The Newgate Calendar

by George Theodore Wilkinson, Christopher Hibbert (Introduction)

Book by

Genres: True Crime, History, Nonfiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This shit is nuts.

I actually have a different edition that Goodreads didn't list. It's a 1962 edition with an excellent introduction by Sandra Lee Kerman.
Full title to give you the idea: The Newgate Calendar or Malefactors' Bloody Register containing: Genuine and Circumstantial Narrative of the lives and transactions, various exploits and Dying Speeches of the Most Notorious Criminals of both sexes who suffered Death Punishment in Gt. Britain and Ireland for High Treason, Petty Treason, Murder, Piracy, Felony, Thieving, Highway Robberies, Forgery, Rapes, Bigamy, Burglaries, Riots, and various other horrid crimes and misdemeanours on a plan entirely new, wherein will be fully displayed the regular progress from virtue to vice interspersed with striking reflexions on the conduct of those unhappy wretches who have fallen a sacrifice to the laws of their country.

Which says it all, really.

Interesting insights from the introduction: The legal code wasn't properly systematized at this point as laws passed to meet specific incidents. For example it was a felony to steal a sheep or a horse but a misdemeanor to make an attempt on one's father's life. To steal without being seen was a felony but to steal and be observed was a misdemeanor. To steal 40 shillings worth of goods on a navigable river - felony. On a navigable canal - misdemeanor.

Also interesting are the numbers. Between 1771 and 1783, 467 men and women were executed in London and Middlesex. In the year 1785, 96 were executed in London alone.

It's a really interesting overlap between past and present. For example in a rape trial the judge has to caution the jury against being biased by popular printed accounts of the story and to warn the courtroom audience against cheering or booing. And he makes the point that the defendant is on trial for rape so they shouldn't base their verdict on whether he seized her and carried her off to his house "for however unwarrantable the manner was in which she came into his power, if, at the time he lay with her, it was by her consent, he is not guilty of the offence of which he is indicted; though it was proper to be given in evidence on this trial, to account for her being with him, and his having an opportunity of committing the crime : and to show, from the indirect manner of getting her to his house, the greater probability that her account is true."

Yet at the same time, popular opinion, influence of the peerage, bribes, and drunkenness all played a huge role in a charmingly quaint and archaic way. Oh and don't forget escaping from prison by lowering yourself by a bed sheet.

That's the great reason to read the book. It's source material so while it was edited and put together with an agenda, it's all from within that century so it's not merely a re-imagining of the past as our modern eye would like to see it or to prove some liberal or conservative agenda.

There are a lot of literary references, but the couple I noted were Lord Baltimore if you've read The Sotweed Factor and the story of the Duchess of Kingston adds an interesting dimension to Georgette Heyer stories when you think of all the desperate crime going on in the country at the time. Another interesting point to me is a captain who orders his men to fire into a mob, for its parallels to the trial of the British soldiers at the Boston massacre fifty years later. This captain gets found guilty but it sounds like it was because everyone in town knew he was a right bastard.

My copy's up for grabs if anybody wants it.

[Leothefox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blood! Murder! Robbery!

Wilkinson's old publication is a delightfully lurid account of a long series of 18th century crimes in England, a great deal of which resulted in conviction and hanging. Many of the infamous persons who were listed executed in these pages would later become the heroes of 19th century “penny dreadfuls” (and yes, that's why I read this).

You've got your Dick Turpin, your Jack Sheppard, Jonathan Wild, Blueskin Blake, and many many more.

In a few of these, the whole of the case is described quickly and you're left wanting more, but in others, like Eugene Aram, the entry is padded with whole speeches and one feels the need to move on. Although, to be fair, to the 21st century reader, this book is more a reference and less an entertainment. At times it can be both.

There are a few cases where it makes it clear that an execution was a miscarriage of justice, or where a homicide was popularly felt to really have been a self defense. Of course, in 18th century England, people were hanging for something as slight as robbery, so quite a few of these executions were an abuse of justice in the modern lens. The writers deals out sympathy for some, but trumpets for English law and order in other cases.

There is a lot here and it is invaluable, although some of the arrangements of the cases can be ponderous. The book ends on a series of riots, including a 1780 London riot in which many were executed for “pulling down” houses of various figures.

Wilkinson has been dead for far longer than he was alive, so I'll forgive a few of the tragic period attitudes on display here. It does nothing to diminish the value of the record. After all, the man educates you thoroughly on how to counterfeit coins!

If you're obsessed with the time period as I am, this book is for you.

[Jose Moa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting real crime histories of famous criminals in the eighteen century related to the Newgate prison that awaited to be judged in Old Bailey court and most of them executed

[Gregory D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful discovery. An almanac of sorts containing a series of fascinating and long-forgotten true crime histories and anecdotes that bring the 17th/18th century London Underworld to life.