The gruesome, unsolved murders by the first media-sensationalized serial killer, Jack the Ripper, continue to fascinate after more than 100 years. However, from the beginning the truth has been obscured by a fog of half-truths and misinterpretations. This book aims to clear up the misinformation and myths surrounding Jack the Ripper. The author uses a critical review of the kind that is now used to scrutinize unsolved crimes. He re-checks, re-examines and re-evaluates the facts, conjectures, newspaper accounts, eyewitness reports and official pronouncements. The book includes: descriptions of the locations where the bodies were found; detailed histories of the victims; profiles of key police officials and examinations of police procedures, investigations, blunders and errors; details of prevailing myths about the case; an evaluation of all the chief suspects; comprehensive analyses of the existing literature; discussions of written communications ostensibly sent by the Ripper; and an argument identifying the most likely suspects.
Shocking portraits of women who have committed capital crimes in England’s capital city—from the author of Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia. Women have sometimes been seen as less criminally inclined than men. But, as John J. Eddleston shows in this revealing anthology of female crimes in London, this image is hard to mesh with reality, for the city’s history is crowded with cases of women who broke the law. In vivid detail, he reconstructs a series of dramatic, often harrowing, cases in which women were involved and puts their acts in the context of their times. Taking episodes from the eighteenth century to near the present day, he looks at criminal women of all types, from all walks of life. The work of the London police, the courts, and the prisons is an essential element in his study, and each chapter reveals much about how attitudes toward crime and punishment have changed over the centuries. Fascinating portraits of these criminal women as individuals emerge from their stories; their cases come to life—as does the London in which they lived. They include Catherine Hayes, who was burnt alive for murdering her husband; three women hanged on the same day for highway robbery; two women executed for rioting; Anne Hurle and Charlotte Newman, who were both hanged for forgery; Florence Bravo, who was sensationally acquitted of murder; and, perhaps most famous of all, Ruth Ellis, whose execution in 1955 provoked an outcry against capital punishment.
The gruesome, unsolved murders by the first media-sensationalized serial killer, Jack the Ripper, continue to fascinate after more than 100 years. However, from the beginning the truth has been obscured by a fog of half-truths and misinterpretations. This book aims to clear up the misinformation and myths surrounding Jack the Ripper. The author uses a critical review of the kind that is now used to scrutinize unsolved crimes. He re-checks, re-examines and re-evaluates the facts, conjectures, newspaper accounts, eyewitness reports and official pronouncements. The book includes: descriptions of the locations where the bodies were found; detailed histories of the victims; profiles of key police officials and examinations of police procedures, investigations, blunders and errors; details of prevailing myths about the case; an evaluation of all the chief suspects; comprehensive analyses of the existing literature; discussions of written communications ostensibly sent by the Ripper; and an argument identifying the most likely suspects.
London’s most exclusive neighborhoods sit on sites of the some of the most sinister and scandalous crimes in British history. Stories of violent death will always hold us in a grim but thrilling grip. The dreadful crimes related in Foul Deeds in Kensington & Chelsea are shocking examples of murder cases that readers will never forget. Crimes of passion, opportunistic killings, political assassinations—the full spectrum of extreme criminality is recounted here. John J. Eddleston has selected a series of notorious episodes that give a fascinating insight into criminal acts and the criminal mind. The human dramas he depicts are often played out in the most commonplace of circumstances, but others are so odd as to be stranger than fiction. Cases involving the killing of wives, lovers, and children are among those he describes, but he also reconstructs in forensic detail several more unusual crimes—two men shot dead at a lecture, the field marshal who was assassinated on his doorstep, the acid bath killings, and the murders of two ill-fated countesses. These lethal episodes give a fascinating insight into the dark side of the history of Kensington and Chelsea.
The stormy past of England’s south coast city is vividly depicted in these true crime tales from the author of Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia. The criminal cases vividly described by John J. Eddleston in this gripping book take the reader on a journey into the dark secret side of Southampton’s past. The city has been the setting for a series of horrific, bloody, sometimes bizarre incidents. There is the story of Augustus John Penny, who shot his mother to death while she was lying in her bed after discovering that she had come into money and refused to pass any on to him. There is James Camb, who was convicted of murder even though the body of his victim, an actress, was never found. And there is the case of Michael George Tatum, the only British killer of the twentieth century to use an African club as his chosen weapon of murder. But perhaps the most intriguing case is the Southampton garage murder of Vivian Messiter in October 1928. In spite of masterful police work, there was an eighteen-month delay before the killer, William Henry Podmore, finally paid the price on the gallows for that brutal crime. Eddleston’s selection of cases from Southampton’s criminal history will be compelling reading for anyone who is interested in the sinister side of human nature.
To face a trial for murder must be a terrifying prospect, all the more so when you know that you are innocent of the charge. How much more horrific must it be then, when you know that should you be found guilty, the sentence must be that you will lose your life at the end of a rope?All of the cases reviewed in this book involved one or more individuals who were put on trial for taking the life of a fellow human being. The stories involve the eventual execution by hanging of nine men and one woman. To date, two of those men have been reprieved; too late for them and their families of course but, nevertheless, the state had admitted that it was wrong. What of the others?What of Louisa Masset, the first person to be hanged in the twentieth century? Did she really murder the son she apparently loved so much? What of Frederick Seddon who went to the gallows still protesting that he was innocent of the murder of his lodger? And what of Harry Armstrong, hanged for murdering his fiance on New Year's Day 1939?The cases in this book all took place in London. Read the stories for yourself and remember that the law states that if there is a reasonable doubt, then it is the jury's duty to acquit. Was there not a reasonable doubt in some of the cases detailed here? Put yourself onto those juries and decide whether you would have still been prepared to stand in court and announce that dreaded word: 'Guilty!
Many troops passed through Southampton on their way to the Western Front and it played a vital role as a staging post for departing troops and those returning badly injured.??Many of men from Southampton also joined up and the enormity of human sacrifice that the families of Southampton were committed to as the war stretched out over the next four years was immense. ??The Great War affected everyone. At home there were wounded soldiers in military hospitals, refugees from Belgium and later on German prisoners of war. There were food and fuel shortages and disruption to schooling. The role of women changed dramatically and they undertook a variety of work undreamed of in peacetime. Meanwhile, men serving in the armed forces were scattered far and wide. Extracts from contemporary letters reveal their heroism and give insights into what it was like under battle conditions.
In the Great War of 1914–1918, Southampton played a vital role in the war effort. Designated as Port Number One it saw hundreds of thousands of men and many tons of equipment sail for the fields of Belgium and France.The Second World War was a completely different type of war. Hitlers blitzkrieg tactics led to a more mobile war and, arguably for the first time, airpower played a crucial role. Whoever had superiority in the air had a massive advantage in any particular theater, or battle. This does not, however, mean that Southamptons role was relegated to a minor one.Southamptons men still enlisted in their hundreds. Her women took over roles in factories, on buses and trams, and many of them also served in the armed forces. Her citizens formed defense groups and helped to watch for the enemy invasion and those same citizens suffered greatly when the bombs fell. The Southampton Blitz claimed many lives and this, perhaps, was the greatest difference the town saw in this second global conflagration. It is true that her citizens had also served in the Great War but now, through the efforts of the Luftwaffe, these men, women and children were now also in the front line.Hitler once described Germanys plans as total war. The phrase is certainly apt when one considered how the towns and cities of Britain suffered during the Nazi supremacy. One of those towns was Southampton, a town that once again, just 20 short years after she had given so much, had to brace herself for long years of war in which every single person had their role to play.And once again, Southampton and her citizens were not found wanting.
True-life tales of bloody killings and brutal crimes wind through the dark past of this historic town on the Thames. John J. Eddleston’s latest selection of notorious criminal cases takes the reader through a sequence of sensational episodes that have marred the history of Reading. His book, based on original research, recalls many grisly events and sad or unsavory individuals whose fate has hitherto been forgotten. Among the shocking crimes he reconstructs are those of the baby-farmer Amelia Dyer, the unsolved murder of Alfred Oliver, the suffocation of Beatrice Cox, the red Mini murder of June Cook, and the attempted murder of a family of five. This chronicle of the dark side of Reading’s long history will be fascinating reading for anyone who is interested in the town’s rich—and sometimes gruesome—past.
The war of 1914–18 changed Britain forever. The movement for Irish Home Rule strengthened, women were in jobs they had never done before and, at the end of the war, were granted the vote for the first time. Political and military careers were won and lost and in all of these, Winchester played its part. Whilst this is a book about the Great War, that terrible conflagration which claimed so many lives, it is also expertly covers how that war touched the citizens of Winchester. It can be said that every city, town, village and hamlet contributed to the war effort but some cities, of which Winchester is certainly one, were of crucial importance to the final victory. It is true that Winchester was a major army depot, but it was also a city concerned with attempts to keep some normality in life. There were stories of loss but there was also humour, entertainment, fund raising, patriotism and tales of the darker side of life. With over thirty illustrations, some never seen before, Winchester in the Great War is a thorough account of the daily hardships and triumphs of those living in the city during one of the most defining and significant periods in the history of Britain.
Foul Deeds in Islington takes the reader on a sinister journey through a selection of the most shocking and revealing murders committed in this part of north London during the last two centuries. Killers of all kinds are recorded here, from the coolest and most calculating of criminals to ill-starred individuals who struck out in passion or despair or anger. John Eddleston recounts their notorious stories in forensic detail. Police-killers Thomas Cooper and Ronald Marwood feature in his book, along with the child-killer Celestika Somner, the poisoner George Chapman, the witchcraft-murderer Kayode Orishagbemi and, of course, most famous of all, Kenneth Halliwell who killed playwright Joe Orton in their flat in Noel Road. In addition to these celebrated cases, several less well-known but equally compelling murders are reconstructed. They give a shocking insight into the dark side of Islington s recent, sometimes gruesome, history.
Shocking portraits of women who have committed capital crimes in England’s capital city—from the author of Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia. Women have sometimes been seen as less criminally inclined than men. But, as John J. Eddleston shows in this revealing anthology of female crimes in London, this image is hard to mesh with reality, for the city’s history is crowded with cases of women who broke the law. In vivid detail, he reconstructs a series of dramatic, often harrowing, cases in which women were involved and puts their acts in the context of their times. Taking episodes from the eighteenth century to near the present day, he looks at criminal women of all types, from all walks of life. The work of the London police, the courts, and the prisons is an essential element in his study, and each chapter reveals much about how attitudes toward crime and punishment have changed over the centuries. Fascinating portraits of these criminal women as individuals emerge from their stories; their cases come to life—as does the London in which they lived. They include Catherine Hayes, who was burnt alive for murdering her husband; three women hanged on the same day for highway robbery; two women executed for rioting; Anne Hurle and Charlotte Newman, who were both hanged for forgery; Florence Bravo, who was sensationally acquitted of murder; and, perhaps most famous of all, Ruth Ellis, whose execution in 1955 provoked an outcry against capital punishment.
Tangmere Airfield had a prominent role in the Air War from 1916 onwards and many local men joined the Royal Sussex Regiment. This book looks at how the experience of war impacted on the town, from the initial enthusiasm for sorting out the German Kaiser in time for Christmas 1914, to the gradual realization of the enormity of human sacrifice the families of Chichester were committed to as the war stretched out over the next four years. The Great War affected everyone. At home there were wounded soldiers in military hospitals, refugees from Belgium and later on German prisoners of war. There were food and fuel shortages and disruption to schooling. The role of women changed dramatically and they undertook a variety of work undreamed of in peacetime. Meanwhile, men serving in the armed forces were scattered far and wide. Extracts from contemporary letters reveal their heroism and give insights into what it was like under battle conditions.
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