The Police Outrage: A Killing, a Coverup, and a Campaign for Justice in Victorian London

Tue 17 October 2023

Wolfson College

Overview:
One summer night in 1851, a London police officer beat a young man to death in Plumtree Court, a predominantly Irish neighbourhood in the heart of the city. The Court was a notorious slum, attracting the attention of missionaries, sanitary inspectors, poor law officials, architectural reformers, metropolitan railway enthusiasts, and many others besides the police. After the killing, it became the centre of an attempted coverup, a campaign for justice, a public inquiry, and finally a trial. This talk tells the story of a forgotten episode in the early history of British policing with clear connections to the present.

Speaker:
Dr Jonah Miller is a historian of policing in Britain and the British empire. He has BA from The Queen’s College (Oxford), a PhD from King’s College London, and is currently Research Fellow and Director of Studies at King’s College (Cambridge). Despite this he remains a staunch republican. His first book, Gender and Policing in Early Modern England, came out earlier this year. This talk is based on a new research project about police violence and radical politics in the nineteenth century.

Details:
This is a hybrid event, which will take place in-person in the Gatsby Room (Chancellor's Centre) and also on Zoom.
If you would like to attend online, please register for the Zoom link: https://wolfson-cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcsdOutrT4oGNbHcOqKbiUjsqr2JgEVnFDM#/registration
Refreshments will be available for the in-person audience.

The Wolfson Humanities Society organises regular talks spanning a wide range of topics. Every Tuesday during term time.

Access:
This event will take place in Gatsby Room on the first floor of the Chancellor's Centre. It has step-free access with a lift and there is an accessible toilet located each floor of the building.

Cost: Free