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.
Tag Archives: History
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.
This Day in History – 11 March 1878
On 11 March 1878 Fanny Roper Keech was convicted at the Old Bailey for fraud after obtaining costly costumes from Oxford Street silk mercers Gask and Gask using a worthless cheque and a false address. Her deception relied on confidence and appearance—but the cheque was quickly exposed as fraudulent.
This Day in History – 6 March 1905
On 6 March 1905 Elizabeth Cove stood trial at the Old Bailey for wounding John Rubbins during a violent pub quarrel in Chalk Farm Road. The attack left the seventeen-year-old labourer permanently blinded in one eye. Despite the injury, the jury accepted the defence of self-protection and acquitted Cove.
This Day in History – 5 March 1839
On 5 March 1839 two teenagers, Charles Chapman and Eliza Clements, were convicted at the Old Bailey for stealing a handkerchief in Fenchurch Street. Sentenced to ten years’ transportation, they were shipped to Van Diemen’s Land, where absconding, labour assignments, marriage and conditional pardons shaped their new colonial lives.
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