For those who may have had enough of Rudolph and Charlie Brown’s Christmas and need something a wee bit darker and Victorian, from December 12 until Christmas Eve, criminal historian Nell Darby is publishing a daily blog post for her 12 Days of Criminal Christmas series. Each day she posts a brief Christmas-related crime story, spanning the 18th and 19th centuries.
Ms. Darby writes: “These stories are taken from the newspapers, Old Bailey trial reports and criminal registers, and are a kind of advent calendar for those who like a bit of criminal history, with a door being opened each morning… but what will be behind each door?”
For example, read the December 12 post about Christmas Jones who was sent to debtors prison in January 1815. Christmas was a fairly common first name in those days.
On December 15, Ms. Darby wrote about how several people were brought before the magistrates in Shoreditch in 1839, charged with stealing Christmas trees from various gardens.
You will find the 12 Days of Criminal Christmas series on the Criminal Historian blog.
Victorian Christmas
For something much jollier, take a look at an article by Ms. Darby, A Victorian Christmas, about how the Victorians shaped the way we celebrate Christmas today.
