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Global witness: Grim classics of Old Bailey go on internet
WHEN murderers from years gone by killed their unfortunate victims they could never have imagined that, centuries later, the gory details of their misdeeds would be on show to the world.
But that's now the case, thanks to university researchers who have put true tales of crime and punishment dating back to 1674 on the internet for all to see.
The Old Bailey Proceedings Online website has been doubled in size by researchers from the Universities of Sheffield, Hertfordshire and The Open University, who have expanded its coverage to include details of criminal trials from 1674 to 1913 – just after the Great Fire of London to just before the First World War.
The website, which has been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), details crimes committed by the likes of Irish terrorists, train robbers, suffragettes and the infamous wife killer Dr Crippen.
It provides valuable insights into everything from pick-pocketing and robbery to abduction and murder.
The website details over 197,000 of the trials held at London's central criminal court.
Facts are included regarding the circumstances of crimes, the lives of the accused, witnesses and victims, and verdicts and punishments handed down by judges.
Details of the trials also reveal very different attitudes to crime, justice and punishment. In one case, a child of 13 is sentenced to death for burglary.
Professor Robert Shoemaker, head of the department of history at the University of Sheffield and co-director of the project, said: "This new expansion means it is now possible to search records of 197,745 individual trials, running to 110,000 pages of text and some 120 million words.
"Up until now this treasure trove of social, legal and family history has only been available to a few dedicated historians, who were prepared to spend months peering at microfilms.
"Now everyone from schoolchildren and amateur historians to scholars working in a range of academic disciplines can have easy access to this wealth of information.
"The site's use is widespread, with people as far away as Australia using it to trace their ancestry or find out a little more about British history."
Co-director Professor Tim Hitchcock, from the University of Hertfordshire, pointed out that the site not only details the macabre, but more ordinary facts about everyday life.
He said: "If you want to know how to order a plate of oysters in an East End pub, or what not to wear to church in Islington, the information is here. Besides the desperate drama of crimes punished, the Proceedings give us a new and remarkable access to the everyday."
Professor Clive Emsley, of The Open University and co-director of the project, said: "Crime is something that fascinates everyone, and what the Old Bailey Proceedings does is provide people with the opportunity to see what crime was really like in the past.
"They can make comparisons and see close parallels to what's happening today. For example, we think of terrorism as
being new, but within the Old Bailey Proceedings, people will see terrorists who are attempting to do the same things 100 years ago."
The website, which is published by HRI Online, the electronic publishing arm of the University of Sheffield's Humanities Research Institute, is at www.oldbaileyonline.org.From Yorkshire to date with Tyburn noose
Sheffield-born Edward Blastock was convicted of highway robbery in April 1738. After marrying and having children, he fell into bad company and his wig-making busnesses failed.
For several years he earned a living as a travelling player, but this was brought to an end by the Stage Licensing Act of 1737 and he went to London.
He was drawn into highway robbery by his brother-in-law John Toon, and they carried out a number of robberies together.
But eventually Toon was arrested, and betrayed Blastock to the authorities. They were hanged together at Tyburn in May 1738.
John Fair, or Fairborne, was convicted in 1712 of breaking into a house and stealing silk and other goods.
He was 19 and had been born in Leeds but had gone to London at the age of 12. He denied the crime but admitted to a bad way of
life and being "much addicted to swearing, drinking, etc". He was hanged at Tyburn.
Robert d'Auray was convicted of forging a bill of exchange from the Midland Banking Company's Sheffield branch, in August 1870. Part of the prosecution case turned on whether it was possible for the defendant to leave Sheffield by train in the morning and get back to London the same night, and this led to detailed evidence from railway employees from Sheffield about train arrivals and departures on the day of the offence.
Alexander Charles Borromeo was convicted of bigamy in 1858. In 1842 he had married Mary Ann Sadler in Middlesex. He left her in 1846, and in 1847 he met Anna Maria Froggatt, of Sheffield, at Preston. Later the same year they eloped to Gretna Green and were married there. They had a daughter, but he deserted her in 1851.
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