From the 'Death of a Female Unknown' to the Life of Margaret Dockerty: Rediscovering a Nineteenth Century Victim of Crime

Authors

Clare Sandford-Couch, Northumbria University
Helen Rutherford, Northumbria University

Document Type

Article

Abstract

On 1 January 1863, a woman was brutally raped and beaten to death in Newcastle upon Tyne. Her murderer was to be tried, convicted, and finally executed for murder. However, he is not the subject of this piece. Historically, the study of the criminal law has focused too heavily on the perpetrators of crimes. This article attempts to establish the victim, Margaret Dockerty, as an individual and to offer some social, cultural, economic and historical context for, and background to, her life.

Publication Date

2018-01-01

Publication Title

SOLON Law, Crime and History

Volume

8

Issue

1

First Page

21

Last Page

37

ISSN

2045-9238

Deposit Date

June 2016

Embargo Period

2024-10-29

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Sandford-Couch, Clare and Rutherford, Helen (2018) "From the 'Death of a Female Unknown' to the Life of Margaret Dockerty: Rediscovering a Nineteenth Century Victim of Crime," SOLON Law, Crime and History (previously SOLON Crimes and Misdemeanours: Deviance and the Law in Historical Perspective): Vol. 8: Iss. 1, Article 2.
Available at: https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/solon/vol8/iss1/2