Sheffield's Shocking Past: Forgotten Tales of Murder, Mishap & Gruesome Misdemeanour - Softcover

Hobbs, Chris; Bell, Matthew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1908431083 ISBN 13: 9781908431080

Publisher: ACM Retro, 2012

Synopsis

The Sheffield Flood of 1864, the single greatest man-made disaster in Victorian England, is well chronicled but scores of arguably more shocking episodes have lain largely undiscovered for decades, until now... Multiple murders; child murderers; a burning boy running half a mile before his agonising death; strange deaths; untimely deaths; deaths by starvation; hideous accidents; a romantic double suicide and a factory explosion killing all in its wake. It all happened in Victorian Sheffield. Justice was swift, unwieldy and brutal - Sheffield even had the dubious honour of being home to Thomas Williams, the first man to be hanged during the reign of Queen Victoria. Not all crimes were solved; the murder of Boden Lane's “Bearded Lady”, for example, has remained a mystery to this day. Drink, sadly, played a large part in many of these hideous tragedies - what else would encourage the bizarre Victorian 'prank' of pulling a (petrified) pet cat across Attercliffe canal on the end of rope in a bid to win more beer? In this case the animal escaped and the perpetrator drowned! Sheffield's Shocking Past is based on extensive research by life-long Sheffielder Chris Hobbs, ably assisted by author Matthew Bell, who provide an amazing insight into the more gruesome and grizzly episodes of Victorian Sheffield.

Edition details

• Publisher: ACM Retro
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1908431083
• ISBN 13: 9781908431080
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 204