On 18 November 1878, the gas-lamps of London’s East End burned low, gutters filled with sleet, and the police patrolled streets where the boundary between hunger and crime was perilously thin.
It was on such a night that John Burke, age twenty-seven, found himself standing before the bar of the Old Bailey, charged with breaking and entering the home of Frances Marshall with intent to steal.
The crime had occurred only weeks earlier — a cold, dark night when the Marshall household slept unaware that an intruder was quietly testing the back window.
The attempted burglary
Frances Marshall, a widow of modest means, lived in a narrow terraced house just off Commercial Road.
Shortly after midnight, the soft rattle of a sash window stirred her from sleep.
Frances: “I heard the window frame move as though someone was working it with a knife. I lit my candle and called for the constable.”
Her lodger, awakened by her alarm, hurried downstairs. By the time they reached the kitchen, the window was raised a few inches, and a man’s shadow could be seen slipping away along the yard wall.
A patrolling constable, hearing the commotion, gave chase. He caught Burke less than a hundred yards from the house.
Constable: “I stopped him. He was in some agitation and gave no proper account of himself.”
In Burke’s pocket: a short-bladed knife and a length of cord — typical burglar’s equipment.
The trial at the Old Bailey — 18 November 1878
Burke, wearing a patched coat and a look of weary resignation, pleaded Not Guilty.
Clerk: “You stand indicted for unlawfully breaking and entering the dwelling-house of Frances Marshall, with intent to steal therein. How say you?”
Burke: “Not guilty, sir. I never meant no housebreaking.”
The prosecution laid out its case:
- The window had been forced upward.
- Burke was seen escaping the yard.
- He was caught almost immediately with tools suited for quiet entry.
The defence argued that he was merely “passing through,” but the jury had little patience for chance coincidence presented as alibi.
Foreman: “We find the prisoner — Guilty.”
Sentence and aftermath
Victorian justice was brisk. Though the entry was not completed and nothing was taken, the intent was enough for a severe punishment.
Judge: “The security of the home must be protected. You are sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment with hard labour.”
Burke was removed to Coldbath Fields Prison, where the days were marked not by opportunity but by stone-breaking yards, oakum-picking rooms, and the relentless discipline of the treadmill.
Why this mattered
Burke’s case sits at the quieter end of Victorian crime — not a headline-grabbing murder, nor a great bank robbery, but the daily struggle between poverty and the sanctity of the home.
By 1878, the Old Bailey no longer hanged petty housebreakers, but the courts still viewed the nighttime intrusion of a dwelling as a serious threat to public safety.
One creaking window.
One cold November night.
And one young man whose life took a hard detour through the prison system.
Source
- R v. John Burke, trial at the Old Bailey, 18 November 1878, for breaking and entering the dwelling-house of Frances Marshall with intent to steal.
Case reference: t18781118-5
Verdict: Guilty
Sentence: 12 months’ imprisonment with hard labour.
Source: Old Bailey Proceedings Online.
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