Monday 30 March 2015

The hat, the train, and the german tailor

I recently finished reading Mr Briggs' Hat: A Sensational Account of Britain's First Railway murder by Kate Colquhoun (you may remember my post about a book by the same author detailing the case of Mrs Maybrick, and the death of her husband.) This book is about one of the most famous cases of the Victorian period.
image courtesy of Sakhorn38 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
It's well-written, engaging, and very good at setting the scene. Unlike the book about Florence Maybrick, this avoids direct speech - which is a lot less grating in terms of tone and accuracy. Colquhoun discusses in the issues surrounding this infamous Victorian crime with skill and intrigue.

So, who was this Mr Briggs? Why was his hat so important? Well, Mr Briggs was an elderly middle-class banker from London who, when returning from visiting a relative, was murdered on the train. The body was later found on the railway line - the first indication that something was wrong was a blood-spattered carriage and a hat. Every middle-class man (and most working-class men) wore a hat at this period - but this hat was not Mr Briggs'. So where was Mr Briggs' hat?

What followed was a manhunt based around the fears of the Victorian class system - middle-class men were not murdered on trains. It was indecent. Hundreds of members of the lower-class may be killed in a more brutal manner, but that, in comparison, was only to be expected. What's more, clearly the murderer was decently and genteelly behaved enough to be travelling in a first-class train compartment - something which shook Victorian pre-conceptions of society and crime.

The main suspect, a German tailor named Franz Muller, did something to allay middle-class hysteria. A foreigner who was relatively impoverished was a relatively acceptable villain. Germany was also far from friendly with the British Empire at the time, so it fit in nicely with current public feeling towards German people.

A curious tale, this mystery is one which never totally wrapped up in a satisfying way. There would always remain questions - mainly regarding the fact that there was no proof that Muller was on the train, and some evidence that he was in Clerkenwell, several miles away at the time.

The question of whether the hat in the carriage belonged to Muller, as well as whether the hat he was found with when the law caught up with him half a world away did ever belong to Thomas Briggs, became the matter of very subjective debate. Other questions also arouse: what reason would Muller have to kill Thomas Briggs? Yes, he had been in possession of Briggs' watch and chain, but why would he leave the obvious diamond ring on Briggs' finger? What about the fact that a friend of Thomas Briggs had seen him that night in the railway carriage, sitting with two gentlemen, neither of which was Franz Muller? What about the threats that Thomas Briggs had received before his death from a 'decent' and 'respectable' associate?

It's likely that we'll never know the answer to these questions, but it's to Colquhoun's credit that she keeps the intrigue alive.

Other issues are also discussed here - most notably the press. The newspapers and reading public created a frenzy around the case, and it's possible that they not only prejudiced any possible trial, but also encouraged a morbid and ghoulish fascination. It's a difficult question which still has relevance today.

Monday 23 March 2015

Learn the Lingo - Black Sheep

Black Sheep

A 'black sheep' ancestor is one with a criminal or otherwise scandalous past. Most family trees have at least one, and they tend to make for some of the most interesting stories. Tracking a black sheep can be difficult as they often have a habit of hiding or changing their names, ages, and other distinguishing features (e.g. where they were from.) With a lot of hard work, their stories can be discovered, and you may find something interesting about your own family's past.

Sunday 22 March 2015

Richard III reburied

Hi everyone, today's the day - Richard III is being reburied and today is the funeral service before re-interment at Leicester cathedral on Thursday. More dignified than a car park.

Tuesday 17 March 2015

Cervantes' tomb

I found this article about the discovery of the writer Miguel de Cervantes' grave, it's pretty interesting and I recommend that you check it out!

Monday 16 March 2015

Learn the Lingo - Census

Census
 
Censuses are government surveys taken to gain social statistics such as how many people are living in a particular town, how many children there are an area, how many homes are in a city, etc. etc. The typical timescale is once every ten years; in this country (UK) the censuses of names of UK residents start with 1841, and go right up to 2011; in the USA it is on the decade changeover (so 1900, 1910, etc.) and there are local variations in countries, states, counties, towns, cities, all over the world.
 
The upshot of all this is that censuses, intended for statistical purposes, incidentally provide a huge wealth of information for genealogists - depending on the country and the year, different details were taken, but at the very basic level there is names, ages, occupations, and addresses. They form a fundamental part of family history because they allow people to trace family units, movements, and rough birth details.

Wednesday 11 March 2015

The King of Parking

Hi everyone, thought you might like to see this video and article about the moment King Richard III was found in a Leicester car park. Enjoy!

Monday 9 March 2015

Learn the Lingo - BMDs

BMDs -
 
BMDs are the shortened way genealogists refer to births, marriages, and deaths. It's also how these details are often referred to - for example, Joe Bloggs (b. 1900, m. Jane Doe, 23 Feb 1923, d. 1964). Sometimes birth, marriage and death certificates (or certs) are also referred to as BMD certs, or BMD certificates. BMDs are used as the backbone of most family trees to establish dates, time periods, and generations, as well as adding more details to the names of ancestors and family members.

Monday 2 March 2015

Learn the Lingo

Hi everyone! I've decided to do a new post series ('Learn the Lingo'!) to explain some of the genealogy terminology that I rarely notice is terminology anymore. This will be normal terminology as opposed to things I come up with when I'm in a strange mood (let's face it, we all do it!)

So, today's lingo word is (drumroll here)....
Certs

Certs to a genealogist doesn't mean 'for certain.' It is in fact short for certificate - referring to Birth, Marriage and Death certificates which are used to find information about individual family members.