Henry Harrison was executed in 1692 for the murder of Dr Nicholas Clench, a London physician. The case centred on financial motive, suspicious circumstances, and Harrison’s contradictory statements at trial, highlighting how early modern justice often relied on credibility as much as concrete evidence.
Tag Archives: History
This Day in History: April 14th, 1860
In 1860, a routine police check in Marylebone turned violent when two men brutally attacked Constable Thomas Bell with life-preservers. Mistaking them for help, he was struck down and left bleeding in the street. Both attackers were later captured and sentenced to eight years’ penal servitude.
This Day in History: April 13th, 1743
In 1743, apprentice Elizabeth Cannon and lodger Ann Ellard robbed their bedridden mistress after a night of drunken planning. Caught within hours, they confessed and were sentenced to death. This tragic Old Bailey case reveals how quickly crime, drink, and desperation could lead to the gallows in Georgian London.
This Day in History: 10 April 1771
In 1771, sailor John Commings was convicted of perjury after falsely accusing Captain Richard Broad of murdering Thomas Scott aboard the King David. This remarkable Old Bailey case exposed contradictions, collapsing testimony, and the deadly danger of false evidence in an age when a man’s life could hang on a witness’s word.
This Day in History: 9 April 1684
On 9 April 1684, two women named Mary Corbet were tried at the Old Bailey—one for counterfeiting coin, the other for murdering her concealed newborn child. Both were sentenced to death, yet later records hint at a royal pardon, leaving their ultimate fates uncertain and historically ambiguous.
This Day in History: 7 April 1725
In 1725, Mary Hanson was convicted of murdering her brother-in-law, Francis Peters, during a drunken domestic dispute in St Katherine’s, London. With no prior quarrel or motive, the case shocked contemporaries and stands as a stark example of how sudden violence could lead swiftly to execution in 18th-century England.
This Day in History – 25 March 1797
In 1797, Elizabeth Willoughby was caught smuggling escape tools into Newgate Prison for condemned prisoner William Harper. This Old Bailey case reveals a bold jailbreak plot involving saws, chisels, and deception—offering a vivid glimpse into crime, punishment, and prison life in Georgian London.
This Day in History – 24 March 1839
A drunken quarrel in Deptford in 1839 led to a brutal knife injury and a courtroom drama revealing mutual violence and desperation. This Old Bailey case explores the blurred line between assault and self-defence in Victorian London, where candlelight, jealousy, and alcohol combined with devastating consequences.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY – 17 MARCH 1823
THE ST PATRICK’S NIGHT STABBING On the night of 17th March 1823, as Londoners marked St Patrick’s Day with drink and merriment, a far darker scene unfolded in a narrow passage off Manchester Square. John Leacy, a smith, returned to his lodgings after stepping out to buy a candle. The hallway was dark. As heContinue reading “THIS DAY IN HISTORY – 17 MARCH 1823”
This Day in History – 12 March 1723
In March 1723 schoolmaster Charles Banner was accused at the Old Bailey of making an indecent assault on fifteen-year-old Nicholas Burgess in Wood Street, London. Although witnesses arranged a trap and arrested him at a planned meeting, the jury ruled the evidence insufficient and acquitted Banner of the charge.
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