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The Invention of Murder
How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
Judith Flanders
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eBook - ePub
The Invention of Murder
How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
Judith Flanders
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“We are a trading community, a commercial people. Murder is doubtless a very shocking offence, nevertheless as what is done is not to be undone, let us make our money out of it.” Punch.
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Historia del siglo XIXNOTES
Magazine and newspaper references are cited by date, article title or page number.
1: Imagining Murder
1 in the tea-urn: Thomas de Quincey, The Works of Thomas de Quincey, gen. ed. Grevel Lindop (London, Pickering & Chatto, 2000â2003), vol. 6, pp.15â16.
one a year Crime statistics for the first half of the nineteenth century are notoriously uncertain. It was only in 1856 that the Home Office began to compile national statistics; before 1843 execution figures did not even record the gender of those hanged. Interpretation, therefore, is always difficult. I have used the figures that are most generally accepted.
nearly ten million: Stanley H. Palmer, Police and Protest in England and Ireland, 1780â1850 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988), p.164.
62 per 100,000: The EU figures come from Cynthia Tavares and Geoffrey Thomas, âPopulation and Social Conditions: Crime and Criminal Justiceâ, in Statistics in Focus, 15, 2007, http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-08â019/EN/KS-SF-08- 019-EN.PDF; the remaining figures are cited in Foreign Policy Review, September 2008.
one a year Crime statistics for the first half of the nineteenth century are notoriously uncertain. It was only in 1856 that the Home Office began to compile national statistics; before 1843 execution figures did not even record the gender of those hanged. Interpretation, therefore, is always difficult. I have used the figures that are most generally accepted.
nearly ten million: Stanley H. Palmer, Police and Protest in England and Ireland, 1780â1850 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988), p.164.
62 per 100,000: The EU figures come from Cynthia Tavares and Geoffrey Thomas, âPopulation and Social Conditions: Crime and Criminal Justiceâ, in Statistics in Focus, 15, 2007, http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-08â019/EN/KS-SF-08- 019-EN.PDF; the remaining figures are cited in Foreign Policy Review, September 2008.
2 it was 113s.: Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707â1837 (London, Pimlico, 1994), p.158.
3 the right time: These murders and John Williamsâ death have been compiled from: Caledonian Mercury, 14, 16, 19, 21, 28 December 1811, 4 January 1812; Derby Mercury, 12 December 1811; Examiner, 15 December 1811; Hull Packet, 17, 24 December 1811; Ipswich Journal, 14 December 1811; Jacksonâs Oxford Journal, 21 December 1811; Leeds Mercury, 14 December 1811; Liverpool Mercury, 13 December 1811; Morning Chronicle, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30 December 1811, 18 January 1812; The Times, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 21, 25, 28 December 1811; Edinburgh Annual Register, January 1812; Gentlemanâs Magazine, December 1811, January 1812.
4 bloodthirsty children: Patricia Anderson, The Printed Image and the Transformation of Popular Culture, 1790â1860 (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1991), p.22.
loose character and hasty temper: These broadsides are in the Bodleian Library, John Johnson Collection, in particular Crime 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8.
loose character and hasty temper: These broadsides are in the Bodleian Library, John Johnson Collection, in particular Crime 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8.
5 shoes with Grecian ties: Fairburnâs Account of the Dreadful Murder of Mr. Marr and Family, at their House In Ratcliff-Highway, on Saturday Night, December 7,1811; including the Whole Investigation before The Coronerâs Inquest, &c. &c. (London, John Fairburn, 1811).
7 not lame: Cited in Thomas de Quincey, On Murder, ed. Robert Morrison (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006), pp.191â2n.
by a jury: J.J. Tobias, Crime and Police in England, 1700â1900 (Dublin, Gill & Macmillan, 1979), p.128.
by a jury: J.J. Tobias, Crime and Police in England, 1700â1900 (Dublin, Gill & Macmillan, 1979), p.128.
8 to this mysterious gang No newspaper I have seen mentions these men after 14 December; presumably they were released for lack of corroborating evidence, or their lack of detailed knowledge of the murders.
acting on a system: Cited in Leon Radzinowicz, âThe Ratcliffe Murdersâ, Cambridge Law Journal, 1956, p.40.
acting on a system: Cited in Leon Radzinowicz, âThe Ratcliffe Murdersâ, Cambridge Law Journal, 1956, p.40.
10 hammer, on the stairs: Dickens to Walter Thornbury, 15 September 1866, Charles Dickens, The Letters of Charles Dickens, The Pilgrim Edition, eds. Madeline House, Graham Storey, Kathleen Tillotson, et al. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1969â2002), vol. 11, p.247; Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, ed. Peter Fairclough, intro. by Raymond Williams ([1846â8], Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1970), p.790.
undoubtedly be seen to be done: Lord Chief Justice Hewart ([1924] 1 KB 256), in the appeal to Rex v. Sussex Justices, Ex parte McCarthy.
undoubtedly be seen to be done: Lord Chief Justice Hewart ([1924] 1 KB 256), in the appeal to Rex v. Sussex Justices, Ex parte McCarthy.
11 through its heart: Notes and Queries, 11th ser., 5, January 1912, p.6.
Cannon Street Road: The scrapbook, with the undated reports, was cited as ânow in the rectory of St Georgeâs-in-the-Eastâ by P.D. James and T.A. Critchley, The Maul and the Pear Tree (London, Sphere, 1987), p.228.
Cannon Street Road: The scrapbook, with the undated reports, was cited as ânow in the rectory of St Georgeâs-in-the-Eastâ by P.D. James and T.A. Critchley, The Maul and the Pear Tree (London, Sphere, 1987), p.228.
12 Sir Thomas Lawrence: Pall Mall Gazette, âSome Relics at Mme Tussaudâsâ, 14 August 1886. Julia Collins, the archivist at Madame Tussaudâs, says that the portrait appears not to have survived.
no traces had yet been discovered: Morning Chronicle, âHouses of Parliamentâ, 18 January 1812.
such accumulated violence: Cited in James and Critchley, The Maul and the Pear Tree, pp.185â6.
no traces had yet been discovered: Morning Chronicle, âHouses of Parliamentâ, 18 January 1812.
such accumulated violence: Cited in James and Critchley, The Maul and the Pear Tree, pp.185â6.
13 turnpike roads alone: Palmer, Police and Protest, p.76.
in cases of Felony: Cited in Joseph F. King, The Development of Modern Police History in the United Kingdom and the United States, Criminology Studies, vol. 19 (Lewiston, NY, Edward Mellen Press, 2004), p.22.
Middlesex Justice Bill was passed: which became the Justice of the Peace, Metropolis Act, 32 Geo.III, c.53.
in cases of Felony: Cited in Joseph F. King, The Development of Modern Police History in the United Kingdom and the United States, Criminology Studies, vol. 19 (Lewiston, NY, Edward Mellen Press, 2004), p.22.
Middlesex Justice Bill was passed: which became the Justice of the Peace, Metropolis Act, 32 Geo.III, c.53.
14 write his own Memoirs: Attributions of authorship of the four volumes include Maurice Descombres, L.F.J.LâHĂ©ritier and Ămile Morice. See Howard G. Brown, âTips, Traps and Tropes: Catching Thieves in Post-Revolutionary Parisâ, in Clive Emsley and Hannah Shpayer-Makov, eds., Police Detectives in History, 1750â1950 (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006), pp.38â9; Ian Ousby, Bloodhounds of Heaven: The Detective in English Fiction from Godwin to Doyle (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1976), p.46.
original English ones: Ousby, Bloodhounds of Heaven, p.46.
original English ones: Ousby, Bloodhounds of Heaven, p.46.
15 Prevention and Detection of crimes: Patrick Colquhoun, âTreatise on the Police of the Metropolisâ, cited in Anthony Babington, A House in Bow Street: Crime and the Magistracy, London, 1740â1881 (London, Macdonald, 1969), p.179.
and potential crime: J.M. Beattie, âEarly Detection: The Bow Street Runners in Late Eighteenth-century Londonâ, in Emsley and Shpayer-Makov, Police Detectives in History, p.20.
and potential crime: J.M. Beattie, âEarly Detection: The Bow Street Runners in Late Eighteenth-century Londonâ, in Emsley and Shpayer-Makov, Police Detectives in History, p.20.
16 40 per cent: Ibid., pp.28â9.
17 criminals and their cohorts: Radzinowicz, âThe Ratcliffe Murdersâ, pp.47â8.
most notorious offenders: Morning Chronicle, âHouses of Parliamentâ, 18 January 1812. shown to be absurd: Cited in James and Critchley, The Maul and the Pear Tree, p.181. FouchĂ©âs contrivances: David Taylor, The New Police in Nineteenth-century England: Crime, Conflict and Control (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1997), p.19. beleaguered fortress: Thomas de Quincey, On Murder, âPostscriptâ, p.98. This volume includes the key essays de Quincey wrote on the aesthetics of murder, which initially were published as: âOn the Knocking at the Gate in Macbethâ, London Magazine, 8, October 1823,pp.353â6; âOn Murder Considered as One of the Fine Artsâ, Blackwoodâs Magazine, 21, February 1827, pp.199â213; âSecond Paper on Murder Considered as One of the Fine Artsâ, Blackwoodâs Magazine, 46, November 1839, pp.661â8; âPostscriptâ, Selections Grave and Gay (Edinburgh, 1854), pp.60â111. There is also a short story, âThe Avengerâ, which appeared in Blackwoodâs Magazine, 44, August 1838, pp.208â33.
most notorious offenders: Morning Chronicle, âHouses of Parliamentâ, 18 January 1812. shown to be absurd: Cited in James and Critchley, The Maul and the Pear Tree, p.181. FouchĂ©âs contrivances: David Taylor, The New Police in Nineteenth-century England: Crime, Conflict and Control (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1997), p.19. beleaguered fortress: Thomas de Quincey, On Murder, âPostscriptâ, p.98. This volume includes the key essays de Quincey wrote on the aesthetics of murder, which initially were published as: âOn the Knocking at the Gate in Macbethâ, London Magazine, 8, October 1823,pp.353â6; âOn Murder Considered as One of the Fine Artsâ, Blackwoodâs Magazine, 21, February 1827, pp.199â213; âSecond Paper on Murder Considered as One of the Fine Artsâ, Blackwoodâs Magazine, 46, November 1839, pp.661â8; âPostscriptâ, Selections Grave and Gay (Edinburgh, 1854), pp.60â111. There is also a short story, âThe Avengerâ, which appeared in Blackwoodâs Magazine, 44, August 1838, pp.208â33.
18 colossal sublimity: De Quincey, On Murder, p.10.
an orange and a lemon colour: Ibid., p.100; clothes, p.101.
than street thug I owe this interpretation to Laurence Senelick, âThe Prestige of Evil: The Murderer as Romantic Hero from Sade to Lacenaireâ, PhD thesis, Harvard University, 1972, pp.138â46.
an orange and a lemon colour: Ibid., p.100; clothes, p.101.
than street thug I owe this interpretation to Laurence Senelick, âThe Prestige of Evil: The Murderer as Romantic Hero from Sade to Lacenaireâ, PhD thesis, Harvard University, 1972, pp.138â46.
19 copious effusion of blood: De Quincey, On Murder, p.32.
2: Trial by Newspaper
22 more than one jurisdiction: Kellow Chesney, The Victorian Underworld (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1972), pp.267, 269.
23 performing the part: George Borrow, Lavengro; The Scholar â the Gypsy â the Priest ([1851], New York, Dover, 1991), p.157.
for their skins: Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 5 th edn (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1961).
and metropolitan thieves: George Borrow, The Zincali; or, An Account of the Gypsies of Spain, 4th edn (London, John Murray, 1846), p.13.
for their skins: Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 5 th edn (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1961).
and metropolitan thieves: George Borrow, The Zincali; or, An Account of the Gypsies of Spain, 4th edn (London, John Murray, 1846), p.13.
24 damages went to Thurtellâs creditors: The newspapers covered this bankruptcy hearing thoroughly. See in particular: Bristol Mercury, 30 June 1823; Aberdeen Journal, 19 November 1823.
25 postponed pork: Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, ed. Adrian Poole ([1864â5], Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1997), p.673.
26 to do and commit: The life, crimes, trial and execution of Thurtell are compiled from: Aberdeen Journal, 19, 26 November 1823; Bellâs Life, 29 June 1823, 2, 9, 16, 30 November, 7,
14 December 1823, 11, 18 January 1824; Bristol Mercury, 30 June, 3, 10, 17 November 1823; Caledonian Mercury, 6, 8, 13, 15, 17, 19 November, 11 December 1823; Derby Mercury, 5, 12 November, 10, 31 December 1823; The Englishman, 7 December 1823; Examiner, 22 September 1823, 19 October, 2, 9, 30 November, 7, 21 December 1823, 11 January 1824; Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, 10 November 1823; Ipswich Journal, 28 June, 8,
15 November 1823; John Bull, 3, 10, 17, 24 November, 8 December 1823, 12 January 1824; Leeds Mercury, 22 November 1823; Manchester Guardian, 31 January, 13 March 1824; Morning Chronicle, 31 October, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 14, 17, 19, 26, 28 November, 6, 15, 29 December 1823, 7, 8 January 1824; Norfolk Chronicle, Supplement, 3, 17 January 1824; Observer, 24 November 1823; a collection of contemporary cuttings relating to the trial and execution, British Library, shelfmark 6497.d.1. There are numerous contemporary accounts. A good summary can be read in Edward Herbert, âA Pen and Ink Sketch of a Late Trial for Murder, in a Letter from Hertfordâ, London Magazine, February 1824; others include [Anon.], Fairburnâs Edition of the Whole Proceedings on the TRIAL of John Thurtell, and Joseph Hunt, for the Wilful Murder of MR WEARE, in Gillâs-Hill Lane ⊠(London, John Fairburn, [1824]); Anon., The Fatal Effects of Gambling Exemplified in the Murder of Wm. Weare, and the Trial and Fate of John Thurtell, the Murderer⊠(London, Thomas Kelly, 1824); Anon., A Full Account of the Atrocious Murder of the Late Mr. Weare ⊠(London, Sherwood, Jones, 1823); Anon., A Narrative of the Mysterious and DREADFUL MURDER of MR W. WEARE, containing The Examination Before the Magistrates, The Coronerâs Inquest, The Confession of Hunt, And other Particulars previous to the Trial⊠(London, J. McGowan, [1824]); Anon., The Trial of Hunt and Thurtell, for the Murder of Mr. Weare, with their Defence ⊠(London, B. Dickenson, [1824]); Pierce Egan, Pierce Eganâs Account of the Trial of John Thurtell and Joseph Hunt (London, Knight & Lacey, 1824); and his Recollections of John Thurtell, who was Executed at Hertford On Friday, the 9th of January, 1824; for Murdering Mr. W. Weare ⊠(London, Knight & Lacey, 1824). Twentieth-century sources include Eric R. Watson, Trial of Thurtell and Hunt (Edinburgh, William Hodge, 1920); Albert Borowitz, The ThurtellâHunt Murder Case (London, Robson, 1988).
28 nearly a century: Thomas Boyle, Black Swine in the Sewers of Hampstead: Beneath the Surface of Victorian Sensationalism (London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1990), p.47; Senelick, âThe Prestige of Evilâ, p.81.
31 community in the world: Jim Davis and Victor Emeljanow, Reflecting the Audience: London Theatregoing, 1840â1880 (Hatfield, University of Hertfordshire Press, 2001), p.44; and Michael R. Booth, Theatre in the Victorian Age (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp.4, 79.
held 1,200people: Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor ([1861], NY, Dover, 1968), vol. 1, p.18; Douglas A. Reid, âPopular Theatre in Victorian Birminghamâ, in David Bradby, Louis James and Bernard Sharratt, eds., Performance and Politics in Popular Drama: Aspects of Popular Entertainment ...
held 1,200people: Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor ([1861], NY, Dover, 1968), vol. 1, p.18; Douglas A. Reid, âPopular Theatre in Victorian Birminghamâ, in David Bradby, Louis James and Bernard Sharratt, eds., Performance and Politics in Popular Drama: Aspects of Popular Entertainment ...