Regency Spies

Sue Wilkes • £19.99
Pen & Sword

Sue Wilkes reveals the shadowy world of Britain’s spies, rebels and secret societies from the late 1780s until 1820. Drawing on contemporary literature and official records, Wilkes unmasks the real conspirators and tells the tragic stories of the unwitting victims sent to the gallows. In this ‘age of revolutions’, when the French fought for liberty, Britain’s upper classes feared revolution was imminent. Thomas Paine’s incendiary Rights of Man called men to overthrow governments which did not safeguard their rights. Were Jacobins and Radical reformers in England and Scotland secretly plotting rebellion? Ireland, too, was a seething cauldron of unrest, its impoverished people oppressed by their Protestant masters. Britain’s governing elite could not rely on the armed services – even Royal Navy crews mutinied over brutal conditions. To keep the nation safe, a ‘war chest’ of secret service money funded a network of spies to uncover potential rebels amongst the underprivileged masses. It had some famous successes. These and more are explored in this book.

Rivals of the Ripper

Jan Bondeson • £20
The History Press

When discussing unsolved murders of women in late Victorian London, most people think of the depredations of Jack the Ripper, the Whitechapel Murderer, whose sanguineous exploits have spawned the creation of a small library of books. But Jack the Ripper was just one of a string of phantom murderers whose unsolved slayings outraged late Victorian Britain. The mysterious Great Coram Street, Burton Crescent and Euston Square murders were talked about with bated breath, and the northern part of Bloomsbury got the unflattering nickname of the ‘murder neighbourhood’ for its profusion of unsolved mysteries. Marvel at the convoluted Kingswood Mystery, littered with fake names and mistaken identities; be puzzled by the blackmail and secret marriage in the Cannon Street Murder; and shudder at the vicious yet silent killing in St Giles that took place in a crowded house in the dead of night. This book is the first to resurrect these unsolved Victorian murder mysteries, and to highlight the ghoulish handiwork of the Rivals of the Ripper: the spectral killers of gas-lit London.

Early Victorian Railway Excursions

Susan Major • £25
Pen & Sword

Susan Major has carried out much in-depth research for this book, drawing on contemporary Victorian newspapers, and her book fills an important gap in railway history. It explores for the first time how the vast majority of ordinary working people in Britain in the middle of the 19th century were able to travel cheaply for leisure over long distances, in huge crowds, and return home. The book takes the story of the early railway excursions from the 1840s to the 1860s, a dramatic period of railway and social change in British history.

‘He is our cousin, Cousin’

Antony Barlow • £15
Quacks Books

Antony Barlow is the descendant of one of the oldest Quaker families, whose ancestor James Lancaster was one of the closest advisors of George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends. In this book Antony uses James Lancaster’s bible, dated 1616, and a host of other research to piece together the story of his family, and its connections to other renowned Quaker dynasties including the Nicholsons, Cadburys, Carrs and Cashes. He tells a remarkable story of fighting persecution and prejudice, defending Quaker principles, opposing slavery, and maintaining the Quaker message of simplicity and peace.