The Victorian Criminal

by Neil R. Storey

From gaslit city streets to dark wooded estates, crime was rife in Victorian Britain; through a wide array of historical court records, newspaper accounts and prison books, The Victorian Criminal gives a fascinating overview of those involved in it. Within these pages may be found accounts of petty criminals and poachers, baby farmers and notorious murderers, along with stories of the development of detective forces and forensic techniques. Countless novels, plays and films are testament to an enduring fascination with the dark aspects of the time and place that gave us Sherlock Holmes, Wilkie Collins and the great works of Charles Dickens.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

64 pages, Paperback

First published August 23, 2011

About the author

A graduate of the University of East Anglia, Neil R. Storey is a professional historian and lecturer specialising in the study of the impact of war on British society in the first half of the 20th century.

Neil R. Storey is an award-winning social historian specialising in the impact of the First and Second World Wars on British society. He also has a long-standing interest in gothic horror, is the creator of the popular 'Grim Almanac' series published by History Press, and has published numerous works on dark history. He has been in publication since 1989 and now has a canon of over 50 books and has had great reviews in The Times and Daily Mail. A graduate of University of East Anglia he guest lectures for both academic and social audiences across the UK and internationally. He has written countless articles for national periodicals and frequently appears as a guest expert on factual television and radio programmes such as: Who Do You Think You Are?, Classified Britain, The Buildings that Fought Hitler, and Help! My House is Haunted.

Reviews

[Liselotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shire Library is my favourite way to read about subjects I don't know if I like or not, because they are really short but informative!

This one, however, isn't bought out of curiosity, but because Victorian crime is my favourite subject to read about. Sounds a bit disturbing, but I just really like the way they kept record of things and the like.

This book was incredibly informative, and a great companion to the Art of English Murder by Luct Worsley. It gave me new information that even I (after many books!) didn't know about. I did feel like it could've expanded more on jails and mental institutions as they did talk about reform schools for children.

The downside to this book was that this was really murder heavy. Now, don't get me wrong, I love to read about murders ( again that sounds disturbing, but it's just fascinating ok!) but when you read a book about crime, you don't want 50% of the book to be about murder, just write a whole book on murder if it's just going to be your main focus!

I did really enjoy it, it was a great book, well written, really informative and great use of pictures. All in all, I totally recommend this book!!

[Ray (: · Rating 4 out of 5]

quick but really informative read with great (real) illustrations of the people and news it’s talking about. the book was well written and very easy to follow.

i wish it had gone into more detail about prisons and mental institutions like it did with the reform schools and that it had more variety of crimes discussed as it was largely focused on murder which, while interesting, doesn’t really give an understanding of the everyday victorian criminal.

[S. A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, informative, but very much a whistle stop tour. Not that much detail and very few cases outside of London.

[Hebz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting times

[Alison Oakley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting quick read to wet the whistle! detailed
Snippets of Victorian Crimes and criminals.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and made me want to find out a lot more :-)