crime Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Cumbrian Characters

William Horsley: victim of love

Posted on May 9, 2021 by HarrietP

William Horsley of Penrith fell under the spell of his mother-in-law, Jane Davidson. And Jane Davidson was prepared to use magic, and ultimately murder (and a painful death herself) to keep him. The d... Read More

Punishments in 1841 – in Cumberland

Posted on April 4, 2021 by HarrietP

Punishments in 1841 – in Cumberland This post illustrates a few of the punishments in 1841 for ‘minor offences’. As meted out by magistrates in Cumberland. The 1841 Easter Sessions The Easter Se... Read More

Sarah Nicholson, no merry widow!

Posted on February 7, 2021February 7, 2021 by HarrietP

Sarah Nicholson ‘had the misfortune to marry a man 25 years her senior’. This seemingly unlucky accident (!) led to villagers trying to drive her out in 1879. But she was no strange to violence he... Read More

‘Most atrocious deed’: the Longburn murders

Posted on September 20, 2020May 4, 2023 by HarrietP

The Longburn murders of 1808 rocked Cumberland and beyond, for the way a man shown kindness ‘repaid’ it with brutality against two defenceless victims. Recorded in stone A gravestone near ... Read More

The Staffield Murder of 1856

Posted on July 19, 2020January 4, 2021 by HarrietP

The Staffield Murder of 1856 filled a lot of column inches in newspapers: likely the first and last time this little Cumbrian hamlet featured on the wider public consciousness. Whodunnit? While TV dra... Read More

Conspiracy to marriage – the Anne Crellin case

Posted on October 14, 2019 by HarrietP

It wasn’t a murder trial that gripped the nation in 1842, but a conspiracy to defraud a vulnerable middle-aged woman by tricking her into marriage. It’s definitely worthy of Crimes of the Centuri... Read More

Bee mine, honey: a cautionary tale from Shap

Posted on July 7, 2019January 22, 2021 by HarrietP

Love can be sweet. But wooing someone with bees can end up with one of you being stung, as a Shap saddler learned to his cost. Before the courts Cumbrian Characters’ URL is ‘crimesofthecenturies.c... Read More

Victorian values – punishment

Posted on March 17, 2019January 22, 2021 by HarrietP

‘Victorian values’ are something that get trotted out in British politics every decade or so, as something to aspire (back) to. This post touches on the ‘value’ they placed on ... Read More

Ann Little – driven to a terrible act

Posted on September 8, 2018September 8, 2018 by HarrietP

On July 11, 1881, Ann Little, 45, who couldn’t read or write, was charged with attempting to drown herself and her two youngest children, Annie and Joseph, in the River Caldew, near Hutton Roof. It ... Read More

Annetwell Street – resort of thieves

Posted on July 14, 2018January 22, 2021 by HarrietP

Annetwell Street, Carlisle, isn’t much of a street today. Running alongside the Radio Cumbria building, it seems sidelined by the busy A595 Castle Way that slices through the city in front of the ca... Read More

Cumbrian Characters

Family history is so much more than names and dates

Category: crime