The Ascott Martyrs

Keith Laybourn (ed.) • £14.99
amazon.co.uk

This is a story of 19th century rural oppression in England when sixteen women and two babies were imprisoned in Oxfordshire, leading to a national scandal and a partial pardon by Queen Victoria.

This unusual history book, written by national academic leaders and local historians, puts the sixteen women who came to be known as the Ascott Martyrs at the centre of a story that until recently was largely lost to history. The book examines the political, agricultural, religious, educational and social environment surrounding this event, acknowledging the hardships and inequalities that these women and their families faced. It consists of ten essays on different historical themes, each of which sheds a particular light on the Ascott Martyrs locally and the national context, opening a window into rural society 150 years ago. The book is edited by distinguished social historian Professor Keith Laybourn.

Railway Crimes Committed in Victorian Britain

Malcolm Clegg • £20
pen-and-sword.co.uk

The vast majority of Britain’s railways were built between 1830 and 1900; by the turn of the 20th century, over 100 different railway companies were operating in Britain on more than 22,000 miles of railway track.

Although these new railways brought prosperity to the nation and enabled goods and passengers to be speedily transported the length and breadth of the country for the first time, this remarkable feat of engineering brought with it some unwelcome side-effects, one of which was crime. Wherever crowds of people gather, or unattended goods are being transported, a few unscrupulous individuals and career criminals will usually emerge to ply their trade. Some railway staff members are also unable to resist the temptation of stealing money or goods passing through their hands.

This book gives an insight into the nature and types of crime committed on the railways during the Victorian era, incorporating such offences as theft, assaults and murder, fraud, obstructing the railways and various other infringements of the law.

Over 70 different cases are mentioned in the book, true accounts of events which took place on the railway during the Victorian era, the details of which were obtained as a result of hours of researching newspapers of the period.

UPROAR!: Satire, Scandal and Printmakers in Georgian London

Alice Loxton • £25
iconbooks.com

London, 1772: a young artist called Thomas Rowlandson is making his way through the grimy backstreets of the capital, on his way to begin his studies at the Royal Academy Schools. Within a few years, James Gillray and Isaac Cruikshank would join him in Piccadilly, turning satire into an artform, taking on the British establishment, and forever changing the way we view power.

Set against a backdrop of royal madness, political intrigue, the birth of modern celebrity, French revolution, American independence and the Napoleonic Wars, Uproar! follows the satirists as they lampoon those in power, from the Prince Regent to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Their prints and illustrations deconstruct the political and social landscape with surreal and razor-sharp wit, as the three men vie with each other to create the most iconic images of the day.