LIVERPOOL HOPE UNIVERSITY
MA COURSE
VICTORIAN CRIME: FACT AND FICTION
‘A Burking poor old Mrs Constitution,’ P. Prys Caricatures, 1829 (British Museum)
Course Handbook
Sample
VICTORIAN CRIME: FACT AND FICTION
Course Tutors
Dr. Trish Ferguson
Office: AJB 165
E-mail: fergust@hope.ac.uk
Tel + 151 291-3512
Dr Sonja Tiernan
Office: AJB073
Email: tiernas:hope.ac.uk
Tel + 151 291 3719
Synopsis
This is a seminar course that will examine developments in crime and punishment in the
Victorian era. Using historical documents and literary fiction as primary texts, and drawing
on relevant theorists such as Michel Foucault and Cesare Lombroso, we will consider the
treatment of crime and punishment in relation to theories related to gender, race and
developments in the discipline of psychology.
Aims
Aims are to provide the opportunity for students to:
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Gain a critical overview of the history and literature of crime and punishment in
nineteenth-century Britain through a challenging and engaging programme of study.
Interrogate the relationship between law, justice, and literature at a particular
historical moment.
Develop an advanced understanding of how the historical and literary texts under
discussion engage with broader scientific and cultural developments in relation to
crime and punishment.
Acquire advanced skills relevant to the study of cultural history, including critical
enquiry, analytical skills and independent research in written and oral forms.
Learning Outcomes
Participants should be able to:
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Interrogate the ways in which particular historical documents and literary texts
intervene in contemporary debates relating to legal and natural justice.
Demonstrate an advanced understanding of historical and literary texts in the contexts
of contemporary intellectual and cultural developments.
Assess the potential of applying a range of critical, historical and legal perspectives
and frameworks to the analysis of particular texts.
Demonstrate confidence in handling and interpreting primary and secondary source
material.
Relay an effective understanding and ability to interpret and apply knowledge in a
systematic manner.
Course Outline
The course will be delivered as a student-led weekly seminar programme that runs for 3 hour
sessions each week for eleven weeks. We will alternate between taking a historical approach
to developments in crime and punishment in the Victorian era and examining how literary
texts engage with these historical changes. Students will be expected to engage in
independent learning, both within the Moodle virtual learning environment and through
independent research and reading. Each session will begin with a presentation delivered by a
student. Through this method of learning and teaching students will receive oral feedback that
will help to develop presentation skills. Students will also develop analytical skills through
seminar discussion. These skills will be assessed in a presentation and academic paper, and in
an essay at the end of the module.
After the introductory session, the course has been divided thematically as follows:
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THE SPECTACLE OF EXECUTION
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THE BIRTH OF THE POLICE AND NEW SCOTLAND YARD
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INFAMOUS CRIMES, TRIALS AND EXECUTIONS
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NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN DETECTION AND CRIMINAL PROFILING
In each section of the course we will alternate between historical approaches and literary
responses with weekly set texts and resources listed below.
Set Reading
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INTRODUCTION
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey: London’s Central Criminal Court (1674-1913) available
at www.oldbaileyonline.org
Selection of Broadside Ballads (provided in advance)
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THE SPECTACLE OF EXECUTION
Gatrell, V.A.C. The Hanging Tree: Execution and the English People, 1770-1868 (Oxford,
1996).
J. S. Cockburn, ‘Punishment and Brutalization in the English Enlightenment’. Law and
History Review. Vol. 12, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), pp. 155-179. JSTOR.
http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.hope.ac.uk/action/showPublication?journalCode=lawhis
toryreview
Thesing, William B. Executions and the British Experience from the Seventeenth to the
Twentieth Century: a Collection of Essays. Jefferson NC.; London: McFarland, 1990.
Dickens, Charles. Letters to the editor, The Times, November 14, 1849.
Thackeray, William Makepeace. ‘On Going to See a Man Hanged’ The Works of William
Makepeace Thackeray, Vol. 15. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1869, 386
Gaskell, Elizabeth. Mary Barton. New York; London: W. W. Norton 2008
Stephen, Leslie. ‘The Morality of Advocacy’ Cornhill 3 (1865), pp. 105–15.
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THE BIRTH OF THE POLICE AND NEW SCOTLAND YARD
Beattie, J. M. The First English Detectives: The Bow Street Runners and the Policing of
London, 1750-1840. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014.
Durston, Gregory J. Burglars and Bobbies: Crime and Policing in Victorian London
(Cambridge, 2012.)
Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Police, translated from the French
by Alan Sheridan. London: Penguin, 1977.
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. (Any edition)
Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret (Any edition)
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INFAMOUS CRIMES, TRIALS AND EXECUTIONS
Burney, Ian. Poison, Detection, and the Victorian Imagination (Manchester, 2006).
Gordon, R. M. The Infamous Burke and Hare: Serial Killers and Resurrectionists of
Nineteenth Century Edinburgh (Jefferson, 2009).
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. (Any edition)
Stevenson, Robert Louis. ‘The Body Snatcher’. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
and Other Tales of Terror, edited by Robert Mighall. London: Penguin Classics,
2002, 73-91.
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NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN DETECTION AND CRIMINAL PROFILING
Horn, David. The Criminal Body: Lombroso and the Anatomy of Deviance. London:
Routledge, 2003.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. ‘Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. The Strange Case of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror, edited by Robert Mighall. London: Penguin
Classics, 5-70.
Conan Doyle, Arthur. The Sign of Four (any edition)
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CONCLUSIONS
Gregory, J. Victorians Against the Gallows: Capital Punishment and the Abolitionist
Movement in Nineteenth Century Britain (London, 2011).
Mathews, Derek. William Marwood: The Gentleman Executioner (Peterborough, 2010.)
http://copac.ac.uk/search?keyword=capital%20punishment%20ireland&rn=37
Leading a seminar
Each of you will be asked to take a lead role in one of our seminar sessions, by introducing
one of the historical documents or literary texts we are studying.
You will be asked to deliver a presentation that will take one of the following formats with a
particular focus on historical approaches or literary responses relevant to the appropriate
seminar.
a. Historical contextualisation. This should involve the discussion of relevant historical and
cultural contexts which inform and nuance our reading and understanding of topic under
discussion. For example in a seminar on historical context, topics for discussion might
include the system of laws, known as ‘the Bloody Code,’ which categorised a high
number of petty crimes as capital offenses until 1815. In a seminar focused on Literary
Responses, when introducing Mary Barton, for example, topics for discussion might
include the Prisoner’s Counsel Act (1836) and the rise of adversarial trial procedure.
b. A critical review. In a seminar on Literary Responses you may be asked to introduce the
group to critical perspectives on the novel, and should cover at least two pieces of
criticism. You should give a summary of the main thesis offered by each critic, but should
also give your own evaluation of the material and its usefulness for reading the primary
text. In a seminar on Historiography you may be asked to introduce the group to the work
of historians who have documented accounts of crime and punishment in Britain, this
should include an analysis of how primary source digital databases have impacted the
writing of this history.
Assignment Guidelines
There are two assessments for this 30 credit module. (If agreed with the course director, it
may be possible to take one assessment for 15 credits). The two assessments are as follows:
1. Presentation (20 minutes) and submission of presentation as an academic paper (1,000
words)
2. Essay (3,000 words)
Indicative questions:
Presentation and academic paper: A critical analysis of one literary text or primary source
document related to the key course content.
Essay: Critically examine the cultural impact of one of the following nineteenth-century
criminal cases: Burke and Hare; Maria and Frederick Manning; Constance Kent; Francois
Courvoisier.
Please pay careful attention to the learning outcomes when writing your essay. They provide
a useful guide to issues you should consider.
Plagiarism: Remember the work you submit must be entirely your own. If you use material
from secondary sources you must acknowledge it through your referencing. Failure to do so
will be penalised and can result in the essay receiving a mark of zero. Further advice can be
found on the Liverpool Hope University website.
Electronic Databases
The library has a number of electronic databases which will be invaluable to your research
and essay writing. They give you access to a wealth of primary and critical material in
electronic format (including journal articles and books). Please familiarise yourself with these
resources and use them in your essays.
We would particularly recommend:
British History Online
British Newspapers 1600-1900
British Periodicals
Dictionary of Irish Biography
Hansard
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers
JISC Historic Books
JSTOR
Literature Online
Nineteenth Century British Library Newspapers
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Project Muse