Tough Times and Grisly Crimes
A History of Crime in Northumberland and County Durham
Subjects covered by the book include public executions, murder, cold-blooded killing, body-snatching, highwaymen, transportation of criminals to Australia, juvenile crime, prostitution, bigamy and drunken debauchery.
There is also a chapter on the Wellesley Nautical School, a ship moored on the Tyne which was used to house potential juvenile delinquents in Victorian times.
Whats inside?
Specific stories include the death of a prize-fighter from Blyth, in Northumberland, in 1846; the North Shields boy suspected of being kidnapped by body-snatchers Burke and Hare, in 1827; the policeman killed during a riot in Alnwick, Northumberland, in 1875; the murder of a police officer in Castletown, Sunderland, in 1927; the murder of two police officers and a pub landlady in Bedlington, Northumberland, in 1913; the murder of a woman in Birtley, near Chester-leStreet, in 1888, which aroused suspicions that Jack the Ripper had visited Tyneside; the woman who shot her two-timing lover dead in Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, in 1899; the bungled execution of a murderer from Sunderland in 1883, which provoked a national outcry and led to the death of the hangman; and the case of two men from Alnwick wrongly jailed for life for shooting a vicar and his daughter at Edlingham, in 1879.
News & Updates
- Sunderland Echo
- Drunken yobs, joyriders, youth crime and prostitution were all problems in the "Good Old Days," as former Echo reporter Nigel Green discovered. His new book, Tough Times and Grisly Crimes – A History of Crime in Northumberland and County Durham – lifts the lid on crimes past. Read more »
- Morpeth Herald
- The murky past of Morpeth comes to the fore in a new book of murder, mystery and misdemeanour. Read more »
- Geordie.co.uk
- Many polite folk who venture into Newcastle city centre after dark may be shocked by the antics of young women. Drunkenness, foul language and sexual shenanigans are a bi-product of the city’s countless pubs and clubs. But a new book reveals it was no better in Victorian times. Read more »
- North East History
- A new book has lifted the lid on the hidden underworld of Victorian times in the North East. Read more »
- n-e-life.com
- This exciting new book covers three centuries of criminal history in the North East. Author Nigel Green has delved into subjects ranging from public executions and body-snatching through to prostitution and riots. The book also looks at many of the region’s most infamous murders, including some that remain a mystery to this day. Read more »
- UK and Ireland Genealogy
- For more historical and local history information vist GENUKI a "virtual reference" library for the whole of UK and Ireland Read more »
- Blacksheep Ancestors
- Search for your Blacksheep Ancestors in free genealogical prison and convict records, historical court records, executions, insane asylum records and biographies of famous outlaws, criminals and pirates in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Read more »
