William Cuffay: the 19th century’s forgotten black, British, working-class hero

After receiving such a positive response to my recent blog post about John Frost, a leading Chartist transported during the 1800s, I decided to continue going down this path for my research blog and stumbled across William Cuffay. Black, disabled and working class in 19th century Britain yet a leading figure in the Chartist movement,...

The Criminal Slang of Oliver Twist

When reading Oliver Twist, I was intrigued by the language used by characters such as the Artful Dodger. It was a distinct type of slang; a few of the terms I am familiar with and hear used today, but most of the words left me wondering about what they could mean. I decided to look...

Prison memoirs: voices for reform

‘Since I have been here I have thought very differently of religion. I feel that I am a very great sinner in the eyes of God. I hope to spend the rest of my days in a very different way.’1  This extract from a prisoner’s testimony is in Reverend H.S. Joseph's book about the origins...

Juvenile Delinquency: theatre’s fault or moral panic?

In the aftermath of the original serialisation of Oliver Twist and the publication of the novel Jack Sheppard, there was a link made between reading this type of crime filled literature and a rise in juvenile delinquency. Searching for ‘Jack Sheppard’, on the British Newspaper Archives, many stories from throughout the 1800s are headlined: ‘A...