Serial killer? 1851

[poohbear 1,360]

It would appear there was a serial killer on the loose in Nottingham in 1851.These are taken from The Times in that year.

I shall continue searching to see if they ever found out who it was.

Child murder was common in those days,but I suppose many were committed in desperation in a society where near starvation was knocking on many doors.The majority were carried out by family members and the most common method would seem to have been the cutthroat razor.

But these murders were different.

[DAVIDW 1,683]

The first case seems to have been a new born baby , as in the Notts Guardian report it said the child seems to have been "born alive".

The pair in the later article were also described as new born . In those days they don't seem to use the word "babies" .

Perhaps this was a sign of the times when people were so poor that rather than have a burial they threw infants that had died in the river .

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Seems quite feasible as child mortality rates were quite high even up to the last war, whether from disease or, during the times of child labour, overwork. As I read the above article to my wife, she mentioned that she had read somewhere that if every river in the country was dredged properly they would find thousands of babies bones from years ago.

Here in Mansfield there is the tale of 17 year old Bessie Shepherd who came from Papplewick and secured a job in Mansfield and then walked home again to tell her family. walking by Harlow Wood she was attacked by a robber and beaten about the head with a fence post and, in the absence of any money, her umbrella and shoes were stolen The perpetrator was one Charles Rotherham, an out of work soldier, who attempted to sell the goods in Nottingham. He was arrested near Loughborough and was hanged on the steps of what we now call 'The Galleries of Justice'. The year was 1817 and Bessie is buried in Papplewick churchyard. At the roadside by Harlow Wood is a commemorative stone donated by the person she would have worked for. They say every time the stone is moved for works or road widening her spirit is seen at the side of the road. I just wonder if the soldier involved was a remnant of the Napoleonic wars who was, as they are today, just abandoned by the government of the day and was desperate for money. Not that it made it right of course.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

A big cause of "infant" death in the mid Victorian period was over doses of Godfrey's cordial or Laudanum

Which was adminestered to the child the to keep him/her passified while the mother was working usually in the lace trade.

[Beefsteak 305]

There's a whole thread on here dedicated to The Sheppard/ Shepherd stone ( and the story of Bessies murder)

[Beefsteak 305]

Here we go, I've found three!!

http://nottstalgia.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10653&hl=bessie+sheppard

http://nottstalgia.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9359&hl=bessie+sheppard#entry119177

http://nottstalgia.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=34&hl=bessie+sheppard