Description:
This volume draws on the recently discovered and extraordinarily rich scrapbook compiled by prosecuting solicitor Francis Hobler about the 1840 murder of Lord William Russell to consider public engagement with the issues raised from discovery of the murder itself through the ensuing legal processes.
Review Quotes:
"Allyson May builds on her study of the Old Bailey bar with a marvellous account of the trial of the Swiss valet hanged in 1840 for murdering his employer. The case fascinated early Victorian England. Drawing on an unusually rich prosecution source May shows why, citing class tension and political upheaval."
Douglas C. Hay, York University, Canada
"This first-rate study of the Russell murder illuminates the workings of English criminal justice, increasing unease with the death penalty, and the breakdown in the master-servant relationship in which the crime was rooted. It has import, too, for the history of class, gender, and masculinity."
Victor Bailey, University of Kansas, USA