News of the Times - Unlocking the vaults of historical crime

Today we travel back to Boston in 1849, to one of the most unsettling disappearances of the Victorian age. Dr George Parkman — a man known for his precision, his routine, and his unshakeable punctuality — leaves home one afternoon and never returns. The last place he was seen? The quiet, red-brick halls of Harvard Medical College. What follows is a mystery that gripped Boston, unsettled Harvard, and pushed the courts into the earliest days of forensic science. Locked rooms, burning furnaces, shifting statements, and a breakthrough that would change criminal investigation forever. Settle in as we explore the disappearance — and the murder — that became known as the Harvard Mystery. And for listeners who enjoy diving deeper into Victorian true crime, we also have an archive of more than 500 ad-free episodes, exclusive series, and early releases over on Patreon. Now — let’s step into 1849.

n 1844, the quiet town of Crewe was shaken by a crime that startled even seasoned Victorian magistrates. When Richard Gallop fell suddenly and violently ill, suspicion soon turned to the person closest to him: his young daughter, Mary. What began as a family dispute over a forbidden romance spiralled into one of the era’s most unsettling arsenic cases. Drawing entirely from surviving inquest testimony, courtroom reporting, and contemporary medical evidence, this episode traces the final days of Richard Gallop, the repeated poison purchases, and the investigation that revealed a carefully executed plan inside an ordinary household. We also close with a remarkable Further Particulars tale from Northumberland — involving two burglars, a fearless servant girl, an elderly woman armed with a scythe, and the sort of Victorian resourcefulness that belongs in a novel rather than a police report. If you enjoy exploring historical true crime through original sources, you can find more weekly episodes, extended archive access, and advert-free listening on our Patreon: 👉 https://www.patreon.com/newsofthetimes

London, October 1880. A quiet walk in Finsbury Park ends in horror when three gunshots echo across the lake and a young woman collapses to her knees. Her name was Jane Messenger, twenty-nine years old, respectably dressed, navigating a troubled marriage and an increasingly fraught entanglement with her brother-in-law, William Herbert. What followed was one of the Victorian era’s most startling public murders — a broad-daylight shooting witnessed by families, park-goers, and off-duty officers. In this episode, we trace the tangled domestic history behind the crime, Herbert’s delusional hopes of an Australian inheritance, and the months of emotional turmoil that led to a fatal confrontation on a cold October afternoon. We explore the police response, the medical findings, the inquest before Dr Hardwicke, and Herbert’s chilling admissions that revealed his intentions long before he walked Jane into the park. The case would grip London, dominate the papers, and end at Newgate with a crowd waiting for the black flag. And in Further Particulars, we lighten the mood with the story of a gentleman who believed the most effective way to critique the House of Lords was to break a window and demand a publishing contract. As one does. If you enjoy archival Victorian true crime, forensic history, and carefully reconstructed storytelling, this episode brings together jealousy, delusion, and the darker side of respectability in 1880s London. If you’d like to explore our full archive — including exclusive series and early releases — you’re warmly invited to join us on Patreon at patreon.com/newsofthetimes.

In the spring of 1881, a quiet butcher’s shop in Slough became the centre of one of Victorian England’s most baffling crimes. Mrs Reville, the butcher’s wife, was found murdered in her own back room — no struggle, no witness, and barely a minute in which her killer could have acted. The shop layout offered no hidden corners. The doors were visible from her desk. Anyone entering would have been immediately seen. And yet, within this impossibly narrow window of time, an assailant struck four blows, removed the money from her pocket, and vanished without leaving a trace. Suspicion soon fell on the young apprentice, Augustus Payne, whose movements, handwriting, and prior disputes raised troubling questions… but whose innocence the jury ultimately upheld. Tonight, we walk through the original testimony, the strange timings, the “H. Collins” letter, and the unanswered questions that left Victorian investigators — and later generations — utterly at a loss. A quiet evening. A familiar shop. An impossible crime. And still, after more than a century, no one can say how it was done. In our Further Particulars: a lighter tale from 1881 involving missing cabbages, a suspiciously woolly sheep-dog, and a gardener whose evening surveillance took a most unexpected turn. If you enjoy these deep dives into Victorian crime and curiosities, you’ll find many more investigations — including exclusive episodes — available on our Patreon.

A young wife collapses in agony inside her Warminster cottage, and within minutes she is gone. Arsenic in the house, strychnine in the chemist’s shop, and whispers of fear and family tension stirred a scandal that gripped Victorian England. In this episode, we follow the final hours of Elizabeth Pearce, a 25-year-old newlywed whose sudden death in 1886 set off one of the era’s most troubling poisoning investigations. With conflicting witness accounts, uncertain forensic evidence, and a household divided by suspicion, the question remains: Was this a deliberate poisoning, a tragic accident, or a catastrophic failure of Victorian justice? Join us as we trace the case from Elizabeth’s last meal to the inquest room, examining the powders, testimonies, and courtroom drama that still raise questions nearly a century and a half later. If you enjoy these deep dives into Victorian and Edwardian true crime, you can find bonus episodes, early releases, and our full archive on Patreon — a lovely way to explore more cases with us at your own pace.

The spring of 1911 brought one of Britain’s most disturbing domestic mysteries into the ancient walls of Lancaster Castle. Three members of the Bingham family died suddenly, each showing the same violent gastric symptoms. As whispers of arsenic poisoning spread, suspicion fell upon the last surviving daughter, Edith Agnes Bingham — a quiet woman already viewed by neighbours as “simple” and vulnerable. In this episode, we return to the original Edwardian newspaper reports to follow the case exactly as it unfolded: the baffling medical testimony, the exhumations at dawn, and the courtroom drama that gripped the country. Was this truly a triple poisoning, or a tragic sequence of illnesses misinterpreted by early forensic science? We also look at what became of Edith after the verdict — a fate far quieter, and far sadder, than the headlines suggested. Plus: today’s Further Particulars brings a musical disturbance from Leamington Spa, where The Blue Danube echoed through a street in the middle of the night… despite no one owning a piano. If you enjoy these deep dives into Britain’s historical true crime, you’re warmly invited to join us on Patreon, where you’ll find weekly exclusive episodes, early ad-free releases, and our full archive of members-only content. Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/newsofthetimeshistoricalcrime

A quiet Sunday in the Liverpool suburbs took a shocking turn in 1882 when a young maid, Mary Cremen, was found shot in the scullery of a respectable Crosby home. Her employer, Arthur Golding, immediately presented himself at the police station, insisting the death was a tragic accident. But as investigators examined the revolver, questioned the household, and uncovered a tangle of jealousies and clandestine relationships, the tidy façade of middle-class respectability began to crumble. Was this truly a mishap with a six-shooter? Or was someone in the Golding household hiding far more than they revealed? In this episode, we explore the forensic puzzle that troubled Victorian investigators, the shifting testimonies, and the domestic tensions that set the stage for one of Crosby’s most perplexing inquests. And in this week’s Further Particulars, we turn to an extraordinary 1880s insurance tale involving a widow, a policy form, and a husband who managed to exit the world before completing the paperwork. If you enjoy these historical deep dives, you can find additional episodes, bonus stories, and early access posts over on our Patreon — a cosy corner for those who like a little extra Victorian intrigue.

Step back into Victorian Wales, where quiet lanes and morning mist concealed one of the era’s most disturbing disappearances. In 1874, Susan Gibbs — a hardworking Cardiff housekeeper — travelled to St Mellons to meet her young husband, James, a butler with ambition and secrets to protect. Three weeks later, her body was discovered beneath a tangle of briars, so hidden and decomposed that even the cause of death was uncertain. What followed was a landmark investigation built not on forensics, but on behaviour: unanswered letters, midnight movements, missing belongings, and a chain of lies that revealed far more than any single piece of evidence. Tonight we explore the life Susan hoped for, the double life James was living, and the extraordinary inquiry that led to one of Wales’s most chilling convictions. And in our Further Particulars, we lighten the gaslamps for a brief detour into Victorian chaos—this time involving a hotel, a missing parrot, and entirely too much commotion in Bath. If you enjoy our work and would like access to exclusive documentary series, extended archives, and bonus Victorian oddities, you’re warmly invited to join us on Patreon — it helps us keep these stories alive.

In the winter of 1879, the quiet Somerset parish of Knowle St Giles was shaken by a death that seemed, at first glance, to be nothing more than a tragic household accident. Eighty-three-year-old Samuel Churchill was found burned beside his hearth, his wife insisting he had fallen into the fire during a fit. But the scene told a different story. There was blood on the walls. Defensive wounds on Samuel’s hand. A bill-hook hidden beneath a chair. And the very morning he died, Samuel had dressed in his best clothes to change his will. In this episode, we trace the investigation from the first suspicious observations to the Taunton trial that followed. Using contemporary newspaper accounts and inquest testimony, we explore the forensic limitations of the 1870s, the conflicting statements that defined the case, and the chilling question at the heart of it all: Was this truly an accident—or a murder carefully staged by fire? If you enjoy more in-depth Victorian true-crime storytelling, you can find additional exclusive episodes and extended content on our Patreon page at: patreon.com/newsofthetimes

In 1927 County Durham, a miner calmly declared that his wife had taken her own life. But from the moment police stepped inside the cramped kitchen of 2 Lumsden Buildings, nothing about his story made sense. A rope that didn’t fit. A noose too small to pass over the victim’s head. A bed he claimed to have slept in—yet had never been touched. And the quiet, devastating testimony of a child who heard far more than any child ever should. This episode unravels the forensic evidence, contradictions, and courtroom drama that ultimately exposed the truth behind Ada Dunn’s death. Drawing entirely from period newspaper coverage, we reconstruct how investigators dismantled Thomas Dunn’s account piece by piece—culminating in one of the era’s most striking murder trials. In Further Particulars, we travel far from County Durham to 1959 Papua New Guinea, where a remarkably sensible priest documented one of the most politely perplexing UFO encounters ever recorded. If you enjoy historically grounded true crime with strong investigative detail, this is an especially gripping case. For listeners who’d like to explore more deeply researched episodes and exclusive historical series, you can find our growing archive on Patreon.

The Meader Case (1922) is one of those rare British true-crime stories where everything feels uncertain: a troubled marriage, a blind ex-soldier, a fatal struggle behind a closed door — and a courtroom battle led by the legendary Sir Edward Marshall Hall. Was Mabel Meader the victim of murder?A tragic accident? Or did early 20th-century medical science misunderstand a death that hinged on a single, extraordinary detail? In this episode, we explore:• The Meaders’ strained post-war marriage• Alfred Meader’s blindness, trauma, and desperate decisions• A dramatic suicide attempt that exposed a far deeper tragedy • The inquest that shocked the public• Medical testimony that changed the course of the trial• And the Old Bailey verdict that continues to raise questions today This is a story of post-WWI Britain: shifting gender roles, silent trauma, legal assumptions, and a nation still learning how to understand domestic tragedies. ✨ Further ParticularsStay with us to the end for two wonderfully eccentric pieces of British legislative history — including why Parliament once became preoccupied with girls' hairstyles, and how London nearly went to war with its own pigs. Truly. On our Patreon, we share six uploads each week, including deep-dive historical cases, early ad-free releases, and our full back catalogue of over 850 episodes. If you'd like more stories like this — and to help us continue producing them — you’re warmly invited to join us there. true crime 1922, British true crime, Edwardian crime, Marshall Hall, Old Bailey trials, historical crime podcast, post-war Britain, vintage crime stories, strangulation cases, London history

In 1829, English law allowed for a remarkable—and troubling—possibility: a person could be condemned for murder even when the victim survived. This week we explore the case later known as The One-Penny Wife, a story in which domestic hardship, early forensic science, and a deeply unusual legal statute entwined to produce one of the strangest verdicts of the late Georgian era. Mary Jardine lived on a starvation allowance of a single penny a day. When she collapsed after drinking her morning tea, her symptoms were unmistakable. Proving arsenic poisoning, however, was far from straightforward. Investigators had only the earliest forms of the stomach pump, inconsistent chemical tests, and a medical profession still decades away from reliable toxicology. The result is a case that sits at the uneasy intersection of intent, law, survival, and the limits of early forensic practice—a case in which the courts treated an attempted poisoning as if it were wilful murder. In Further Particulars, we leave the dangers of arsenic behind for a very different peril of Victorian life: a breach-of-promise scandal that shows how even a broken engagement could spiral into a courtroom drama. If you’d like early ad-free episodes and access to the full NOTT archive, you can join us on Patreon at your convenience: patreon.com/newsofthetimeshistoricalcrime

A quiet Victorian street. Three sudden deaths. One woman at the centre of them all. In the spring of 1886, Turner Lane in Ashton-under-Lyne was the sort of place where neighbours knew everything — or believed they did. But when a daughter, a husband, and finally a well-liked young wife died in violent, agonising circumstances, the small community began to sense a pattern too troubling to ignore. Their suspicions would spark one of the most striking poisoning cases of the Victorian age. In this episode, we follow the chain of events that haunted the neighbourhood:• the mysterious “mouse powder,”• the late-night spasms and clenched hands,• the uneasy intimacy between households,• the neighbours who noticed what the doctors missed,• and the forensic discovery that dragged the entire affair into the courts. Was this a tragic series of coincidences — or a deliberate dismantling of every obstacle in one woman’s path? We also travel to 1887 Croydon in Further Particulars, where runaway horses, broken reins, and unrepeatable language in a country pub raise the eternal question: have youths improved at all? (Spoiler: absolutely not.) If you enjoy deep-dive historical true crime with a forensic edge, you’re warmly invited to explore the full NOTT archive, bonus episodes, early releases, and more on Patreon: 👉 https://www.patreon.com/yourlinkhere Your support helps keep these long-form Victorian investigations alive — and is always deeply appreciated.

On a cold November night in 1930, a small saloon car was found blazing on a quiet Northamptonshire lane. Inside lay the charred body of a man, burned beyond recognition. But when police traced the registration number, the supposed victim walked into a London police station — very much alive. So began one of the most extraordinary investigations of the early 20th century. Tonight, we follow the case of Alfred Rouse, the travelling salesman with a tangled private life, mounting financial pressures, and a so-called “harem” of women who believed themselves promised marriage. As detectives pieced together witness accounts, petrol traces, and forensic testimony from Sir Bernard Spilsbury himself, a grim picture emerged — one that shocked the nation. But at the heart of the story lies a question that has haunted true-crime historians ever since: Who was the man in the car? Join us as we explore the investigation, the trial, and the final confession, delivered only when the gallows were being prepared. If you’d like ad-free listening, early access, and full access to our growing archive of more than 850 documentary-style episodes, you’re warmly invited to join us on Patreon. Members also enjoy exclusive series including Mysterious Britain, The Victorian Parlour, The Scandal Room, Ye Olde Newsroom, and our weekly downloadable PDF magazines — all created for those who love their history with a forensic and narrative edge. You can find us here:👉 patreon.com/NewsOfTheTimes Your support helps us bring more forgotten cases, archival investigations, and meticulously researched storytelling to life.

In March 1872, a quiet domestic tragedy in Boston, Lincolnshire became one of the most consequential moments in British criminal justice. When William Horry shot his estranged wife, Jane, the case was tragic enough — but what followed would transform the future of capital punishment in Britain. This episode explores how Horry’s crime became the first test of William Marwood’s new “long drop” method, a calculated attempt to make executions swift, scientific, and far less agonising than the old short-drop approach. It was a turning point that reshaped British practice for more than a century. We trace: • the collapse of William and Jane’s marriage and the jealousies that spiralled out of control • the inquest, trial, and evidence that left the jury with little doubt • Marwood’s debut on the gallows — and why officials were desperate for change • how a private tragedy became a national moment of reform • and the Victorian press reaction that helped cement this case in history Our Further Particulars this week takes us to Cambridge, where a particularly delicate publican refuses to serve lady cyclists in “rational dress” — proving that in 1898, nothing caused moral panic faster than women in trousers. Settle in for a story where domestic heartbreak meets legal transformation, and where a single moment on the scaffold marked the beginning of Britain’s modern execution era.

A landmark case that reshaped Victorian justice In the spring of 1868, Britain crossed a threshold it could never uncross. For centuries, executions had been public events — spectacles that drew tens of thousands, shaped moral debates, and filled the columns of Victorian newspapers. But with the passing of the Capital Punishment Amendment Act, everything changed. For the first time, a condemned prisoner would die behind the closed gates of a prison, witnessed only by officials. The case that carried Britain into this new era began not in London or a notorious criminal underworld, but at Dover Priory Station, where an unsettled young railway worker would commit a murder that shocked the country. When 18-year-old carriage cleaner Thomas Wells shot his stationmaster, Edward Adolphus Walshe, the crime seemed at first merely tragic. But the circumstances were so stark, the evidence so immediate, and the public sentiment so charged that the case quickly became the test through which the new law would be judged. This episode follows the story step by step: Wells’s growing resentment, the tense confrontation in the cramped station office, and the moments leading to a single violent act that ended a respected man’s life. We explore the swift investigation that followed, the testimony from railway workers and townspeople, the courtroom atmosphere thick with expectation, and the public’s uneasy fascination with the new manner in which justice was to be carried out. As Wells faced the gallows inside Maidstone Gaol, the nation confronted something larger than the crime itself: What does justice look like when removed from the public gaze? Is a hidden execution more humane — or simply more palatable? And what does it mean when the first man to be hanged privately is barely out of boyhood? ⭐ This episode includes: • A railway dispute that spiralled into an unprecedented murder case • A remarkably airtight chain of evidence from witnesses at the station • Wells’s unsettling calmness — and how Victorians interpreted it • How the press framed Britain’s first private execution • What officials behind the prison walls actually saw • And in Further Particulars: a Norfolk ferret incident so chaotic and so darkly comic that even Dickens would have raised an eyebrow Through archival detail, atmospheric reconstruction, and careful historical context, we trace how one violent moment on a railway platform reshaped the entire future of British executions. This is more than a true crime story — it is the moment Victorian Britain stepped into a new age of justice, reluctantly, awkwardly, and under the shadow of a single gunshot at Dover Priory. Settle in for a vivid journey into a pivotal turning point in British legal history.

In 1845, Britain witnessed a murder investigation unlike anything seen before. When Sarah Hart died suddenly in the quiet village of Salt Hill, suspicion fell upon a seemingly respectable Quaker gentleman, John Tawell. What followed became the first manhunt in history conducted through the electric telegraph, racing ahead of a fleeing suspect along the Great Western Railway line. In this episode, we explore the extraordinary case that blended poison, secrecy, telegraph wires, and Victorian morality, uncovering how a single message sent from Slough changed the future of policing. You’ll hear about: • The hidden life behind Tawell’s quiet exterior• Prussic acid and the Victorian obsession with poisons• How the telegraph outpaced a murderer for the first time• The dramatic arrest in a London coffee house• A sensational trial that gripped the nation• Tawell’s final confession — and the truth it revealed And in Further Particulars, we close with a chaotic vignette from the 1880s involving a German labourer, a lover’s quarrel, and an improvised breakfast melee. If you enjoy Victorian crime, forensic history, and archival storytelling, you’ll find many more episodes — including weekly exclusives — on our Patreon. Join us on Patreon for the full archive and all bonus content: patreon.com/NewsOfTheTimesHistoricalCrime

London, 1829. A city of industry, elegance, poverty, and hidden brutality. In this episode, we uncover the shocking case of Frances Colpit, a ten-year-old parish apprentice sent to learn tambour embroidery — and instead drawn into a household where overwork, starvation, and violence were woven into everyday life. When the child’s suffering finally came to light, the courts uncovered a pattern of cruelty that stunned the nation. At the centre of the scandal stood Esther Hibner, whose trial at the Old Bailey revealed not only the tragic fate of Frances, but the wider exploitation of impoverished children across early-19th-century London. Her conviction led to one of the most discussed executions of the decade — and marked William Calcraft’s first execution of a woman, a moment that would shape the reputation of Britain’s most notorious hangman. Using contemporary court testimony, medical reports, and Victorian press accounts, we explore: • the hidden world of parish apprenticeships• the booming demand for tambour embroidery and the children who powered it• the conditions uncovered at Platt Terrace• the forensic evidence presented at trial• the public response to Hibner’s execution• and the lingering questions the case forced Victorian Britain to confront This is a story of poverty, exploitation, legal theatre, and the beginning of a national reckoning with child protection. If you enjoy historical true-crime storytelling, you can find more episodes, early releases, and exclusive series on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/newsofthetimes

In 1868, a cramped labourer’s cottage in the village of Stickney, Lincolnshire became the centre of one of Victorian Britain’s most dramatic murder cases. When farm labourer Richard Biggadike suddenly fell violently ill after tea and shortcake prepared by his wife Priscilla, suspicion spread through the community with astonishing speed. What followed was a tangle of marital resentment, rumours of impropriety, forensic certainty — and a legal outcome that made national history. This episode explores the poisoned marriage of Richard and Priscilla Biggadike, the presence of arsenic in overwhelming quantities, and the inquest that relied heavily on the findings of leading forensic toxicologist Dr Alfred Swaine Taylor. His analysis, combined with Priscilla’s own contradictory statements, led to one of the most significant executions of the century: the first private execution carried out in the city of Lincoln, following Britain’s newly passed legislation ending public hangings. Along the way, we examine Victorian forensic science, rural domestic life, legal practice, and the intense social pressures inside a one-room household shared by a husband, wife, three children, and two lodgers. Was the verdict secure? Was justice served? And how did this case shape the early years of private execution in Britain? Further Particulars: We also travel to County Mayo for a remarkable 1867 discovery — a forgotten subterranean chamber, bricked up for nearly a century, containing two mysterious skeletons dressed in the fashions of George II. A true Victorian gothic moment that captured the imagination of readers across the UK. If you enjoy educational, archival true crime from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, this is an episode rich in atmosphere, forensic detail, and historical insight. News of the Times Victorian and Edwardian true crime, brought to life through original archival research and historical storytelling.

The Parcel of Death: How a Handwriting Clue Solved a Victorian Murder (1873) Horfield, near Bristol, 1873 — a small parcel arrives at a cottage, addressed in a neat feminine hand. Inside: a polite note, a shilling’s worth of stamps, and three teething powders marked Steedman’s. Within minutes of taking one, a healthy ten-month-old child is dead. What followed became one of Victorian Britain’s most unsettling murder investigations: a case of postal deception, disputed toxicology, forged identities, and a deadly plan undone by the smallest of human details — the choice of stationery, a familiar turn of phrase, and a handwriting expert who spotted what others had missed. This is the story of how an ordinary envelope unravelled the lives of a Bristol shoemaker and the woman who aided him, ending in one of the last double executions in British history. If you enjoy these deep dives into Victorian crime, social history, and forensic firsts, you can join us on Patreon for hundreds of extra episodes, early releases, and the full NOTT archive — all while helping keep the research kettle boiling.