The Hatry Group Collapse
Charles Hatry’s fraudulent business empire collapsed on 20 September 1929. It was the biggest crash the London stock market had ever seen.
Crime
Crimped by the Prince of Shanghai
Sailors looking for work in the 19th century risked getting crimped – or shanghaied – and caught in a whirlpool of exploitation and corruption.
The Legend of the Gibbet
Did live gibbeting ever take place in Britain? For the Victorians, the macabre question was a pressing one.
End of the Gin Craze
The Gin Act of 25 June 1751 finally succeeded where previous legislation had failed and banished ‘Madam Genever’ from Georgian London.
‘Tito’s Gulag’ by Martin Previšić review
Tito’s Gulag: A History of the Prison Island of Goli Otok by Martin Previšić reveals the brutal cost of the Soviet-Yugoslav split.
Britain’s Private Investigators on Trial
In the 1970s private investigators in the UK came under attack for their distasteful methods and dubious legality. What did it mean to have a right to privacy?
England’s Prison Population Problems
In the early 20th century the prison population in England and Wales was in sharp decline, despite a rise in crime.
Execution of the Thief-Taker General
Britain’s self-styled ‘Thief-Taker General’ was not all he seemed. On 24 May 1725 Jonathan Wild was finally brought to justice.
Smuggling Under the Cover of Plague
For 18th-century smugglers in Guernsey and the Isle of Man, plague was a business opportunity.
The Otsu Incident
On 11 May 1891 the future Tsar Nicholas II narrowly escaped assassination on a trip to Japan.