The New Newgate Calendar

On this date in 2000, Robert Earl Carter was executed in Texas for slaughtering six people at the home of his Somerville ex, after the latter filed a child... read more »

My research interest in Victorian detectives at Scotland Yard has recently led me to a couple of blind alleys, both of which have some potential links... read more »

On this date in 1690, according to the Newgate Calendar,* the venerable gentleman rogue Thomas Sympson — better known as Old Mobb — was hanged... read more »

In a recent post I talked about some of the ways in which data visualisations have helped me to see patterns in the information recorded in the Old Bailey... read more »

I. Family Relationships An examination of letters sent to the Superintendent from some patients' wives suggests that the committal of their husbands to... read more »

On this date in 1879, Sacramento County public administrator Troy Dye was hanged for murder, along with the Swedish goon whom he’d hired to do the... read more »

On this date in 1213, the hermit Peter of Pontefract (or Peter of Wakefield) was hanged by King John. Reluctant Magna Carta signer and ridiculous Robin... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this date in 1994, an uncooperative Charles Rodman Campbell was lashed to a... read more »

Not very much is known about Captain Heather’s background. That he called himself a captain is evident from the descriptions of him as such in the... read more »

From Slaves and Slaveholders in Bermuda, 1616-1782: The witchcraft trouble [in Bermuda in 1651-55] began in May 1651, when Goodwife Jeane Gardiner, the... read more »

America’s national debate over abolishing slavery in the decades leading up to the Civil War is well-known. Not as well remembered is a different... read more »

On this date in 1871, the doomed Paris Commune martyred Archbishop Georges Darboy. When Darboy (English Wikipedia entry | French) was tapped for the job... read more »

Recently (16-21 May 2014), it has been reported in the media that the skull of convict John Parker, who was hanged at Gloucester in 1813, was sold at an... read more »

Today marks the anniversary of the execution of notorious pirate Captain William Kidd, who was hanged from Execution Dock in Wapping on this day in 1701.... read more »

This date in 1991 was the quiet coda of one of America’s most spectacular prison risings. At the stroke of 1 o’clock on July 24, 1974, Frederico... read more »

Job applications have been in the news on the Radio 4 PM programme this week. The general complaint is the lack of concern that is often shown to applicants;... read more »

Alice Arden (Sharon Small) and her lover, Mosby (Keir Charles) “What, groans thou? Nay then, give me the weapon. Take this for hind’ring Mosby’s... read more »

From Henry-Clement Sanson‘s memoirs: On May 22 the scaffold was again erected for the execution of an Italian, a native of Rome, named Antonio Brochetti.... read more »

Last year on this date, to the impotent howls of human rights groups, five men were beheaded in Jizan, Saudi Arabia and then “crucified.” “In... read more »

Posted today at The Guardian (see page 3 of comments) re: the Oscar Pistorious trial and the decision to send him for mental health assessment.  The... read more »

On this date in 1795, Ignac Martinovics was beheaded in Budapest with other leaders of a Hungarian Jacobin conspiracy. A true Renaissance man, Ignac (Ignatius)... read more »

I’ve been playing with ThingLink, which enables you to create interactive pictures, embedding photos, videos and webpages within them. It’s... read more »

A guest post by David J. Vaughan As with any historical event, rediscovering the truth behind a Victorian crime and its key protagonists requires access... read more »

The British Convict Transportation Registers is a database detailing the journeys of over 123,000 people transported to Australia in the 18th and 19th... read more »

On this date in 1864, the Russian writer Nikolay Chernyshevsky was publicly executed in St. Petersburg. Then he was shipped to Siberia. Chernyshevsky’s... read more »

By Jamie Harris, Carceral Archipelago undergraduate intern, 2013-14 I was an intern for the Carceral Archipelago project for 10 weeks. During this time... read more »

Detail from ‘Instruction of the Pauper Children in the Metropolitan District School, Sutton’, Illustrated London News, 1872. For history of... read more »

Before returning to the alienists, it is high time we looked at another 'celebrity' criminal lunacy case - this time, the tragically sad affair of Mary... read more »

(Thanks for the guest post to Robert Wilhelm, author of the Murder By Gaslight historic crime blog, and author of the book Murder And Mayhem in Essex County.... read more »

On this date in 1866, five Maori men hanged for the murder of a German proselytizer. Hesse-born Carl Sylvius Völkner* arrived in New Zealand as a Lutheran... read more »

In 1857, the centennial of the British East India Company’s mastery of the India, the subcontinent’s sepoy troops rebelled against the Company... read more »

From the Newgate Calendar: Who executed his own Parents, and from a Pickpocket became a Cat Burglar, and then a Highwayman. Executed at Dublin, 15th of... read more »

A century ago today, a Serbian immigrant was shot for murder in Carson City, Nevada. It was an ordinary murder, by an ordinary man: his cousin died in... read more »

From the earliest representations of offenders right up to the politically and socially charged documentaries that 'uncover' crime and disorder in the... read more »

On this date in 1559, the corpse of “Johann van Brugge” — recently exposed as underground Anabaptist leader David Joris, even though... read more »

  How good it is to hear a historian's opinion. The value of the study of history is so often apparent when one who belongs to the profession speaks... read more »

On 13 May 1787, a convoy of ships set sail from Portsmouth, carrying over 700 convicts to the British government’s new penal colony in Australia.... read more »

Richard Burn, in the 18th century, warned that people should be very careful of how they chose their parish constables - or they could end up with…... read more »

On this date in 1625, Helene Gillet went to the scaffold in Dijon to suffer beheading for infanticide. But it was the executioner and not Helene who came... read more »

The worst thing that happened to Clarence “Buck” Kelly on this date in 1928 was being hung for murder. But the only thing anyone could talk... read more »

Exciting, FREE talk at Mshed Bristol!15 May 2014 6pmBristol Asylum - Life stories and the photographic image.Follow this link for details: http://mshed.org/whats-on/events/life-stories-and-the-photographic-image/from... read more »

On this date in 1527, authorities in the Swabian city of Meersburg gathered in the city marketplace in their most impressive regalia to condemn Johann... read more »

Academic reviews, by nature, take a little while to start appearing.I've already noted a few reviews from history journals of my last book, The Most Remarkable... read more »

On this date in 1961, two modern-day (but somewhat inept) pirates sailed into the history books by becoming the first U.S. citizens to be executed in the... read more »

Both Rapheal Samuel (1994) and Patrick Wright (1994) have critiqued the role of museums and those charged with preserving historical buildings and artefacts... read more »

Last year on this date, an astonishing scene unfolded at a public hanging in Mashhad, near the Iran-Afghanistan border. Vahid Zare, a robber who murdered... read more »

By Eureka Henrich, CArchipelago Project Researcher I grew up in Sydney, conscious as any Australian school child of my city's 18th century origins as a... read more »

In Victorian Britain, men who were considered to fall short of manly ideals (those who were criminal, unindustrious, and who refused to provide for their... read more »

On this date in 1909, Fred Seward was hanged at the Boise penitentiary. Seward developed an obsession with a “notorious woman” named Clara... read more »

On this date in 1887, Theodore Baker was hanged for murder in Springer, New Mexico. Baker was taken on as a lodger and ranch hand in Colfax County by an... read more »