Fittingly, Frances Wilson’s new biography of De Quincey, Guilty Thing, begins not with his birth or his lineage, but with a murder: In the early hours of December 8, 1811, shopkeeper Thomas Marr, his wife and infant child, and his apprentice were all found dead, their throats slit and their heads bashed in. With no real suspects, the case fascinated everyone in England, but none more so than Thomas De Quincey himself. The Ratcliffe Highway murders, as they became known, inspired in De Quincey a “profound reverie,” according to his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and would occupy his mind and his writings for decades to come. The murders, De Quincey would later write, “had an ill effect, by making the connoisseur in murder very fastidious in his taste, and dissatisfied by anything that has been since done in that line. All other murders look pale,” he concluded, by the “deep crimson” of the Ratcliffe Highway murders. The Art of the English Murder by Lucy Worsley is written to accompany a BBC television series on which she is a presenter. Her research brought about a written version which provides a plethora of information regarding the British interest in the idea of murder. The fact that the British enjoyed and couldn’t get enough of murder is outlined and discussed by Worsley but not meant to be an encompassing book on crime itself. Several high interest and notorious crimes are highlighted throughout and the murderers lives described. Worsley pinpoints how crime was handled and the limitations of the investigators trying to solve the crimes. This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( July 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) The pub to which he was taken, the Top O’ the Morning’, at 129 Cadogan Terrace, survived for many years but has now been demolished. 7. Minnie Bonati Trunk Murder Still, it was to take 23 years before Britain saw its first ‘railway murder’– and it all began on 9 July 1864 with the 21.50 from Fenchurch Street.

Houndsditch is a long thoroughfare which runs from Bishopsgate to Aldgate High Street. Located at 120 Houndsditch was an import business run by a man named Max Weil. On the night of 16th December 1910 Weil arrived at number 120 to find his sister and their housemaid in a state of agitation. They could hear sounds coming from the jeweller’s shop next door at number 119 which suggested that someone was trying to break in from the rear of the premises. This year is the 200th anniversary of the Ratcliffe Highway murders, when seven people were killed in a gratuitous frenzy in the space of 12 days. But while 19th century Londoners would have recoiled at the mention of John Williams and his crimes, they probably mean little to the city’s present day inhabitants.

There are two notable folk songs called Ratcliffe Highway; one is a traditional folk song ( Roud 598; Ballad Index Doe114; Wiltshire 785]. The other, Roud 493, also called The Deserter and famously recorded by Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention, concerns a young man who is pressed-ganged into the navy on the Highway. All three had been bludgeoned to death – using, it was later presumed, a bloodstained hammer which was located in the couple’s bedroom. In the early hours of 3rd January a long file of police officers wound their way through the silent streets of the East End to Sidney Street, which runs from Commercial Road in the south to the junction of Whitechapel and Mile End Roads to the north. The officers had not been told what their mission was but they knew that it was dangerous because the married men had been excluded. Some were armed but their weapons, antique revolvers, tube rifles and shotguns, were more suited to a museum than a gun battle. On 27 August 1887, the eccentric illustrated publication Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday published an article entitled ‘ The Ratcliff Highway Murders,’ describing how:

Today, the former sensation has been largely forgotten, although in 1971, famed crime fiction author P. D. James, working with police historian T. A. Critchley, wrote ‘The Maul and the Pear Tree’ and argued persuasively within for Williams’ possible innocence. Finally, here's a short video clip of Iain Sinclair discussing the murders in 1999 whilst wandering around St George in the East:The same night the initials were discovered on the maul, and twelve days after the first killings, the second set of murders occurred at The King's Arms, a tavern at 81 New Gravel Lane (now Garnet Street). The victims were John Williamson, the 56-year-old publican, who had run the tavern for fifteen years; Elizabeth, his 60-year-old wife; and their servant, Bridget Anna Harrington, who was in her late 50s. The King's Arms was a tall two-storey building, but despite its proximity to the Highway it was not a rowdy establishment, as the Williamsons liked to retire early. house in view, and so we proceed till we arrive at the commencement of New Gravel-lane. "All this is Sir William Henry Perkin (1838–1907), chemist who discovered mauveine, who was baptised at St. Paul's Church, Shadwell Their concerns were soon realised. On 19th December, John Williamson, a publican at The Kings Arm on New Gravel Lane, a little further east along Ratcliff Highway, his wife Elizabeth and a servant named Bridget Anna Harrington were murdered during the night. In writing these episodes over the last month retelling the story of the Ratcliffe Highway Murders, I am primarily indebted to the conscientious work of P.D.James and T.A. Critchley in their shrewdly written book The Maul and the Pear Tree published by Faber & Faber, which stands as the definitive account, and I strongly recommend it to all who wish to learn the fuller story. In 1811, the systematic approach to crime solving that we recognise today – of suspects, clues, motive and alibi – was simply not in existence. Yet P.D.James and T.A. Critchley succeed in organising the arbitrary random scraps of evidence that survive into a coherent picture on the lines of our modern approach, and creating an exciting narrative in the process. They suggest that John Williams himself could have been an eighth victim – despatched by the killers in a staged suicide to shut him up and prevent their detection. Though to my ears this sounds overly contrived, after studying this story, I understand that it is irresistible to speculate upon a mystery that remains one of the greatest unsolved crimes in our history. You must read the book and draw your own conclusion.

Grace's Alley – formerly Gracie's Alley, a path between Wellclose Square and the north end of Ensign Street, and home to Wilton's Music Hall

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watching with an eagerness curious to contemplate the indications of the wind-watching within time rapacious eagerness of The four victims were given a memorial service, then buried beneath a monument in the parish church of St. George in the East, where the infant had been baptised three months earlier. When the maul was cleaned on Thursday 19 December it appeared that some initials were carved into the handle, perhaps with a seaman's coppering punch: "I.P." or "J.P." Those who were working on the case now had a way to try to trace the owner. An inquest was held two days later at the Jolly Sailors’ public house, also on Ratcliff Highway, where the jury returned a verdict of ‘Wilful Murder, against some person or persons unknown, on each of the bodies.’ The rise of medical schools had created a demand for specimens, and the legal supply of executed criminals (the only bodies permitted to be used for the purpose) could not keep pace.

point of fashion, have outdone the ladies of the West, the latter having still retained a vestige of what the former have Seemingly beaten with a blunt instrument before being thrown from the carriage, he died the next day. Who did it? After maintaining his innocence throughout his trial, Muller reportedly confessed on the scaffold prior to his execution on 14 November. Can I visit the crime scene?I also love my Brit-Box-(Worsely has a television version of this book currently airing on this service) and Acorn TV subscriptions too. Great crime series- from dark and gritty to light and cozy. When more light was brought in, the carpenter’s lost chisel was found upon the shop counter but it was perfectly clean. On 7 November 1974, an intruder broke into 46 Belgrave Street, Belgravia, and beat Sandra Rivett to death with a lead pipe. Entry to the premises was found to have been gained by forcing open the cellar flap. An open window was discovered, with bloodstains on the sill indicating the murderer's escape route, and a footprint in the mud outside seemed to confirm this. The unknown assailant apparently escaped by running along a clay-covered slope, so it was assumed by the police that he would have got clay all over his clothing, making him easy to identify. It was pointed out that this type of escape route was similar to the one taken by the person who had murdered the Marr family. There were no known connections between the two families, and there was also no apparent motive for this second slaughter. As Mr Williamson's watch was missing and both crimes had been interrupted, they might still have started off as simple robberies. In a fashion, although the Ratcliffe Highway (now simply named The Highway) has changed a lot since 1811.