This book opens with the ghastly murder of Lord William Russell on 6 May 1840 which caused a sensation and shockwaves of horror. Queen Victoria when told of the event by her secretary of State Lord John Russell responded "this is really too horrid. It is almost an unparalleled thing for a person of Lord William's rank to be killed like that"
At the time of the murder the so called Newgate Novels were popular. These novels were novels published in England from the late 1820s until the 1840s that were thought to glamorise the lives of the criminals they portrayed. Most drew their inspiration from the Newgate calendar, a biography of famous criminals at various times during the 18th and 19th centuries, but usually rearranged or embellished for melodramatic effect. The novels caused great controversy and notably drew criticism from Thackeray who satirised them in several of his novels and openly attacked the authors. Oliver Twist by Dickens came under scrutiny because of its humaniisation of Fagin and his crew.
One of the most popular and notorious was Jack Sheppard published in 1829. Written by W Harrison Ainsworth it was based on the life and exploits of the aforenamed, a thief and escape artist who ended up on the gallows in 1724. Plays based on this story were put on, in various forms, in theatres all over London and then the provinces and performed to packed audiences.
“Jack Sheppard bags” were sold in the lobbies of these theatres, filled with burglary tools and one or two theatregoers had already confessed that seeing Jack had given them they idea of pocket picking and thieving. Product placement is hardly new it seems…..
The decline in popularity of these novels began in 1840 following the murder of Lord William Russell by his valet Benjamin Courvoisier who said he had been inspired to the act by a dramatization of Ainsworth’s story.
It is this gruesome murder and the surrounding publicity and mayhem that followed it which is the subject of Murder by the Book by Claire Harman. Lord Russell was found dead in his bed by his maid. His throat was cut with such ferocity that his head was practically severed from his neck. It was soon clear that despite efforts to make it look as if burglars had committed the crime, it was an inside job and when Courvoisier was discovered to have some of the stolen goods on his person and then found hidden in his room, it seemed an open and shut case. He was arrested, tried and sentenced to death.
The murderer wrote several confessions in Newgate which were all printed in the newspapers, each one seeming to contradict the last. As each one was given maximum publicity he continued to make sure he remained in the public eye right until the day of his execution.
The execution drew enormous crowds. Among them were Dickens and Thackeray. At first Dickens viewed those who attended with disdain, but in the end went himself. His description of the execution in Barnaby Rudge draws heavily on his own experience. Thackeray found the whole thing repulsive:
“It is curious that a murder is a great inspirer of jokes, there is a perpetual jingling antithesis between life and death, that is sure of its effect….. a great murmur of dreadful anticipation went round more awful and bizarre and indescribable than any sound I had ever heard before….women and children began to shriek horribly”
This is not a long book but length is not needed, its conciseness is its strength. Though in the Aftermath the author raises queries and questions as to the veracity of Courvoisier’s multiple confessions and their inconsistencies there is no melodramatic exaggeration, just thoughtful writing. The the influence these Newgate novels had at the time merely emphasises there is nothing new under the sun with the influence of TV and violent video games being cited in present day violent crimes.
I read Harman’s biography of Charlotte Bronte last year with some trepidation as I wondered if there was really anything new to be brought to light, but was totally engrossed in her writing and found it difficult to put down. This title is the same, I sat up late last night and read it through. Probably not the most pleasant book to read until 1 am and I do not recommend you do so as I had slightly uncomfortable dreams when I eventually put the light out.
An excellent book and beautifully bound and presented. It combined three of my main reading interests, Victorian literature, history and crime so I was a happy reader.
On a final note, it seems that during the trial a Norfolk surgeon, Robert Blake Overton, contacted the police with the suggestion that as he had been making some private study of handprints and reading that a single bloody handprint had been left on one of Lord Russell’s bedsheet, an investigation should be made “It is not generally known that every individual has a peculiar arrangement on the grain of the skin. I would strongly recommend the propriety of obtaining impressions from the fingers of the suspected individuals and a comparison made with the marks on the sheets and pillows”
His letter was ignored and lay unattended in Scotland Yard’s files until someone reading the old papers relating to this case, thought to investigate that there could be such a thing as fingerprint identification. When they realised the possibilities, it was acted upon.
“Had it been pursued in the 1840s it is believed that many of the century’s most notorious crimes, such as the murders of Jack the Ripper, could have been solved”
Now there is a thought to ponder on…………….
Do read. Excellent.
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