Crime in the Victorian Black Country

Whilst the Black Country had been the cradle of the industrial revolution, towards the end of nineteenth century, the prosperity of the region was at an end, and crime was on the increase. A mainly working-class population was having laws imposed upon it remotely, influenced by middle class morality and ethics. Crime in the Victorian Black Country looks at the crimes actually being committed in the Black Country towards the end of the nineteenth century. It considers attitudes towards the police in this geologically unique and neglected part of the country and offers possible reasons for it. It relates tales reported in the local press of the time reflecting the attitude of the ruling elite and the sort of behaviour they wanted to impose on the working classes, and the reaction to this. Crime is endlessly fascinating, the late Victorian view of criminals and the causes of crime, fairly well known, this work offers a view of the criminal behaviour of working-class people through an alternative lens. AUTHOR: Tracey Blundell is an Associate Lecturer with the Open University. She worked in criminal law for twenty years before retraining to teach in Further Education. Tracey is first and foremost a social historian with a Master's degree in local history. Her research is driven by the need to give the working classes of history a voice. 12 b/w illustrations