Is there a murderer in your family tree? Old criminal records published online

[Jazzy]

A woman believed to have strangled 400 babies and a man who drowned three wives are among the criminals of the past whose records are being published online.



The 2.5 million records dating from 1770 to 1934 will enable people to find out whether any murderers, drunks or petty criminals lurk in their family tree.



Described as the biggest collection of historical criminal records from England and Wales, they are being made available by family history site findmypast.co.uk in association with The National Archives.



The documents include mug shots, court papers, appeal letters, examples of early Edwardian ‘Asbos’, where habitual drunks were banned from pubs and entertainment venues, and registers from the prison ‘hulk’ ships, which were used when mainland prisons were overcrowded.



The more macabre examples include court records and reports on the Victorian serial killer Amelia Dyer, who is believed to have murdered 400 babies between 1880 and 1896 by strangling them with ribbon and dumping them in the River Thames.



There are also documents on George Joseph Smith, who killed three wives by drowning them in the bath before being convicted in 1915.

Full article



Shame they don't have this in the U.S.



Any of you find criminals in your family?

 

[Evil Eye]

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Guess not.