Teaching
History Online
Number
83: 27th April, 2003
Introduction
1.
The
Old Bailey
2.
Cato
Street Conspiracy
3.
History
of Judicial Hanging
4.
Newgate
Calendar
5.
Jack
Sheppard
6.
The
Crime Library
7. American
Mafia
8. 18th
Century Crime Reports
9. Hitler-Hess
Deception
Introduction
Spartacus Educational
publishes Teaching
History Online every week. The newsletter includes news, reviews
of websites and articles on using ICT in the history classroom. Members
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Teaching
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John Simkin
spartacus@pavilion.co.uk
The
Old Bailey: The Old Bailey Proceedings Online Project is creating
a fully searchable digitised collection of all surviving editions
of the Old Bailey Proceedings from 1674 to 1834 and making all 100,000
trials available on the internet free of charge for non-commercial
use. In addition to the text, accessible through both keyword and
structured searching, this website provides digital images of the
60,000 original pages of the Proceedings, advice on methods of searching
this resource, information on the historical and legal background
to trials at the Old Bailey, links to descriptions of published and
manuscript materials relating to the trials covered in the Proceedings,
and a special section for schools.
Cato
Street Conspiracy: On 22nd February 1820, Arthur Thistlewood discovered
that several members of the British government were going to have
dinner at Lord Harrowby's house at 39 Grosvenor Square the following
night. Thistlewood argued that this was the opportunity they had been
waiting for. It was decided that a group of his followers would gain
entry to the house and kill all the government ministers. The heads
of Lord Castlereagh and Lord Sidmouth would be placed on poles and
taken around the slums of London. Thistlewood was convinced that this
would incite an armed uprising that would overthrow the government.
This website provides an account of what became known as the Cato
Street Conspiracy.
History
of Judicial Hanging: In Britain hanging was the principal form
of execution from Anglo-Saxon times up to abolition of the death penalty
in 1964. There were hundreds of executions a year in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries with the greatest number being carried out
at Tyburn, near what is now Marble Arch, at the end of Oxford Street
in London. 1,140 men and 92 women were hanged at Tyburn between 1703
and 1783. Between 1800 and 1964, at least 5,508 people (including
246 women) suffered death on the gallows. This website, produced by
Richard Clark, provides a detailed history of capital punishment in
Britain.
Newgate
Calendar: Newgate
was used as a prison from at least 1188, and rebuilt as such in 1420.
It was destroyed in the Gordon Riots in 1780 but rebuilt in 1783 and
used for both civil debtors and criminals until 1815. Thereafter,
it was used for criminals only, and from 1881, only during the sittings
of the Central Criminal Court. It was finally destroyed in 1902, part
of the site being occupied by the Central Criminal Court then built.
The Newgate Calendar was published in five volumes in 1760. There
were many later editions. Later series were issued from about 1820
as the Newgate Calendar, and the New Newgate Calendar appeared weekly
in 1863-65. This online version of the Newgate Calendar has been produced
by the University of Texas School of Law.
Jack
Sheppard: In 18th-century England, many criminals were children
who were trained as pickpockets or put through windows to burgle the
houses of property owners. Between 1700 and 1725, nearly half of all
those hanged at Tyburn were apprentice boys. One of them was Jack
Sheppard (1702-24), an apprentice carpenter who, as a thief, made
more money in a month than a qualified carpenter made in a year. By
the time he was executed, he had become a hero, idolised for his daring
escapes from prison.
The
Crime Library: This website site was founded by Marilyn J. Bardsley
in January 1998. The Crime Library is a rapidly growing collection
of more than over 500 nonfiction feature stories on major crimes,
criminals, trials, forensics and criminal profiling, as well as award-winning
fiction short stories by prominent writers. The stories focus mostly
on recent crimes, but an expanding collection also delves into historically
notorious characters, dating back to the 1400s and spanning the globe.
The Crime Library serves as an important resource for students researching
current and historical subjects.
American
Mafia: The Mafia is a group of criminals organized into "families,"
and operating primarily in North America. Also known as La Cosa Nostra,
at one time there were 26 families in the United States - roughly
one for each major city. The Mafia has its roots in Sicily, where
the larger and more powerful Sicilian Mafia operates. This website
produced by Rick Porrello's provides background information on the
Mafia plus links to a large number of articles on the subject.
18th
Century Crime Reports: This collected of early 18th century newspaper
reports have been compiled by Rictor Norton. The website includes
accounts of several criminal cases including Catherine Hayes (burned
alive for murdering her husband), Captain Jane (murdered his cabin
boy), Mary Harvey (highway robber), Moll Freeman (criminal from Covent
Garden), Mary Taylor (executed in Norwich for killing her mistress)
and John Ellis (a soldier shot for desertion).
Book
Section
Hitler-Hess
Deception: On the night of 10 May 1941, in one of the most extraordinary
and bizarre incidents of the Second World War, a Messerschmitt-110
crash-landed on a remote Scottish hillside. Its pilot, who had parachuted
to safety, was Rudolf Hess, the Deputy Fuhrer of the German Reich.
Hess's remarkable solo flight was immediately dismissed in both Britain
and Germany as the deranged act of a disordered mind. He was disowned
by Hitler, and Winston Churchill's government insisted that his surprise
arrival on British soil was of no lasting consequence. For 60 years
speculation has remained that there was more to Hess's arrival in
Britain than the authorities would admit but the crucial evidence
to prove the case was missing - until now. In this book Martin Allen
reveals for the first time the true motives for Hess's flight. (Martin
Allen, HarperCollins, ISBN 0 00 714118 1, £19.99)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
