Crime, Broadsides And Social Change, 1800-1850

258 Pages·2020·4.059 MB·English

by  Kate Bates

Crime, Broadsides
and Social Change,
1800–1850
Kate Bates
Crime, Broadsides and Social Change, 1800–1850
Kate Bates
Crime, Broadsides
and Social Change,
1800–1850
Kate Bates
Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool, UK
ISBN 978-1-137-59788-5 ISBN 978-1-137-59789-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59789-2
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Preface
As an ex-police officer, my understanding and experience of crime and
criminal justice have been more direct than most scholars who work in
this field.This has proved to be both a blessing and a curse—a blessing
becauseIhavehadpersonalinsightsintoaspectsofhumanbehaviourand
society that other academics can only garner second-hand, and a curse
because that insight and experience have led me to feel great frustration
with certain theoretical arguments and assumptions that stem from the
proverbial ivory towers of institutions so far removed from the officer’s
beat. This frustration reached its peak when, as a criminologist with an
interest in the history of crime, I found myself entering the world of
crime historians. To anyone on the outside of this still relatively small
academiccircle,therewouldbenoobviouscauseforconflict,sincesurely
we all share the same general focus and aims. But no, this could not be
further from the truth, since there is a vast difference, I have found, be-
tween crime historians and historical criminologists, and that difference
rests not on areas of interest but on methodological approaches and de-
grees of theoretical understanding. Indeed, in the midst of my research
v
vi Preface
for this book, I was to find myself exasperated time and time again,
especially at crime history conferences, with the stubborn adherence
to tired conceptual paradigms despite prolific evidence to the contrary.
This book therefore is a challenge to some of those deeply entrenched
views and a plea that crime historians begin to value the work produced
by other academic disciplines, especially when fields of interest are so
evidently shared. As for acknowledgements, I am deeply indebted to all
those who have helped me in the making of this book: you know who
you are. For the rest, thank you for the opposition and critique, it has
made myself and my work stronger.
Liverpool, UK Kate Bates
Contents
1 Introduction: The Broadside Enigma and Its Historical
Development 1
2 Broadsides as Sources: A Methodological Discussion and
Overview of Key Findings 17
3 A ‘Barbarous’ Trade: Early-Nineteenth-Century
Broadsides in Social and Historical Context 41
4 ‘A Full and Particular Account’: Representations of
Morality and Justice in Broadside Discourse 87
5 Collective Representations: A Durkheimian Interpretation
of Crime Broadsides 149
6 Ballads of Blood: The Form and Function of Crime
Narratives 187
vii
viii Contents
7 Conclusion: The Social Significance of Crime
Broadsides—Bonding Not Binding 231
Index 239
List of Figures
Fig. 2.1 Date of broadside publication (Source Based on
broadside sample taken from the John Johnson
Collection, Oxford University; ‘The Word on the
Street’ collection, National Library of Scotland;
Special Collection, University of Glasgow) 22
Fig. 2.2 Date of crimes reported in broadsides (Source Based
on broadside sample taken from the John Johnson
Collection, Oxford University; ‘The Word on the
Street’ collection, National Library of Scotland;
Special Collection, University of Glasgow) 28
Fig. 2.3 Types of crimes reported in broadsides (Source Based
on broadside sample taken from the John Johnson
Collection, Oxford University; ‘The Word on the
Street’ collection, National Library of Scotland;
Special Collection, University of Glasgow) 32
Fig. 2.4 Ages of criminals cited in broadsides (Source Based
on broadside sample taken from the John Johnson
Collection, Oxford University; ‘The Word on the
Street’ collection, National Library of Scotland;
Special Collection, University of Glasgow) 33
ix
x List of Figures
Fig. 2.5 Occupations of criminals cited in broadsides (Source
Based on broadside sample taken from the John
Johnson Collection, Oxford University; ‘The Word
ontheStreet’collection,NationalLibraryofScotland;
Special Collection, University of Glasgow) 34
Fig. 2.6 Ages of victims cited in broadsides (Source Based
on broadside sample taken from the John Johnson
Collection, Oxford University; ‘The Word on the
Street’ collection, National Library of Scotland;
Special Collection, University of Glasgow) 36
Fig. 2.7 Occupations of victims cited in broadsides (Source
Based on broadside sample taken from the John
Johnson Collection, Oxford University; ‘The Word
ontheStreet’collection,NationalLibraryofScotland;
Special Collection, University of Glasgow) 36
Fig. 2.8 Victim’s relationship to criminal (Source Based on
broadside sample taken from the John Johnson
Collection, Oxford University; ‘The Word on the
Street’ collection, National Library of Scotland;
Special Collection, University of Glasgow) 37
Fig. 4.1 Motivation for crime as cited in broadsides (Source
Based on broadside sample taken from the John
Johnson Collection, Oxford University; ‘The Word
ontheStreet’collection,NationalLibraryofScotland;
Special Collection, University of Glasgow) 93
Illustration 1.1 Broadside entitled ‘The Last Dying Speech And
Confession, of James Middleton, aged 54, his son
James, aged 22, and his daughter Mary, aged 19, who
were executed at Nottingham on Monday last, March
16, 1829, for the Murder of Mr. and Mrs. Kinsley,
at Newark, in January last’. Bodleian Libraries,
University of Oxford: Harding B 9/2 (83) 2
Map 2.1 Place of broadside printing and publication (Source
Based on broadside sample taken from the John
Johnson Collection, Oxford University; ‘The Word
ontheStreet’collection,NationalLibraryofScotland;
Special Collection, University of Glasgow) 23