The Victorians have been immortalized in popular culture as stuffy and repressed, but nothing could be further from the truth. Though they espoused a code of civility and decorum, they craved scandal and gobbled up news stories about the latest crimes.
From Queen Victoria's alleged romances with Lord Melbourne and her servant John Brown to ghoulish reports of body snatching, lady poisoners, or Jack the Ripper's murder spree, there was never a lack of scandal or crime to read or talk about over tea. Aside from being newsworthy, terrifying, and titillating, these scandals and crimes shed light on the wider culture, with its rigid class system and restricted gender roles.
Historian Julie Taddeo spotlights some of the period’s most intriguing crimes and scandals, using them as a lens to explore the Victorian era and how its history is presented in today’s pop culture.
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