The New Newgate Calendar

On or around this date in 535,* the Ostrogothic queen Amalasuntha was put to death in the Italian lake island of Martana (You can also find her name rendered... read more »

Excited to announce that next fall I will be joining the faculty of the University of Connecticut-Hartford as an Assistant Professor of US history. Thrilled... read more »

This post describes a project that myself and a colleague from the Architecture department at the University of Liverpool, Dr Nick Webb, are currently... read more »

On this date in 1836, a troubled (ex-)family man named Isaac Young — latterly going by Isaac Heller — was publicly hanged in Liberty, Indiana... read more »

On this date in 1770, the King of Yorkshire counterfeiters hanged (along with one of his subjects) at York’s Tyburn gallows. Hartley was the chief... read more »

On this date in 1803, Michael Ely hanged at Newgate Prison for feigning a bit of glory in the ongoing Napoleonic Wars. The crime was no stolen valor stuff,... read more »

The Red Feather Inn is a heritage listed building in Hadspen's main street. It was built as a coaching inn and in the 21st century has been used for a... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this date in 1875, William Marwood* executed William Hole at Bristol Prison... read more »

I. Crime and Trial On the morning of April 21 1864, M. D. saw her husband to the front door as he left for work, as she did every morning. After he had... read more »

The American criminal justice system was the focus of our exchange trip to Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana. Dr Brown, his colleague and students... read more »

"The circumstances of her alleged crime are unparalleled in the records of medical jurisprudence."Prompted by a modern 'infanticide inquest' - and... 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 »

The last execution in Dundee, Scotland occurred on this date in 1889 — and some folk suspect that the fellow that fell through the gallows-trap might... read more »

Four years before the settlement of Oatlands began, the first recorded religious service was held at Jericho, on the 23 February 1823. It was conducted... read more »

It is said on the 7th of last May, the day before the execution of Mose Caton, [Robert] Fowler danced a jig on the gallows and said: “Well, within... read more »

The following confessional and its exhausting run-on sentence arrive courtesy of a pamphlet published at the time and reprinted in Free Blacks, Slaves,... read more »

The Convict Love Tokens website The National Museum of Australia has the world’s largest collection of ‘love tokens’ made by convicts,... read more »

Dorothea Repps’ 1703 recipe for ‘Diet Cake’ demonstrates the changing use of language over time. We use the word ‘diet’ when... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this date in 1895, three black women and two black men were lynched in Greenville,... read more »

We’ve recently featured in these pages the very last hanging at Edinburgh’s old Grassmarket, scene of innumerable executions potent in Scottish... read more »

It is a real pleasure, for the first time, to host  a guest writer on this blog. The following informative article written by David Craig unearths... read more »

This bridge is old for an Australian bridge, and although the deck is new, the massive nature of the piers, together with their fine detailing means that... read more »

A quick introduction to two new image collections: curated both here on the blog and on Pinterest as well.Gallery One highlights UK Victorian... read more »

April 19 was the death date in 1012, and the feast date in perpetuity, of Archbishop of Canterbury and Christian saint Aelfheah (also known as Alfege or... read more »

Peter Kropotkin is remembered today as a brilliant Russian social revolutionary, geographer, scientist, and anarchist writer. Less well known, however,... read more »

The first and only president of Nazi Germany’s puppet Slovak state, Jozef Tiso, was hanged on this date in 1947 as a traitor. A Catholic priest in... read more »

The Bothwell Literary Society established the first community-based library in a regional Tasmanian town; this came by way of a resolution at the Society's... read more »

On an unknown date about the spring of 316 BCE, Alexander the Great’s snake-worshipping mother Olympias surrendered to the siege of her former regent’s... read more »

On this date in 1841, Peter Robinson hanged for a New Jersey murder. Little could he have imagined that he was on his way to the literary canon. A wealthy... read more »

Dorothea Repps’ manuscript recipe Book, written in 1703, can be found at the Wellcome Library.[1] I was interested to see that her manuscript includes... read more »

  I will be speaking at the Horrible Histories? Children’s Lives in Historical Contexts conference on Thursday 16 June 2016 at King’s... read more »

I’m delighted to welcome Angela Buckley back to Criminal Historian, for a guest post about the subject of her new book… Amelia Dyer, photographed... read more »

For the April 15, 1851 hanging of James Jones (James Burbage was his actual name) and Levi Harwood, we crib from PlanetSlade’s collection of murder... read more »

Infamous Swedish murderer Maria Romberg and three accomplices were beheaded in the city of Boras on this date in 1725. Romberg (English Wikipedia entry... read more »

Continuing the case of Mary Ann Seago...found guilty of manslaughter on account of...well..what?Sentenced by Justice Cresswell to lifelong transportation,... read more »

In 1870, forty-five year old Charlotte Barton murdered Thomas Pagdin, the man she had lived with for twelve years, by hitting him on the head with a hammer.... read more »

This was the first rectory for the adjacent St George’s Anglican Church and was constructed by Chapman & Huddlestone in 1826 for the princely... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this date in 1546, one Alice Glaston was hanged in the town of Much Wenlock... read more »

I recently attended the European Social Science HistoryConference in Valencia. I presented my own paper, ‘‘IDEAL HOME’ OR ‘HOUSE... read more »

Jack Sheppard was a thief and robber, born in London in 1707. During  the year 1724, he was gaoled five times and escaped on four occasions,... read more »

A few months ago as of this writing, Joe’s Crab Shack in Roseville, Minnesota made unfortunate news for its indecorous decision to include a black-and-white... read more »

Louise Peete died in the Caliornia gas chamber on this date in 1947. Stock of “cultured, educated people” — her words — she turned... read more »

It’s easy to take today’s communication technology for granted. A quick call on a mobile phone is all that is required to say you’ll... read more »

A (lengthy) gallows broadsheet via James Kelly’s Gallows Speeches From Eighteenth-Century Ireland. Almost all the [bracketed] content is exactly... read more »

This date in 1859 saw the first hanging in Denver — then a nascent mining town known as Denver City. Denver in 1859 was clinging to end of a long... read more »

Whatever might be said, from a state’s perspective, for the virtues of making a public spectacle of capital punishment, the scaffold could also double... read more »

‘Minders’ would have slept with lunatic prisoners in their cells Prisoners at Wicklow Gaol in the mid 19th century had a range of jobs allocated... read more »

California on April 7, 1836 saw the first known installment of what would become a rich tradition of history of vigilance committee lynchings in the state... read more »

Many of my previous posts have concentrated on Broadmoor’s men, primarily because they were the focus of my PhD research. Here, I’m going... read more »

Designed by Colonial Architect John Lee Archer, the gaol was built by convicts between 1834 & 1836. Accommodation was provided for both male &... read more »