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The Language of Crime, or I Cant Understand You

Alt text: “A Collection of the Canting Words and Terms, both ancient and modern, used by Beggars, Gypsies, Cheats, House-Breakers, Shop-Lifters, Foot-Pads, Highway-Men &c,” from Nathan Bailey’s The new universal etymological English dictionary (1760). Image courtesy of the Bodleian Libraries John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera (Crime 7 (25)). By Natasha Bailey Sarah Page, Catharine… Read More »

16 May 1861 John Crouch stole 6 quarts of pickles and 28 lbs of soda

The website Proceedings of the Old Bailey London’s Central Criminal Court has increased its case coverage by some 100,000 more trials, to cover the period 1674-1913. It has also begun adding the Ordinary’s Accounts – adding even more detail to the lives (and deaths) of the convicts executed at Tyburn 1690-1772. For more details about… Read More »