About this episode
In 1838 a violent murder took place in the Lambeth area of London that set a trend for the stories of the Victorian penny papers for decades to come. Inspiring Charles Dickens, who paid close interest to the case, supplying him with the details he would later adapt to in several of his murder scenes, it was a grim affair that made headlines for months whilst the murderer was blindly chased across London. But was it really an isolated crime or part of something much bigger? Murder, confession and conspiracy all manage to play a role in what would become known as The Grimwood Murder. SOURCES Somerville, Alexander (1841) Eliza Grimwood: A Domestic Legend of the Waterloo Road. B. D. Cousins, London, UK Bondeson, Jan (2017) The Ripper of Waterloo Road. The History Press, Gloucestershire, UK. Bracebridge, Hemyng (1851) Prostitution in London. Griffin, Bohn & Co. London, UK. Mayhew, Henry. Et al. (2005) The London Underworld In The Victorian Period. Dover Publications, USA. Ion, J.L. (1838) Post Mortem Appearances of Eliza Grimwood. The Lancet, Volume 30, Issue 772, P399-400, June 16, 1838. UK. Kelly, Debra & Cornick, Martyn (2013) A history of the French in london. University of London School of Advanced Study Institute of Historical Research. London, UK. The Morning Chronicle (1838) Murder and Suicide. The Morning Chronicle, Mon 28 May 1838, p.3. London, UK. Aberdeen Press & Journal (1840) Murder fo Lord William Russel. Aberdeen Press & Journal, Wednesday 13 May 1840, p.4. Aberdeen, UK. The Globe (1840) Re-Examination of The Valet Corvoisier at Bow Street. The Globe, 14 May 1840, p.3, London, UK. London Evening Standard (1840) Murder of Lord William Russel. London Evening Standard, 11 May 1840, p.3. London, UK. Edinburgh Witness (1840) Confession of Courvoisier. Edinburgh Witness, 1 July 1840, p.2. Edinburgh, UK. ---------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices