Lincolnshire's Victorian-era Murders

In an article about the perils of his job, the editor of the Lincolnshire Free Press wrote, in his newspaper's edition of 12 February 1850, 'If every paper does not contain a goodly number of horrible murders, it is a dull unwelcome sheet.'

It was in the 19th century that murder became popularised, with the rapid growth of newspapers and books. 'Penny Dreadfuls' spread like wildfire, telling tales of foul and bloody murder.

The Victorian age was the era that created Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the Sherlock Holmes books, Dracula and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

We don't think of Charles Dickens as being the author of murder mysteries, but more than a dozen of his books contain killings.

And in real life, the Victorians had Jack the Ripper, the Thames Torso murders and Mary Ann Cotton – who killed three husbands, numerous lovers, her own mother and 11 of her children, all for the insurance money.

Lincolnshire alone had over a hundred real-life, true-crime murders in the Victorian age, that are detailed in this set of three books.

The victims were stabbed or strangled or shot or suffocated; they were beaten or burned to death. Some were drowned, some were poisoned, one was even killed by being struck by a loaf of bread.

With the police having no fingerprinting, no DNA testing and only the beginnings of forensic examinations, let alone anything as helpful as a telephone, did the guilty escape punishment? Did the innocent get convicted? Decide for yourself in each of these gory tales.

The punishment for murder was death.

There was no radio, no television, no cinema, no internet. For entertainment, the Victorian masses loved little better than the party atmosphere generated by a bellyful of beer, some rude songs about a convicted murderer and the spectacle of the miserable wretch being put to death on the gallows.

Thousands used to gather for the occasion, often travelling many miles for the pleasure.

Stoke up your fire, light a candle, and listen on…