Terrors of the Night: The Mohock Scare of 1712–1738

The Mohocks: Britain’s Notorious Night-Walkers of the Early 1700s Bowie and the Mohocks In 2016, archivists discovered that David Bowie’s final, unfinished project was not only his last album Blackstar, but also the beginnings of an “18th-Century musical” called The Spectator. Hidden in his study were notes on London crime, satire, and society, including references […]

Arson, Canterbury highway robbery, a runaway bankrupt – 1885

St James’s Gazette – Tuesday 23 June 1885 OUTRAGE IN IRELAND. The house of a farmer named M‘Carthy, near Goleen, in West Cork, was burned down on Sunday night. An out-office was also destroyed, together with two cows. It is stated that M‘Carthy’s family had a narrow escape from being burned in the building. M‘Carthy […]

Violent Street Fight in Preston – 1929

Lancashire Evening Post – Wednesday 06 November 1929 VIOLENT STREET FIGHT. NINE MEN INVOLVED IN A NIGHT SCUFFLE AT PRESTON. “It was a free-for-all fight and very violent,“ said P.C. Newton, giving evidence at Preston to-day against three men charged with being drunk and disorderly in Church-street last night. The men were Joseph Cunningham (46), […]

Murder in Rotherhithe – 1879

Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 22 June 1879 The Murder at Rotherhithe (From our later editions of last week.) The adjourned inquest on the body of Robert Collins, a telegraph messenger, who was found stabbed about the body under a railway arch at Rotherhithe, and who died in Guy’s Hospital, was resumed on Friday at the latter […]

The Hexham Murder – 1898

North Cumberland Reformer – Saturday 24 December 1898 THE HEXHAM MURDER.THE ACCUSED MAN ACQUITTED. At the Hexham Police Court on Monday, George Dodd was brought up on remand charged with causing the death of George Schollick, gamekeeper, whose dead body was found in Yarridge Lane on Thursday, the 8th inst. Mr W. Pruddah, solicitor, Hexham, appeared for […]

Brighton Railway Outrage – 1896

Norfolk News – Saturday 05 December 1896 BRIGHTON RAILWAY OUTRAGE.ATTACK ON A SUFFOLK WOMAN. At the Sussex Assizes on Monday, before Baron Pollock, Alfred Lock, 18, described as a gardener, of East Grinstead, was indicted for feloniously assaulting Louisa Clarke, a middle-aged woman, with intent to murder her, in a third-class railway carriage on the London, Brighton, […]

Suspicious Death and more in Darwen – 1877

Blackburn Times – Saturday 06 January 1877 DARWEN. SUSPICIOUS DEATH. On Thursday forenoon, Mr. Coroner Hargreaves held an inquiry at the George Inn into the circumstances attending the death of John Brannan, 38 years of age, a labourer, living at 13, Foundry Street, who died under suspicious circumstances. It appears that Brannan lived apart from […]

Crime & Justice – Leamington Spa Courier Reports – 1836

Leamington Spa Courier – Saturday 17 September 1836 LOCAL INTELLIGENCE. Commitments to the County Gaol:—By F. Lloyd, Esq., Samuel Fantham, charged with stealing, at Birmingham, a double-barrel gun, the property of Edward Powell. —John Smith, charged with stealing, at Aston, a five-pound note, a sovereign, and three half sovereigns in gold, the property of Jabez […]

Lincolnshire Lent Assizes – Trials, Crimes, and Justice in Victorian England – 1875

Market Rasen Weekly Mail – Saturday 06 March 1875 LINCOLNSHIRE LENT ASSIZES. The Commission for holding these Assizes will be opened on Thursday, the 11th instant. The following is a calendar of the prisoners awaiting their trial: William Kirkby, 18, farm servant, for committing an unnatural offence, at Appleby, on the 23rd July, 1874. Elizabeth […]

Unrest in Edwardian London: Tower Hill Unemployment Protest – 1905

Eastern Daily Press – Saturday 02 December 1905 LONDON UNEMPLOYED COLLISIONS WITH THE POLICE FIVE DEMONSTRATORS ARRESTED About 500 unemployed attended what was described as the first of a series of meetings on Tower Hill, London, yesterday. The city police had previously notified the Southwark Unemployed Committee that they would not be allowed to bring […]

Justice and Social Order: Victorian Law through the Yorkshire Gazette – 1862

Yorkshire Gazette – Saturday 03 May 1862 TUESDAY, April 29. – Before R. Evers, Esq. OBSTRUCTING THE FOOTPATH. – A youth named Christopher Marsh was charged with obstructing the footpath near to the Railway Station. He was standing on the flags with the usual apparatus for cleaning the boots of any person in passing who […]

Drunken Injury, Burglaries, and Brawls: Crime and Conflict in Sheffield and Doncaster – 1874

Sheffield Independent, Monday, 5 January 1874: Critical Condition of a Drunken Man About eight o’clock on Saturday evening, Police-constable Stone found a man named William Keddy of Arthur Street lying in Bridge Street. He was drunk and bleeding profusely from a wound on the back of his head. The officer removed him to the Police […]