About this episode

This episode explores the brutal Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811 and the ensuing investigation that left the truth uncertain.

In December 1811, two households on London’s Ratcliffe Highway were brutally murdered within days of each other. As panic spread through the East End, investigators searched for a killer moving through the dockside streets. A sailor named John Williams soon became the prime suspect but his death would leave the truth uncertain. Source Materials P. D. James and T. A. Critchley. The Maul and the Pear Tree: The Ratcliffe Highway Murders, 1811. Faber & Faber, 1971. Judith Flanders. The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime. Thomas Dunne Books, 2011. John Fairburn. Fairburn’s Account of the Dreadful Murder of Mr. Marr and Family, Who Were Barbarously Murdered in Their House on Ratcliffe Highway. London, 1811. Peter Ackroyd. London: The Biography. Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, 2000. The Proceedings of the Coroner’s Inquest on the Marr and Williamson Murders, London, December 1811. The OldBailey Proceedings Online. https://www.oldbaileyonline.org Radzinowicz, L. “The Ratcliffe Murders.” The Cambridge Law Journal 14, no. 1 (1956): 39–66. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4504366

People in this episode

Host: Lizzie

Topics covered

• murder
• investigation
• historical crime
• London
• 19th century
• true crime

Keywords

• Ratcliffe Highway
• murders
• John Williams
• London
• 1811
• true crime
• investigation
• historical crime

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The OldBailey Proceedings Online

Books & works: The Maul and the Pear Tree: The Ratcliffe Highway Murders, 1811, The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime, Fairburn’s Account of the Dreadful Murder of Mr. Marr and Family, Who Were Barbarously Murdered in Their House on Ratcliffe Highway, London: The Biography, The Proceedings of the Coroner’s Inquest on the Marr and Williamson Murders, London, December 1811

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