Criminal Women
Famous London Cases
John J. Eddleston
- Shocking
- portraits
- of
- women
- who
- have
- committed
- capital
- crimes
- in
- England’s
- capital
- city—from
- the
- author
- of
- Jack
- the
- Ripper:
- An
- Encyclopedia.Women
- have
- sometimes
- been
- seen
- as
- less
- criminally
- inclined
- than
- men.
- But,
- as
- John
- J.
- Eddleston
- shows
- in
- this
- revealing
- anthology
- of
- female
- crimes
- in
- London,
- this
- image
- is
- hard
- to
- mesh
- with
- reality,
- for
- the
- city’s
- history
- is
- crowded
- with
- cases
- of
- women
- who
- broke
- the
- law.
- In
- vivid
- detail,
- he
- reconstructs
- a
- series
- of
- dramatic,
- often
- harrowing,
- cases
- in
- which
- women
- were
- involved
- and
- puts
- their
- acts
- in
- the
- context
- of
- their
- times.
- Taking
- episodes
- from
- the
- eighteenth
- century
- to
- near
- the
- present
- day,
- he
- looks
- at
- criminal
- women
- of
- all
- types,
- from
- all
- walks
- of
- life.
- The
- work
- of
- the
- London
- police,
- the
- courts,
- and
- the
- prisons
- is
- an
- essential
- element
- in
- his
- study,
- and
- each
- chapter
- reveals
- much
- about
- how
- attitudes
- toward
- crime
- and
- punishment
- have
- changed
- over
- the
- centuries.Fascinating
- portraits
- of
- these
- criminal
- women
- as
- individuals
- emerge
- from
- their
- stories;
- their
- cases
- come
- to
- life—as
- does
- the
- London
- in
- which
- they
- lived.
- They
- include
- Catherine
- Hayes,
- who
- was
- burnt
- alive
- for
- murdering
- her
- husband;
- three
- women
- hanged
- on
- the
- same
- day
- for
- highway
- robbery;
- two
- women
- executed
- for
- rioting;
- Anne
- Hurle
- and
- Charlotte
- Newman,
- who
- were
- both
- hanged
- for
- forgery;
- Florence
- Bravo,
- who
- was
- sensationally
- acquitted
- of
- murder;
- and,
- perhaps
- most
- famous
- of
- all,
- Ruth
- Ellis,
- whose
- execution
- in
- 1955
- provoked
- an
- outcry
- against
- capital punishment.
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