This study of the creation and effectiveness of legislation intended to combat the depredations of the so-called ‘criminal class’ in late Victorian London is a very welcome addition to the historio...

This volume uses four case studies, all with strong London connections, to analyze homicide law and the pardoning process in eighteenth-century England. Each reveals evidence of how attempts were made to negotiate a path through the justice system to avoid conviction, and so avoid a sentence of hanging. This approach allows a deep examination of the workings of the justice system using social and cultural history methodologies. The cases explore wider areas of social and cultural history in the period, such as the role of policing agents, attitudes towards sexuality and prostitution, press reporting, and popular conceptions of honorable behavior. They also allow an engagement with what has been identified as the gradual erosion of individual agency within the law, and the concomitant rise of the state. Investigating the nature of the pardoning process shows how important it was to have friends in high places, and also uncovers ways in which the legal system was susceptible to accusations of corruption. Readers will find an illuminating view of eighteenth-century London through a legal lens.

This paper uses one particular case study of homicide to suggest that our historical understanding analysis of the use of discretion and the pardoning process in the criminal justice system is in need of revision. In 1769 a murder was committed on Westminster Bridge that would eventually involve some of the highest persons in the land in a long drawn out campaign to spare the lives of those responsible. In this paper I examine the process of pardoning much more deeply than has previously been the case. Here there was an attempt to subvert the discretionary power of the elite by the use of an ancient right to private redress, which exposed the appeal process to public debate. As a result every twist and turn was reported in the pages of the London press and those involved were subjected to criticism and scrutiny. This became interwoven with debates about politics, the role of government, and the judiciary as it played out. This paper also looks at the rarely used private Appeal for Death (or Murder). This archaic legal device allowed the victim’s wife and family to pursue ‘justice’ against the murderers in spite of the concerted attempts of some significant members of the ruling elite to influence the outcome. This legal device has had little examination by historians despite the fact that it effectively undermined the monarch’s ability to pardon those sentenced to hang.

This article reflects on the current paucity of academic research into the Whitechapel Murders of 1888. Notably it suggests that there has been a tendency for historians of crime in particular to ignore the case and it argues that this has created an unwanted vacuum that has been filled (and exploited) by amateur history and the entertainment industry. This has consequences for how the public view both the murders and the killer, and the entire late Victorian period. The cultural phenomenon of ‘Jack the Ripper’ has been allowed to emerge as a result of this lack of academic engagement and this fuels an industry that continues to portray the murderer, the murdered and the area in which these killings occurred in a manner that does a terrible and ongoing disservice to the women that were so brutally killed. Moreover, the ‘celebration’ of the unknown killer has provided a role model for subsequent misogynist serial murderers and abusers. This article argues that it is time for historians of crime address this situation.

"London’s Criminal Underworlds, c.1720–c.1930: A Social and Cultural History." Cultural and Social History, 14(5), pp. 736–737

"London Lives: poverty, crime and the making of a modern city, 1690–1800." Social History, 42(2), pp. 296–297

In this lecture I am going to look at two aspects of the press coverage of the Whitechapel murders and the public engagement with it: 1st I’ll consider the way the press developed its reporting of the murders before going on to look at the phenomenon of the ‘Ripper’ letters sent to the police and news agencies. In many ways the joint phenomenon of contemporary press reportage and was crucial in creating the mythology surrounding ‘Jack the Ripper’ and in the second part of this talk I’d like to explore the relationship between myth and history, and what it means for our understanding of this case today.