The New Newgate Calendar

My interest in medieval crime and execution has led to many an interesting late night Google search. One person whose name keeps popping up is that... read more »

Sochaczewski placed himself right of the obelisk, standing My recent discovery of Alexander Sochaczewski’s painting, Farewell to Europe!, in... read more »

Over 2.75 million new crime records released by Findmypast this week. This incredibly large and exciting collection will be a real boon to researchers.... read more »

Even with the wealth of records at our finger tips for researching lives the dynamic between a women and men who were married, cohabiting, or even courting,... read more »

On this date in 1921, an Irish Republican Army detail detained Richard and Abraham Pearson at their farm in rural County Offaly. While the Pearson brothers... read more »

If you are taking History 2219 or History 3296/3280 at Temple University Ambler Campus this fall, welcome! The books available for the course are available... read more »

John Brown had a bit of a predilection. The white-haired Londoner, who was around 70 years old, had a disconcerting habit of exposing himself in public... read more »

(Thanks to Robert Elder of Last Words of the Executed — the blog, and the book — for the guest post. Fans of this here site are highly likely... read more »

On this date in 1816, England hanged five men for a bread riot. The war against Napoleon, only just concluded, had from 1812 enthroned a dyed-in-the-wool... read more »

The Denison Hotel was first licensed in 1847 was named after William Denison who served as Governor of Van Diemen’s Land between 1847 and 1855. This... read more »

June 27 — of 1948, implicitly — was the setting for Shirley Jackson‘s classic short story “The Lottery”. Less an “execution”... read more »

When most of us think of criminal trials, our general point of reference is popular culture. Courtroom dramas like Janet King, Rake, and Law and Order... read more »

On this date in 1621, Christenze (or Christence) Kruckow was beheaded as a witch — the only known noblewoman to suffer that fate in Danish history.... read more »

View near Woolwich in Kent, c. 1800. From the collections of the State Library of NSW.We’ll soon be starting a regular series we’re... read more »

On this date in 1483, Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, was beheaded with his nephew Sir Richard Grey and royal chamberlain Sir Thomas Vaughan at Pontefract... read more »

This building demonstrates the government’s commitment to substantial & permanent housing for the military. The oldest part of the building was... read more »

On this date in 1713,* Peter the Great’s hand-picked court condemned his son and onetime heir apparent Tsarevich Alexei to death for plotting treason.... read more »

In April 2015 I presented a paper at a conference held at the University of Leicester entitled ‘When is Death?’ The conference was organised... read more »

On the evening of 21 December 1884, Frederick Marshall climbed through the bedroom window of Laura Wilson, aged 17, and murdered her.[i] ‘Terrible... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this day in 1886, John W. Kelliher, known as “Reddy” or “Big... read more »

In a previous life as a professional family history researcher, I used to spend a lot of time searching through the parish registers at Gloucestershire... read more »

I often mention Broadmoor’s Victorian Superintendents in my posts, and I thought it might be useful to provide some brief biographical information.... read more »

On this date in 1906, “with terror stamped on his colorless face and almost in a state of collapse,” Richard Ivens hanged for a murder that... read more »

Most of Catholicism’s “40 Martyrs of England and Wales” were priests executed as traitors for preaching the Old Faith. John Rigby, drawn... read more »

The story of Schouten House begins perhaps in 1834, 10 years prior to its construction, with the arrival in Hobart of members of the Champion family, along... read more »

(Thanks to Meaghan Good of the Charley Project for the guest post. -ed.) On this date in 1816, middle-aged uxoricide Peter Lung was hanged in Middletown,... read more »

From the Alton Weekly Courier, June 25, 1857, under a June 20 dateline. Yesterday being the day appointed for the execution of the murderers of Jacob Barth,... read more »

On this date in 1862, seven federal raiders were hanged in Atlanta for the daring heist of a Confederate train two months prior. Among them were the the... read more »

Poor Goodyer Long. Not just saddled with that name, but also saddled (appropriately) with a rather unpleasant conviction – that of bestiality with... read more »

On this date in 1660, in the Netherlands’ little settlement on the tip of Manhattan Island, New Amsterdam, Jan Quisthout van der Linde was sentenced... read more »

These premises were constructed by the Congregational Church in 1864 and were known at the time as the Union Chapel. The design was in the Romanesque style... read more »

One year ago today, China executed as terrorists 13 separatist militants. According to Xinhua, the 13 were condemned in 7 different cases from Aksu, Turpan... read more »

After this year’s Appleby horse fair, the Westmorland Gazette reported that Dene Stansall, who works for Animal Aid, a Kent-based organisation, wanted... read more »

Debtor prisons in England & Wales, 1712 Using the lists of debtor prisoners applying for release under the 1712 act, as published in the London Gazette,... read more »

On this date in 1899, young John Headrick was hanged outside Cape Girardeau‘s courthouse for murdering James Lail. The 19-year-old Headrick was an... read more »

On this date in 1662, Parliamentarian Sir Henry Vane the Younger was beheaded on Tower Hill for his service of Oliver Cromwell‘s Protectorate. Adopting... read more »

By the 1860’s, Port Arthur contained men who had been in the convict system for many years.  Many were invalids or insane. Ex convicts found... read more »

Dispatches to the New York Herald from 1873 give us today’s post: a little portrait of public hangings in Reconstruction Dixie. Isham Belton O’Neill,... read more »

Most of us have at one time or another wondered about our ancestors. Even the historians whose bread and butter is the study of social, political, economic... read more »

Children, how should it be otherwise? They were ranchmen and proprietors, and we were there to make them landless workingmen; and they rose up in revolt.... read more »

A horrible intra-Christian auto de fe in the Calabrian town Montalto marred this date in 1561. The pre-Reformation Waldensian sect, dating back to the... read more »

Pin cushion embroidered by Annie Parker, using her own hair, c.1879. Photo by Nell Darby. Yesterday, I looked briefly at the Museum of London’s forthcoming... read more »

On this date in 1822, Armand Valle was guillotined in Toulon. We meet Restoration France in the 1820s under the sway of an Ultra-Royalist ministry —... read more »

The death mask of Daniel Good, executed in 1842 for the murder of his wife. Photo: Nell Darby The Museum of London‘s major autumn exhibition, The... read more »

The Hobart Girls' Training School, started by the Ladies' Christian Association, opened in 1881. The School was for girls aged 10 to 17 who had been sentenced... read more »

How happy is the blameless Vestal’s lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot: Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each prayer accepted,... read more »

In 1898, police constable Edward Johnson was committed for trial on larceny charges. Johnson, acting in his official capacity, had allegedly received an... read more »

On this date in 1953, Istvan Sandor was hanged in Communist Hungary Sandor was a printer noted as a mentor to younger Catholics — including the orphanage... read more »

A few weeks ago the Carceral Archipelago team of postgraduates presented at the University of Leicester’s annual postgraduate conference. The theme... read more »

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