The Chronicles of Crime; or, The New Newgate Calendar [Volume 1 of 2, Illustrated] Being A Series of Memoirs and Anecdotes of Notorious Characters Who Have Outraged the Laws of Great Britain...

The Chronicles of Crime; or, The New Newgate Calendar is a series of memoirs and anecdotes of British criminals from the earliest period to 1841. Forgery, murder, embezzlement, arson, burglary, treason, pickpocket, parricide, returned transport, cutting and maiming, mutiny, piracy, conspiracy, robbery, poisoning race-horses, rape, accessory to a rape, bigamy, polygamy, swindling, child-stealing, unlawful torture, sedition, manslaughter, and receiving stolen goods were some of the crimes committed by these Newgate prisoners.

The Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1904. The prison was extended and rebuilt many times, and remained in use for over 700 years, from 1188 to 1902.
All manner of criminals stayed at Newgate. Some committed acts of petty crime and theft, breaking and entering homes or committing highway robberies, while others performed serious crimes such as rapes and murders. The number of prisoners in Newgate for specific types of crime often grew and fell, reflecting public anxieties of the time.
- Wikipedia

EXCERPT FROM The Chronicles of Crime; or, The New Newgate Calendar (Preface)

FEW words are necessary to introduce to our readers a work, the character and the object of which are so legibly written upon its title-page. "Chronicles of Crime" must comprise details, not only interesting to every person concerned for the welfare of society, but useful to the world in pointing out the consequences of guilt to be equally dreadful and inevitable. It is to be regretted that in most of the works of the present day, little attention is paid to the ultimate moral or beneficial effects to be produced by them upon the public mind; and that while every effort is made to afford amusement, no care is taken to produce those general impressions, so necessary to the maintenance of virtue and good order. ...
The comparison of the offences, and of the punishments of the last century, with those of more recent date, will exhibit a marked distinction between the two periods, both as to the atrocity of the one, and the severity of the other. Those dreadful and frequent crimes, which would disgrace the more savage tribes, and which characterised the lives of the early objects of our criminal proceedings, are now no longer heard of; and those characters of blood, in which the pages of our Statute-book were formerly written, have been wiped away by improved civilisation and the milder feelings of the people. ...
The necessity for punishment as the consequence of crime, can neither be doubted nor denied. Without it the bonds of society must be broken-government in no form could be upheld. ...
The cases will be found to be arranged chronologically, which, it is presumed, will afford the most satisfactory and the most easy mode of reference...
London, July 1, 1840.

CONTENTS of The Chronicles of Crime; or, The New Newgate Calendar [Volume 1 of 2, Illustrated]
(Names of Convicts/Convicted Felons)

1. THE REV. THOMAS HUNTER
2. ALEXANDER BALFOUR
3. CAPTAIN JOHN KIDD, SURNAMED THE WIZARD OF THE SEAS, AND DARBY MULLINS
4. GEORGE CADDELL
5. THOMAS COOK
6. JOHN PETER DRAMATTI
7. WILLIAM ELBY
8. JOHN SMITH
9. WILLIAM GREGG
10. RICHARD THORNHILL, ESQ.
11. COLONEL JOHN HAMILTON
12. WILLIAM LOWTHER AND RICHARD KEELE
13. WILLIAM JOHNSON AND JANE HOUSDEN
14. THE EARL OF DERWENTWATER, LORD KENMURE, THE EARL OF WINTON, AND OTHERS
15. JAMES SHEPPARD
16. THE MARQUIS DE PALEOTTI
17. JOHN PRICE
18. BARBARA SPENCER
19. WILLIAM SPIGGOT, AND THOMAS PHILLIPS
20. NATHANIEL HAWES
...
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