The Malthouse Murder | Wolverton’s Burning Secret (1867)
News of the Times | Episode 564 |1867
Welcome to News of the Times — where true crime meets smoke, suspicion, and a suspiciously well-stacked pile of coal.

In the early dawn of 1867, the villagers of Wolverton awoke to smoke curling from the local malthouse — but the scent wasn’t malted barley.

Beneath the flames, they uncovered a charred horror: the half-burned body of Martha Britten, her wedding ring glinting defiantly through the soot. Her husband, George, stood nearby, insisting it wasn’t her. Even as the evidence said otherwise.

This is a tale of domestic darkness, blunt instruments, and a man who blamed the Devil — quite literally — for everything. From jealous rage to clumsy cover-up, The Malthouse Murder unfolds like a Victorian penny dreadful with a particularly grim punchline.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles 

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 

📚 Related cases from the archive: 
1867: Bridget Durgan: The Maid, The Murder, and the Smile That Haunted 1867 |  EP515
https://youtu.be/-Y557qWfRzQ
1868: The Body in the Cupboard: A Mystery That Baffled Victorian London |  EP528
https://youtu.be/9SGIxyna1q8
1866: The Murder That Stunned Victorian London — The Shocking Case of Mrs. Millson (1866) |  EP537
https://youtu.be/jYBX_tfxyoc
1869: Arsenic, Bonnets and Betrayal: The 1869 Dudley Poisoning of Joseph Oliver |  EP559
https://youtu.be/Igt7pytWWxU

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🕯 About the Channel  
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’ inquests to forgotten newspaper columns.  

If you like your true crime thoughtful, atmospheric, and rooted in real records — welcome to the vault.  

🎩 — RC & Tea

 Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

 Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs. 

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Sarah Chesham: The Essex Poisoner Who Changed British Law (1847–1851)
News of the Times | Episode 563 | 1851 
In the sleepy village of Clavering, Essex, two young boys died days apart — sudden, wrenching illness, no clear explanation. Locals whispered… but the law shrugged.

Then a neighbour’s infant died.
Then her husband.
All had one visitor in common.

Her name was Sarah Chesham — but to the press, she became Sally Arsenic, a domestic poisoner whose quiet kitchen rewrote the rules of Victorian justice. 

Accused of killing her children, her husband, and another child in a neighbouring village, she stood trial not once, not twice, but three times — and walked free each time. Until, finally, in a fourth trial, the evidence refused to be ignored.

☠️ This episode reveals the chilling true story behind the woman who horrified a nation.

🕵️‍♂️ Based on original newspaper archives and courtroom testimony, we examine:
Arsenic and the Victorian household
The tragic pattern of “illness” in Clavering
Sarah’s notorious trials and final downfall
The real-life consequences that changed English legal proceedings

📚 A tale of whispers, funeral pies, and arsenic-laced rice pudding — this is one case you may not want to watch over dinner.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles  

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday  

📚 Related cases from the archive: 
1851: The Disturbing Case of Mary Emily Cage |  EP390
https://youtu.be/jvM8alfWztY
1851 & 1875: Cases of Double Black Widows |  EP464
https://youtu.be/k9YYxpoQ9Go
1856: The Murder of George Samuel Little Mystery |  EP469
https://youtu.be/UeoyQsJtEbU

❤️ Support Independent History  
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☕ Prefer a one-off thank-you? We LOVE a posh coffee indulgence! We tip our top hats:  
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🕯 About the Channel  
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’ inquests to forgotten ne

 Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

 Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs. 

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

 Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes. 

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Support the show

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Bayonet Madness in Batley: A Victorian Double Murder
News of the Times | Episode 1865 | 562

When heartbreak met a bayonet in Batley, the result was a tragedy that shook all of Yorkshire.

In August 1865, 19-year-old Eli Sykes seemed the very picture of respectability — steady, polite, a proud member of Queen Victoria’s volunteer corps. But when the young woman he loved, Hannah Brook, told him no, something inside him splintered.
By nightfall, Hannah and her mother lay dying in their own doorway — stabbed fifteen times with the very bayonet he’d drilled with that afternoon.

From jealousy and delusion to public horror and a courtroom gasping at his calm confession, this is one of the darkest and most chilling crimes of Victorian England.

🕯️ In this episode:
A love story turned lethal
A rifleman’s descent into obsession
A community’s grief, and a courtroom transfixed
And a death so brutal, even hardened reporters faltered

☕ Further Particulars
Elsewhere in 1865, a man faced a far graver Victorian crime — wearing his hat too stubbornly.
What began as jury duty soon spiralled into a courtroom showdown between a Quaker, an exasperated judge, and a hat that simply refused to leave the head it adorned.
A spiritual protest?
A fashion crisis?
Or just the world’s most dedicated haberdasher?

We present it now, as proof that even in the sternest of times, absurdity had impeccable manners. 🎩⚖️

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles 

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday   

📚 Related cases from the archive: 
1865-1920: Madness, Mayhem and Murder on the Railways |  Ep106
https://youtu.be/TgAqhsp3xdY
1865: Dr Edward Pritchard |  Ep131
https://youtu.be/w0XXXGnE-6g
1865: The Holborn Horror & Ramsgate Reckoning |  EP400
https://youtu.be/0IItRV-ZX-A

❤️ Support Independent History  
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🕯 About the Channel  
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and

 Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

 Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs. 

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 Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes. 

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Support the show

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If you would like to donate, we love coffee! Warmly appreciated :-) | https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

He Slept Beside His Brother… Then Butchered Him With an Axe | The 1857 Maidstone Fratricide
News of the Times | Episode 561 | 1857
In March 1857, the quiet town of Maidstone was shaken by a killing so savage that even the local coroner faltered in describing it. Two brothers, one bed, one axe — and a brutal act that tore a working-class family apart.

By dawn, one son was dead.
The other… vanished into the woods.

Was it a calculated murder years in the making — or a sudden, frenzied explosion from a troubled mind? In this deeply atmospheric case, we follow the clues, the escape, the trial, and the chilling confession that came far too late.

🧠 Dark, grim, and threaded with questions of motive and madness — this is one of the most harrowing cases of fratricide we’ve ever covered.

🌙 Featuring:
Victorian domestic life, upended in an instant
A night of unspeakable violence
A courtroom filled with stifled grief

One of the most peculiar deathbed letters in our archive

💨 And in this week’s Further Particulars…
An enterprising gentleman decides to insure 1,000 cigars against fire. Then… he smokes every last one and tries to claim the lot. Because technically… they were destroyed by fire. 🔥💼

The result? A courtroom, a headache, and the swift death of optimism among underwriters.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles 

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 
🎞️ Long-form historical crime compilations: Final Sunday of every month 

📚 Related cases from the archive: 
1851: THE TOLLESBURY MURDER |  EP320
https://youtu.be/zAyZBTR87fE
1851: The Disturbing Case of Mary Emily Cage |  EP390
https://youtu.be/jvM8alfWztY
1851 & 1875: Cases of Double Black Widows |  EP464
https://youtu.be/k9YYxpoQ9Go
 
❤️ Support Independent History  
If you enjoy our ad-free, archive-based storytelling, help us keep the lantern lit:  
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☕ Prefer a one-off thank-you? We LOVE a posh coffee indulgence! We tip our top hats:  
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

🕯 About the Channel  
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century Britis

 Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

 Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs. 

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

 Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes. 

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If you would like to donate, we love coffee! Warmly appreciated :-) | https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

The Paris Poisoning Scandal: Madame Tiquet's Fall from Society to the Scaffold (1699)
News of the Times | Episode 560 | 16999 
💀 From Drawing Rooms to the Death Sentence – The Scandal That Shook Paris 🥀

In 17th-century Paris, a city alive with powdered wigs, whispered gossip, and deadly ambition, one woman’s rise and fall scandalised high society. Madame Tiquet had it all — wealth, status, and a husband she couldn’t stand. When poison entered the picture, it wasn’t just her marriage on the line… but her life.

Join us as we unravel the dramatic true crime tale of a privileged wife turned public prisoner — a story that captivated the crowds and cast a long shadow over notions of guilt, justice, and the roles of women in pre-Revolutionary France.

⚖️ Was she a victim of cruelty or a calculated killer?
🕵️‍♂️ What really happened behind the velvet curtains of her Parisian home?
⛓️ And why did the people of France cheer for her execution?

This episode delves into betrayal, mystery, and one of France’s most talked-about poison scandals — long before Marie Antoinette ever said a word about cake.

And in today's end of episode Further particulars segment...
Forget true crime podcasts — 17th‑century Paris had its own grisly shocker. An ‘eminent’ midwife, dozens of missing babies, a nosy neighbour… and an execution so bizarre it makes Game of Thrones look like Sunday school. Stick around for one of history’s most horrifyingly creative punishments.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles  

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday  

❤️ Support Independent History  
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👉 **Patreon** – Full archive, early access, bonus compilations (and it keeps us independent):  
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☕ Prefer a one-off thank-you? We LOVE a posh coffee indulgence! We tip our top hats:  
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🕯 About the Channel  
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’ inquests to forgotten newspaper columns.  

If you like your true crime thoughtful, atmospheric, and rooted in real records — welcome to the vault.  

🎩 — RC & Team  

#HistoricalCrime #MadameTiquet #TrueCrimeHistory #18thCenturyParis #WomenWhoKill #FrenchScandals #HistoryP

 Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

 Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs. 

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

 Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes. 

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If you would like to donate, we love coffee! Warmly appreciated :-) | https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

Arsenic, Bonnets and Betrayal: The 1869 Dudley Poisoning of Joseph Oliver
News of the Times | Episode 559 | 1869 
It began, as so many Victorian poisonings did, with an ordinary cup of milk and a sudden sickness.

In the quiet town of Hart’s Hill near Birmingham, Joseph Oliver — a healthy, hard‑working boilermaker — fell violently ill in the spring of 1869. Within weeks he was dead, and his young wife, Fanny Frances Oliver, was weeping at his funeral. But behind closed doors, something far darker was taking shape.

Before Joseph’s death, Fanny had rekindled a secret affair with a butcher named Burgess. She had quietly siphoned her husband’s life savings and purchased arsenic under a false name — supposedly, she said, to “clean bonnets.”

Was she a desperate woman trapped in a loveless marriage, or a cold, calculating killer ready to start a new life? This episode plunges deep into one of the most dramatic Victorian poisoning trials of the 19th century — a case that gripped Birmingham and Dudley with its themes of betrayal, greed, and arsenic‑laced ambition.

And in this episode's further particulars segment...
Thinking of leaving Britain in 1841? Don’t pack your trunks just yet — we’ve unearthed a marvellously well-meaning guide to emigration from a time when Florida was hailed as the Montpelier of America and Virginia was (optimistically) preparing for a progressive future...

Our correspondent helpfully steers you clear of Canada’s blizzards, prairie diseases, and “extremely rude” society — and into the silken arms of Delaware, Pennsylvania, and the subtropical citrus dreams of the American South. 🌴🧳

It’s the travel brochure you didn’t know you needed — complete with moral panic, coal optimism, and suspiciously cheerful railways.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles  

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday  

❤️ Support Independent History  
If you enjoy our ad-free, archive-based storytelling, help us keep the lantern lit:  

👉 **Patreon** – Full archive, early access, bonus compilations (and it keeps us independent):  
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☕ Prefer a one-off thank-you? We LOVE a posh coffee indulgence! We tip our top hats:  
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

🕯 About the Channel  
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’

 Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

 Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs. 

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

 Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes. 

https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Support the show

Thanks for listening! You can also connect with us on
Our YouTube Channel: | https://www.youtube.com/@newsofthetimes
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Have a question or comment? Get in touch with us at [email protected]
If you would like to donate, we love coffee! Warmly appreciated :-) | https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

A Ghost Story Without a Ghost: The Chelsea Parlour Murder of 1833
News of the Times | Episode 558 | 1833
In 1833, 70‑year‑old Catherine Elms lived quietly in a tiny Chelsea flat. She was well liked, friendly, and poor, with only a few modest possessions.

But one winter night she was found brutally slaughtered — her face split open by repeated blows with a sword and a hatchet, her rooms ransacked — and yet not a single thing of value was missing.

And the true puzzle:
Every door locked and bolted.
Shutters fastened.
The street‑door key lying untouched in the hallway.

It was as if the killer had melted through the very walls.

With no servants, no family at home, and her only lodger away, the killing defied sense. Who could have entered the sealed house? Was it a stranger with a secret grudge — or someone she trusted enough to let in before she locked up for the night?

This shocking “Chelsea Flat Murder” horrified England, baffled investigators, and has remained an enduring locked‑room mystery for nearly two centuries. Join us as we reopen the case.

In this episode's Further Particulars…
From blood‑spattered parlours to phantom brawls in the Welsh valleys — tonight’s palate cleanser comes from Glamorganshire, where the infamous Tondu Ghost isn’t content to rattle chains.

Lock the doors, pour another cup of tea, and meet the phantom pugilist of Tondu.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles 

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 

📚 Related cases from the archive: 
1831: The Bell Boy Murderer |  EP468
https://youtu.be/5-_a9mpSopE
1551 - 1836: Favourite Georgian Era Crime Stories |  EP470 https://youtu.be/B9Wd8CJmjcE

❤️ Support Independent History  
If you enjoy our ad-free, archive-based storytelling, help us keep the lantern lit:  

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☕ Prefer a one-off thank-you? We LOVE a posh coffee indulgence! We tip our top hats:  
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

🕯 About the Channel  
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’ inquests to forgotten newspaper columns.  

 Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

 Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs. 

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

 Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes. 

https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Support the show

Thanks for listening! You can also connect with us on
Our YouTube Channel: | https://www.youtube.com/@newsofthetimes
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Have a question or comment? Get in touch with us at [email protected]
If you would like to donate, we love coffee! Warmly appreciated :-) | https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

The Woman in Black and the Murder of Augusta Dawes | True Crime 1894
News of the Times | Episode 557 | 1894
🕯️ A 19th-century mystery that begins with a murder... and spirals into urban legend.

In the winter of 1894, one of London’s most refined boroughs was struck by two chilling tales — one whispered behind lace curtains, the other screamed across the front pages.

First: a shocking early-morning discovery near Addison Road Bridge. A woman found dead in the street — throat slashed, blood pooling on the pavement, and a cherrywood walking stick left behind. Her name? Unknown.

Then, just days later, a new terror crept in:
A veiled woman in black, described as gliding silently through Kensington’s polished streets, began attacking respectable women in broad daylight, striking their faces with a concealed blade — and walking calmly away.

Newspapers dubbed it “The Kensington Outrages.”
The public whispered it might be Jack the Ripper in disguise.

Was it all just coincidence?
Or was something darker — and more deliberate — hiding beneath Kensington’s genteel façade?

🕯️ In tonight’s Further Particulars segment:
We visit a haunted crossroads in Buckinghamshire… where a headless woman in black is said to appear before passing farmers — and float, quite rudely, through their hedges.

Hosted by Robin Coles

1156 - 1895: Cases of Real Life Sweeney Todds |  EP415
https://youtu.be/FTMWX_ttku0
1895: The Case of the Mansfield Tragedy Serial Killing |  EP421
https://youtu.be/zl94LyAilBY
1896: A Spitalfields Tragedy - The Ellen Collins Mystery |  EP427
https://youtu.be/DWcIfrCU92Q

❤️ Support Independent History  
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☕ Prefer a one-off thank-you? We LOVE a posh coffee indulgence! We tip our top hats:  
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

🕯 About the Channel  
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’ inquests to forgotten newspaper columns.  

If yo

 Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

 Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs. 

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

 Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes. 

https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

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If you would like to donate, we love coffee! Warmly appreciated :-) | https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

The Nolagh House of Horror: Ireland’s 1898 Family Massacre 
News of the Times | Episode 556 | 1898  
On a bitter January night in 1898, neighbours in rural County Cavan made a grim discovery: a silent farmhouse, a smashed-in door, and a scene of almost unspeakable horror.

Inside, the bodies of Mary Reilly, her daughter Mary King, and two small children lay motionless on the straw-strewn floor. Their skulls had been crushed with a heavy spade. One child had been smothered beneath its mother's corpse. The other—barely a toddler—may have survived two more days, dying slowly from cold, hunger, and fear.

Even the rats had arrived before the authorities.

This shocking case rocked Victorian Ireland: a locked-door family annihilation, bitter domestic violence, and a trial that revealed more questions than answers. Follow the journey from the chilling crime scene through legal wranglings in Cavan and Belfast, ending with a verdict so unexpected that even the Lord Chief Justice was left stunned.

💥 "Transcended in horror everything comprised in my experience of crime." — Lord Chief Justice O’Brien

🕯 FURTHER PARTICULARS SEGMENT:
We leave the blood-stained fields of Cavan for an icy January in London, where top-hatted gentlemen and bonneted ladies gather—white roses pinned to lapels—to mourn a beheaded king. Over 250 years after Charles I lost his crown (and his head), the Jacobite faithful still marched, toasted, and whispered of royal restoration.

A bizarre blend of political nostalgia, public theatre, and candlelit reverence—this is one of history’s strangest cult followings.

☕ So grab a warm cup of tea, draw the curtains, and let the tales unfold—from one of the darkest farmhouse murders in Ireland’s history… to a wintertime ceremony for a king few ever liked.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles  

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday  

❤️ Support Independent History  
If you enjoy our ad-free, archive-based storytelling, help us keep the lantern lit:  

👉 **Patreon** – Full archive, early access, bonus compilations (and it keeps us independent):  
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☕ Prefer a one-off thank-you? We LOVE a posh coffee indulgence! We tip our top hats:  
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

🕯 About the Channel  
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely o

 Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

 Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs. 

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

 Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes. 

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The Scissors Murder Mystery: Unsolved Brixton Crime Shocks Edwardian London
News of the Times | Episode 555| 1900 
In May 1900, the body of Mary Waknell was discovered in a quiet Brixton basement — savagely stabbed nearly forty times, many wounds inflicted with her own sewing scissors. No forced entry. No signs of struggle. And no one was ever convicted.

Was her killer a jealous husband? A man known only as “Jack”? Or one of many nighttime visitors society refused to acknowledge?

In this episode of News of the Times, we follow the cold, bloodstained trail of one of Edwardian London’s most brutal unsolved crimes. Using original newspaper reports and forensic details long buried in the archives, we uncover a tale of judgment, hypocrisy, and the quiet brutality faced by women who lived outside the lines of respectability.

If you're drawn to forgotten murders, historical injustice, and the atmospheric fog of Edwardian London — this case is not to be missed.

🔎 Featuring:
• A killer who vanished without a trace
• Clues hidden in postcards and pawn slips
• A society that blamed the victim
• And a room that tells a hauntingly silent story

☕ Pour a strong cup of tea and settle in — tonight’s tale is one for the darker corners of the parlour.

🥊 Further Particulars 
Three hooligans. One well-dressed man with fast hands.
Let’s just say their Fleet Street mugging didn’t go to plan — especially when the would-be victim turned out to be a champion boxer with no patience for nonsense. 
Teeth were lost. 
Dignity was not recovered.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles  

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🕯 About the Channel  
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’ inquests to forgotten newspaper columns.  

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