What a year 2023 has been: I’m exhausted. After I send this out, I’m going to send an essay to my supervisors and then run away from the internet for a few weeks. Maybe I’ll read an actual book…
I’m delighted that following the strange demise of twitter, we’re building up a little history community here. I highly recommended Cath Feeley, Louvain Rees, Nell Darby and Andrew Chapman, but if there's anyone you’d recommend or you have a blog to plug, please leave me a comment. I LOVE COMMENTS.
I’ve written you 36 stories this year, and in every one, I have done my best to keep my focus on the victim(s). These were real people. They really lived, they really died. Their lives were picked over in the press, judged and presented for me to read, more than one hundred years later. I have tried to strip each one back to the core. What happened? Who was there? Why? There are themes of injustice, of misogyny and of abuse throughout, themes we can relate to today.
But the main thing I want you to take away from these stories is that human nature doesn’t shift as much as we might like. The way we used to live is not that different to how we live now. Family dynamics have always been complex. People have always been impulsive. Mental illness is nothing new. Bad nights out are nothing new. Domestic abuse is nothing new.
The way we used to hurt each other is not that different to how we hurt each other now.
Dark as they are, I hope you’ve enjoyed them! Here’s a full list in case you missed any.
Laura Georgina Gray, Lewisham, 1901
Henry Barratt, Peterborough, 1864.
Jane and Emma Baum, Syston, 1864.
Alice Eliff, Deeping St James, 1884
Katherine Mabel Quatermass, Hemel Hempstead, 1896.
Mary Addington, Holcot, 1871.
Ann Cosford, Northampton, 1871.
William Cox Newitt, Wood Burcote, 1873.
Elizabeth Robinson, Leeds, 1853.
George Cornish, Wells, 1868.
Olive Beasley, Dudley, 1872.
Harriet Baker, Burslem, 1877.
Eliza Frances Newton, Tunstall, 1878.
Jane Mountfield, Crewe, 1875.
William Cooch, Kingsthorpe, 1877.
Maria Steggles, Bacton, 1853.
David Thompson Myers, Stamford, 1812.
Martha and Elizabeth Garlick, Astcote, 1875 and 1879.
Harriet Elizabeth Hibbs, Glatton, 1879.
An Abortion Special, England, 1855-1902.
Charlotte Hilton, Parson Drove, 1861.
Elizabeth Brookes, Aston, 1861.
Ann Walker, Birmingham, 1861.
Betsy and Emily Beamish, Coventry, 1861.
Stephen Coleman, Devizes, 1881.
Anastasia Trowbridge, Tollard Royal, 1860.
Hannah Cox, Steeple Ashton, 1859.
Ellen Wall, Birkenhead, 1876.
Rebecca Bannister, Hyde, 1876.
Emily Pimm, Birmingham, 1898.
Ada Shephard, Acton, 1880.
Elizabeth Parker, Kettering, 1854.
Ruth Sampson, Sheffield, 1881.
Catherine Quinn, Manchester, 1887.
Felicitous McLavey, Wakefield, 1870.
Benjamin Black, Barton Bendish, 1867.