CONTENTS 24 The surprising true story of smuggling in Bristol
37 Terrorising the nation in the 1770s
54 How the Victorians put Britain’s bobbies on the beat
imeline: Justice T through the ages
Alyson Brown charts milestones in crime and punishment
12
Medieval show trials
29
Derek Wilson investigates the case of a London merchant shot in a professional killing in 1536
33
Justice in the Middle Ages had to be seen to be done in a symbolic and very public spectacle, explains Hannah Skoda
20
The real Robin Hoods
37
Smuggling’s heyday
46
Dr Evan Jones visits Bristol to explore the city’s thriving trade in illicit goods in the 16th century
2
aptain Kidd’s C betrayal
The so-called ‘pirate’ was betrayed for crimes he did not commit, claims Angus Konstam
Britain’s first terrorist
50
A deadly obsession
Clare Walker Gore looks at how the Victorians were disgusted, yet fascinated, by public hangings
reat Victorian G swindle
Royalty, politicians and famous authors were all duped by begging letters, says Antonio Melechi
54
Policing the nation
Clive Emsley charts the creation of our modern police force
62
The dead body trade The 19th-century trade in corpses was a shadowy one but, asks Elizabeth Hurren, where would modern medicine be without it?
Jessica Warner on the Scot who terrorised Britain in the 1770s
Hugh Doherty explores the lives of medieval outlaws
24
The Tudor hitman
67
Jack the Ripper
Anne-Marie Kilday and David Nash consider five theories about the
GETTY IMAGES/ALAMY/COURTESY OF THE JOHN CARTER BROWN LIBRARY AT BROWN UNIVERSITY
6
29
The tools of a Tudor assassin 20 Forget Robin Hood, what did it really mean to be a medieval outlaw? 79 Britons’ fascination with murder
76 Shame on you: punished in the pillory
ALAMY/BRIDGEMAN/THE ROYAL PAVILION AND MUSEUMS, BRIGHTON & HOVE
104 The sad story of the last woman to be hanged visits Beaumaris Gaol to find out
Ripper’s identity
71
The wicked boy
88
Kate Summerscale talks about a case of Victorian matricide
76
Public humiliation was once a feared aspect of justice in Britain, as David Nash reveals
79
84
90
Prison reform
What was life like for convicted Victorian criminals? Alyson Brown
98
Terror on the streets
104 The hanging of Ruth Ellis
Clive Bloom on the infamous Siege of Sidney Street in 1911, a dramatic shoot-out between the police and a gang of mysterious revolutionaries
Murder obsession
Lucy Worsley selects objects that testify to Britons’ fascination with this most grisly of crimes
n going to see O a man hanged
Public executions were a gruesome spectacle enjoyed by unruly London crowds until 1868, says Stephen Halliday
unishment in P the pillory
95
rioter of the 20th century, revealed by Alyson Brown
mash and grab S gangster
The criminal career of Ruby Sparks, an infamous burglar and prison
Criminals of the Blitz Joshua Levine on how the German bombing of British cities created new opportunities for lawlessness
A young woman’s execution set public opinion against the death penalty, explains Lizzie Seal
109 Court in the act
Drew Gray looks at 10 trials that gripped the nation, and at what they reveal about society’s fears
114
Opinion
Clive Bloom muses on our fascination with murder
3
14
BBC History August 2004