Preston Murders and Misdemeanours

A Preston Chronicle newspaper headline in 1866 of ‘Thievery, Knavery & Harlotry in Preston’ described a town struggling with crime and its consequences. Justice had been swift from the days of horse thieves and highwaymen, when the gloom of the gallows or transportation brought fear to the less fortunate who lived among poverty and pestilence. Some would earn notoriety for their dreadful deeds, wh...