Following on from our look at life on board the prison hulks of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in this special blog we are going to take a look at what life was like behind prison bars over a century ago. Dartmoor Prison | The Sphere | 10 December 1927 Using our newspapers, we will try to understand what life was like for the men and women sentenced to prison time in the United Kingdom in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: …
Crime History
On 15 July 1910 the Sheffield Evening Telegraph recorded the anniversaries of the day. One particular entry was this: Prison hulks first seen on the Thames…1776 But what were the prison hulks, and what was life like on board these ‘floating hells,’ as they came to be known? Prison hulk Warrior at Woolwich | Illustrated London News | 21 February 1846 As part of our history of law and crime month here on The Archive, we will take a look at what life was like on …
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This week at The Archive we have added 71,798 brand new pages to our ever growing collection, with a duo of brand new titles joining us this week too, from Cornwall and Buckinghamshire respectively. So read on to discover more about which new titles we have added, the ten titles we have updated, and also to find out more about the last moments of Mary Pearcey, condemned to death in 1890 for murder. Register now and explore the Archive The first new title of …
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Crime stories have filled newspapers since the seventeenth century. From sensational murders to notices seeking the return of stolen property, you will find stories relating to crime in all of our newspapers. While crime-related news can be found in almost every title, we do hold several newspapers dedicated to crime and punishment. Title Years Cleave’s Weekly Police Gazette 1835, 1836 County Courts Chronicle 1847-1870, 1885-1896 Illustrated Police Budget 1899 Illustrated Police News 1867-1938 Lloyd’s Companion to the Penny Sunday Times …
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This week’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? took us down under and all over Australia. Craig Revel Horwood was able to learn how his ancestors on both sides of his family came to be in Australia and what activities occupied their days, from mining for gold to clog dancing. Convicts in the family Craig’s family history journey began with his sister’s retelling of their great-great grandfather Moses Horwood being convicted of theft and transported to Australia. While it is …
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The bombing of civilian targets in Britain during the Second World War is now commonly referred to as ‘The Blitz’. The song ‘All Stick Together’ released by Ralph Butler in 1939 summarised the need for Britain to pull together as a nation against the threat of an invasion, and the ‘Blitz Spirit’ has gone down in history and is still invoked today in times of strife. However, whilst the vast majority of the population may have been sticking together, there …
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The lovely people at history magazine Bygone Kent got in touch to share the shocking stories they’ve uncovered about Charles Dickens’ life in Higham, Kent. We’d love to hear about your own discoveries – email [email protected] to tell us about them. A ‘diabolical attempt’ to overturn the carriage of Charles Dickens while it drove through his home village has been discovered by local historian and journalist Andrew Rootes, editor of Bygone Kent. The incident was uncovered in The …