Mr Briggs' Hat: The True Story of a Victorian Railway Murder (41 page)

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Acknowledgements

Without access to and the help of staff at the British Library in St Pancras, the British Library Newspaper Reading Room in Colindale and the National Archives in Kew, this book could not have been written. Additionally, I have been generously helped by, and would like to thank: Professor Michael Lobban at the School of Law, Queen Mary, University of London; Richard Ireland, Senior Lecturer, Department of Law and Criminology, University of Aberystwyth; Professor Martin Wiener, Chair of History, Rice University, Houston, USA; Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell and Detective Inspector Nick Sumner of the Metropolitan Police at New Scotland Yard; Alan McCormick, Curator of the Police (‘Black’) Museum at New Scotland Yard; Paul Dew, Metropolitan Police Historic Store; Julianne Young, Property Services Department at the Metropolitan Police; Sally England at Hackney Archives; Bridget Howlett, Senior Archivist and Doug Bertram, Image and Design at the London Metropolitan Archives; Glyn Hughes at the Meteorological Archives in Exeter; Julia Collins at Madame Tussaud’s Archive; Margaret Donnelly, owner of the Top o’ the Morning Pub (formerly the Mitford Castle); Sue Hill and John Beasley of the Peckham Society; Beth Spinelli at the New York City Police Museum; Alan Moss at historybytheyard.co.uk; The London Theatre Museum enquiries service; the Guildhall Library; Judith Flanders; Peter Thorpe at the National Railway Museum, York; Caroline Warhurst at the London Transport Museum; Stephen Grosz for sharing his insights into the criminal mind.

Hackney-born Colin Mansel, erstwhile chairman of the North London Railway Society, was my guide as we retraced Thomas Briggs’ railway journeys and explored Hackney and Old Ford. He has helped to make these places come alive while sharing his own research, unpicking genealogical conundrums and checking facts. I could not be more grateful for his immeasurable generosity.

Thank you to my friends: Peter Straus who suggested I look at the story; Andrea Wulf for helping with German; Joel Rose for his advice on aspects of New York history; Paul Sidey for reading the manuscript in its earliest stages, and David Miller, Lawrence Norfolk, Kate Summerscale and Frank Wynne for so incisively commenting on the first completed draft.

My inestimable agent, Caroline Dawnay at United Agents, my publisher David Shelley and his team at Little, Brown – including the perspicacious Zoe Gullen – and Aaron Schlechter, at The Overlook Press in New York, have all been endlessly clever as well as companionable supports.

Finally, as always, to two fantastic boys and one admirable man – Freddie, Bill and David – my thanks and love.

Notes

PROLOGUE: AN EMPTY RAILWAY CARRIAGE

1
suburb of Chalk Farm:
Now Primrose Hill Station (renamed September 1950).

1
speeds of 25 mph:
Liverpool Mercury
, 12 July 1864, p. 7 col. e.

1
exact time they pulled out of each station:
For stations on the line and the times between them, see also Bradshaw’s timetables for 1864.

2
The first thing he saw:
The description of the carriage is taken from Ames’ first and second Bow Street warrants (copies in extradition proceedings), from the court transcript of the Central Criminal Court and from
The Times
, 12 July 1864, p. 11 col. c.

CHAPTER 1: ALL HUMAN LIFE IS HERE

9
a madman’s toy:
Pendleton,
Our Railways
, p. 7.

9
broadened the horizons:
As H. G. Wells later remarked, the steam engine on its tracks was the most iconic symbol of Victoria’s reign.