Britain’s Industrial Revolution in 100 Objects

Britain’s Industrial Revolution in 100 Objects written by John Broom and

published by Pen & Sword Books - £25 - Hardback - Pages 320

The period of Britain’s Industrial Revolution was perhaps the most transformative

era in the nation’s history. Between about 1750 and 1914, life and work, home and

school, church and community changed irreversibly for Britain’s rapidly expanding

population. Lives were transformed, some for the better, but many endured abysmal

domestic and workplace conditions. Eventually improvements were made to

Britain’s social fabric which led to the prospect of richer and more fulfilled lives for

working men, women and even children. Focusing on 100 objects that either directly

influenced, or arose from, these changes, John Broom offers a distinctive insight into

this fascinating age. With plentiful illustrations and suggestions for visits to hundreds

of places of historical interest, this book makes an ideal companion for a journey into

Britain’s industrial past.

A brilliant subject matter, a fascinating and very interesting book, but then I do love this period of history and changes so maybe I’m slightly biased. We all very much learn about the industrial revolution from our days at school and this book is a bit like a throwback to those days, where we are introduced again to elements, items, people and changes that happened and might have forgotten about in a period of great change and upheaval. The book charts political upheaval through laws and events and the movement of people from the country into the cities.

A knowledgeable book with a lot of good effort by the author, I also enjoyed the links to places

and further reading after each object, which added an extra dynamic to the book. Certainly, a

book I enjoyed very much as I do all the ‘100 object’ books, but also a good book if you want to

learn more about the industrial revolution and what it bought. Highly recommended. 

Railway Crimes Committed in Victorian Britain

Railway Crimes Committed in Victorian Britain written by Malcolm Clegg and published by Pen & Sword Books - £20 - Hardback - Pages 160

The vast majority of Britain’s railways were built between 1830 and 1900 which

happened to coincide with the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). By the turn

of the Nineteenth/Twentieth Century, over one hundred different railway companies

were operating in Britain on more than 22,000 miles of railway track.

Although these new railways brought prosperity to the nation and enabled goods and passengers to be speedily transported the length and breadth of the country for the first time, this remarkable feat of engineering brought with it some unwelcome side-effects, one of which was crime. Wherever crowds of people gather, or unattended goods are being transported, a few unscrupulous individuals and career criminals will usually emerge to ply their trade. Some railway staff members are also unable to resist the temptation of stealing money or goods passing through their hands.

This book gives an insight into the nature and types of crime committed on the railways during the Victorian era, incorporating such offences as theft, assaults and murder, fraud, obstructing the railways and various other infringements of the law.

Over seventy different cases mentioned in the book are true accounts of events which took place on the railway during the Victorian era, the details of which were obtained as a result of hours of researching British Newspaper Archives of that period. The author hopes that readers will get as much pleasure from analysing the various cases cited in the book, as he himself derived from researching and writing about them.

An interesting book, Railway Crimes Committed in Victorian Britain that does exactly what it says on the tin. A wide variety of crimes were committed on the railways and surrounds. The crimes listed range from the serious right down to the almost trivial, but It’s a good read to see a lot about the social issues and crimes going on at the time. While some stories or incidents got a few pages of writing, quite a few, the least serious got a paragraph. But like I said well written and a good read about crime on the railways. Certainly one for those interested in railways or the Victorian era.

Victorian Murderesses

Victorian Murderesses written by Debbie Blake was published by

Pen & Sword Books - £20 - Hardback - Pages 222

The Victorian belief that women were the ‘weaker sex’ who were expected to devote

themselves entirely to family life, made it almost inconceivable that they could ever

be capable of committing murder. What drove a woman to murder her husband, lover

or even her own child? Were they tragic, mad or just plain evil?

Using various sources including court records, newspaper accounts and letters, this book explores some of the most notorious murder cases committed by seven women in nineteenth century Britain and America. It delves into each of the women’s lives, the circumstances that led to their crimes, their committal and trial and the various reasons why they resorted to murder: the fear of destitution led Mary Ann Brough to murder her own children; desperation to keep her job drove Sarah Drake to her crime. Money was the motive in the case of Mary Ann Cotton, who is believed to have poisoned as many as twenty-one people. Kate Bender lured her unsuspecting victims to their death in ‘The Slaughter Pen’ before stripping them of their valuables; Kate Webster’s temper got the better of her when she brutally murdered and decapitated her employer; nurse Jane Toppan admitted she derived sexual pleasure from watching her victims die slowly and Lizzie Borden was suspected of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe, so that she could live on the affluent area known as ‘the hill’ in Fall River, Massachusetts.

I love a book full of crime stories and this one looking at women who murder from the Victorian era doesn’t fail to entertain. I don’t know what it is about Victorian era crime, maybe it’s the black and white photos or the fact that people didn’t exactly live in the best places or conditions, but things always come across grim or in an unfortunate way. Victorian Murderesses looks at seven separate case from Lizzie Borden, Mary Ann Cotton to the Boston Borgia. The book tries to look at reasons for the murders such as insanity, pleasure, abuse or just the impossible. The chapters look at these reasons through newspaper accounts, court records, diaries and letters. There are some great stories here and they all fit together in this great book nicely. A good book if you enjoy true crime books involving women who murder.

How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World

How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World written by

Phillip Hamlyn Williams published by Pen & Sword Books - £25 - Hardback -

Pages 256

The peoples of the British Isles gave to the world the foundations on which modern

manufacturing economies are built. This is quite an assertion, but history shows

that, in the late eighteenth century, a remarkable combination of factors and

circumstances combined to give birth to Britain as the first manufacturing nation.

Further factors allowed it to remain top manufacturing dog well into the twentieth

century whilst other countries were busy playing catch up. Through two world

wars and the surrounding years, British manufacturing remained strong, albeit

whilst ceding the lead to the United States.

This book seeks to tell the remarkable story of British manufacturing, using the Great Exhibition of 1851 as a prism. Prince Albert and Sir Henry Cole had conceived an idea of bringing together exhibits from manufacturers across the world to show to its many millions of visitors the pre-eminence of the British. 1851 was not the start, but rather a pause for a bask in glory.

This book traces back from the exhibits in Hyde Park’s Crystal Palace to identify the factors that gave rise to this pre-eminence, then follows developments up until the Festival of Britain exactly one century later. Steam power and communication by electric telegraph, both British inventions, predated the Exhibition. After it came the sewing machine and bicycle, motor car and aeroplane, but also electrical power, radio and the chemical and pharmaceutical industries where Britain played a leading part.

What a really fascinating book that looks at the manufacturing world from the 1850’s through to the 1950’s. Piggybacking on the industrial revolution that saw Britain expand and grow greatly, saw the expansion of the manufacturing industries such as Coal, Metals, Textiles, Glass, Electrical and so on. It was really interesting and reading about some big companies and industries and how they started, some are now long gone but some are still around today. 

This book begins from the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace and continues for the next 100 years and covers the inter-war years too. There were some nice photographs to accompany the text which I probably would have liked to have seen more of. But overall, this has been an interesting read and I would recommend it to others if you enjoy this period of history.

Jack the Ripper - The Policeman - A New Suspect

Jack the Ripper - The Policeman - A New Suspect written by Rod Beattie and

published by Pen & Sword Books - £20 - Hardback - Pages 130

Imagine you were a police officer and had been dominated as a child by an abusive

mother who didn’t really want you and as an adult had been served bastardy orders

twice, firstly by a woman in whose house you lived and then by a woman you had a

relationship with.

Then, to top it all after you had become a police officer in another city you arrested a woman you thought was a prostitute, whose subsequent actions caused you to be accused of perjury and you ended up in court at the Old Bailey. Although you were found not guilty, it ruined your career and left you seriously in debt and though you were still a policeman you were taken off the streets and assigned to a menial job guarding a museum.

As a police officer you were in a perfect position to take revenge on those people you thought had ruined you, prostitutes.

This book contains the complete reason Jack the Ripper came to be. It sheds new light on the mystery of the killer. After all, who is going to suspect a policeman going about his daily duties of being one of the world’s most infamous serial killers.

This book revolves around the long-lasting story of Jack the Ripper and ‘Who dunnit’, with the prime suspect being suggested this time as Bowden Endacott a Metropolitan Policeman. After all, as in Victorian Britain, it was a time when police officers were starting to be recognised as reliable people you could trust. I should add that this did take a while as is usual there were dodgy officers around as there always have been. The author Rod Beattie does put across some good points that would be very plausible, but then after all I have read some points of his arguments I might argue with. But as you would have to say there has been some good research put into this book and it’s a very enjoyable read, certainly a good one to put against all the other books that try to identify the ripper suspect.

Radical Victorians

Radical Victorians written by James Hobson and published by Pen & Sword Books

- £20.00 - Hardback - Pages 232

There is more to the Victorian era than respectability, economic success and the grudging solution of the practical social problems they encountered. The politicians, generals and commercial classes have been well covered in popular history books, but there were also thinkers of radical and unsettling ideas who had a real influence at the time. Many were women, many from the middle and working classes, and almost all outside the power structure. They were by no means all fringe ideas either – in 1840, Queen Victoria herself attended a séance, for example.

The book is a biography focused history of some of these challenging ideas and the men and women who promoted them. It looks at radical thinkers and movers, the people who stepped outside of the social norm and propelled the Victorians towards the modern day.

A lovely little book that looks at different individuals of the Victorian age, but these people are radical thinkers and practitioners. These aren’t necessarily well-known names but they are important in their own little areas of expertise or dominance. The book is split into 15 chapters with each chapter following individual men and women. The chapters look at particular subjects and the radical thinkers in that subject such as Temperance, Spiritualism, Birth Control and radical journalism. Whilst had heard about some of these people, especially quite a few of the women these characters were from more the second level of prominence. The book was an interesting and easy read, and in fact it was nice to hear about these lesser characters or people. This book is certainly a good book and ideal for anyone interested in this period of time.