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  1. Home
  2. Victorian crime and punishment

Victorian crime and punishment

We bring you the facts about crime and punishment in the Victorian era – from Jack the Ripper, who stalked the streets of Whitechapel for his five victims in 1888, to the pick-pocketing street urchins popularised by Charles Dickens’s ‘Oliver Twist’. Why were the Victorians so fascinated by murder? Did grave-robbers really steal corpses in the dead of night? Find out more below…

Prisoners exercise and play sport in the courtyard of the Fleet Prison, circa 1872
General Modern

Timeline: a history of prisons in Britain

Workers repair Fleet sewer in 1854. London’s creaking sewer network sparked anxieties over what lay beneath the sprawling capital. (Photo by Guildhall Library & Art Gallery/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
Victorian

Living in fear: the dangers of Victorian London 

Bill Nighy and Olivia Cooke in 'The Limehouse Golem'.
Victorian

The real history behind Victorian thriller ‘The Limehouse Golem’

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Podcast-Website-large-Jane-Ridley-5edbaf2
Victorian

7 podcasts about Queen Victoria and the Victorians to listen to right now

Hallie Rubenhold. (Photo by Fran Monks)
Victorian

The women killed by Jack the Ripper

General Modern

A brief history of capital punishment in Britain

An engraving from 'The Illustrated Police News', c1889, imagines Jack the Ripper
Victorian

Your guide to Jack the Ripper

Police Constable Neil finds  the body of MARY ANN NICHOLS  in Buck's Row, Whitechapel        Date: 31 August 1888
Victorian

A big day in history: Mary Ann Nichols becomes the first victim of ‘Jack the Ripper’ (31 August 1888)

Five theories about Jack the Ripper's identity. (Photo by dreamstime.com)
Victorian

The Ripper of our nightmares: 5 theories about Jack the Ripper’s identity

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The ‘Princes in the Tower’: Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, disappeared in mysterious circumstances following the death of their father, King Edward IV. (The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)
Victorian

6 notorious unsolved crimes from history

Podcast Website large John Bennett
Victorian

East End crime

An illustration of a public execution at Newgate, London, late 18th century. (Photo by Museum of London/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
Victorian

The Library A deadly obsession in Victorian London

11193927-high_res-ripper-street-s4-2-6cd96a3
Victorian

Ripper Street series four: behind the scenes with writer Richard Warlow

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Victorian

A Victorian murder and a ship that made history

Kate Summerscale. (Photo by Fran Monks)
Victorian

The wicked boy: the mystery of a Victorian child murderer

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