Rogues, Rakes and Robbers : A True Crime History of Georgian Britain

Exploring detailed accounts of historic crime is one of the best ways to catch a glimpse of a society and its culture decades and centuries later. Of course, stories of crime and deviance are intriguing in their own right; but through understanding the context in which they were committed, how they were made sense of, and how communities and officials responded to them, we can gain incredible insight into life at that time and place. On 20 October 1799 at Pensieri in Anglesey, a fire breaks out, destroying cart house, corn, haystacks and timber.

A young woman is seen running from the scene – but what secrets drove her to set the fire? Uncover the tales of real-life murders, manslaughters, assaults and arson that took place in Georgian Wales and the borders, which together give us a window onto life for ordinary, common people – whose lives would otherwise be lost from the historical record. From courtship rituals to the value of horses, Georgian attitudes to sex work and insanity, vulnerable adults and fraud, each chapter uses documents from Wales’s Court of Great Sessions to illuminate the past.