more »

(Thanks to the nails-tough black journalist Ida Wells for the guest post on the March 9, 1892 triple lynching in Memphis, Tennessee, of African American... read more »

Theo van Gogh, a Dutch resistance fighter of portentous lineage, was executed by the German occupation on this date in 1945. This man was the grandson... read more »

This Tyrant at his first entrance here acted and commanded prodigious Slaughters to be perpetrated: Notwithstanding which, the Chief Lord in his Chair... read more »

Nineteenth-century St Giles The reporter from Reynold’s newspaper, or his editor, captioned George Skinner’s behavior as ‘EXTRAORDINARY... read more »

The declassified CIA cable that follows (original here) captures an extrajudicial execution of leftists during Guatemala’s long dirty war. The following... read more »

Nathaniel Woods was controversially executed by lethal injection at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, tonight at 9:01 p.m. U.S.... read more »

(Thanks to Charles George Herbermann for the guest post. Herbermann emigrated from Prussia to the United States in childhood and became a prominent scholar... read more »

Osmund Brønnum — boxer, Communist, and anti-Nazi Resistance martyr — was executed in Quisling Norway on this date in 1944. Brønnum... read more »

I am currently teaching a third year history module that focuses on London in the 1880s. Crime and Popular Culture in the Late Victorian City uses... read more »

On this date in 1921, George Bailey was hanged at Oxford Gaol for murder. The milkman was grooming a young woman named Lillian Marks as a potential mistress... read more »

On this date in 1916, Mexican Revolution commander Benjamin Argumedo was shot at Durango. Every revolution has its opportunists and this cavalryman swerved... read more »