Angela Buckley

We cannot help being fascinated by true life crimes and how they are solved. This sensational tale has been thoroughly researched and told in an easily read style which gives us a realistic picture of late 19th century life.
Unmarried mothers at that time, not only suffered deep shame but would also lose their jobs and probably end up in the workhouse. The alternatives were to do away with their baby or to find a baby farm. Middle aged women like Amelia Dyer advertised for babies, whom, for a fee they would take care of. Frequently these babies would be sold on to another, although some women genuinely wanted a child as a companion and helpmate. To provide anonymity for the mother (and also the baby farmer) the baby was often handed over in a large railway station.
Amelia Dyer first took in babies while living in the Bristol area before eventually moving to Caversham near Reading. Despite being admitted more than once into a mental asylum she kept under the radar until a shocking discovery was made under the Clappers footbridge across the River Thames. The body of a child was found wrapped up in brown paper.
Angela Buckley’s book describes how events unfolded as the Reading police searched for the perpetrator. From newspaper accounts, letters and the trial details, the sad lives of many children and the events surrounding Amelia Dyer’s actions are revealed in a compelling story. We also become acquainted with Granny, a simple soul who helped look after the babies and Arthur Ernest Palmer, Amelia’s enigmatic son-in-law.
This is the first of Angela Buckley’s new historical true crime series, Victorian Supersleuth Investigates, promising more revealing stories in the future.… (més)

I have never visited Manchester, let alone 19th century Manchester but via Angela Buckley’s book I have been plunged into the noisy, boisterous life of crime, drink and gambling in that crowded city in 1867. It was in that year that Jerome Caminada first became a police constable. Grandson of an Italian immigrant, his life had been hard work and struggle after the death of his father at the age of 37. After 6 years in the Royal Lancs. Militia and a short time as a brass fitter, Caminada turned to the police force where he was to have a successful career and gain fame throughout the country.

This biography was written using Caminada’s own accounts, newspaper articles of the day and social commentary on the crime and poverty in Manchester in Victorian Britain. Each chapter has an inviting title such as, “A hot-bed of social iniquity and vice,” “Rascality, rapacity and Roguery,” and “Gin Palaces, Gambling Dens and a Cross-Dressing Ball.” Who could resist reading on?

Jerome Caminada’s first days of 14 hours on the beat, tested his stamina and toughness as he received punches just for being a police constable and among the poverty of the crowded rookeries he was often in danger of losing his life. But he also quickly proved his skill and intelligence by following up clues, shadowing suspects and using his knowledge of the criminal underworld to bring culprits to justice.

We join him at Aintree race course where dippers or pick-pockets have profitable days and illegal gambling games are set up. We learn about Scuttlers, frightening gangs of street fighters and we meet sophisticated swindlers and seducers. Caminada had his own Moriarty, a career criminal called Bob Horridge who hated Jerome and was a constant threat until he was finally given penal servitude for life.

If you want to read more about quack doctors, poisoning and Caminada’s secret government missions I can highly recommend this thrilling, eventful biography of a colourful figure who solved far more crimes than Sherlock ever encountered.
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The Real Sherlock Holmes – The Hidden Story of Jerome Caminada

The Real Sherlock Holmes – The Hidden Story of Jerome Caminada written by family historian Angela Buckley, takes us back to Victorian Manchester, and the man said to have been the inspiration behind Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. At the same time this book is an interpretation of Manchester’s urban history during the latter part of the nineteenth century.

Today much of Manchester looks similar too Victorian Manchester, which to those of us who study and write about the City’s history we would tell you looks can be deceiving. Deansgate at the start of Caminada’s career in the Manchester Police, was a lot narrower than it is today, was home to quite a few rookeries and was cheek by jowl to King Street and St Ann’s Square. Not only was it home to some notorious criminals it would be part of Caminada’s beat.

Born in Ancoats a mixture of slum housing and some middle classes along with warehouse and mills Caminada was a member of the large Italian community that resided there. From there he would rise and become one of Manchester’s most important police officers in the latter part of Queen Victoria’s reign. From Police Constable to the rank of Superintendent and served every area of the town and had the reputation of being a brilliant thief catcher.

Angela Buckley in her book charts his thirty-year career as a Manchester Police Officer and gives some interesting insights in to both the character of Jerome Caminada as well as some of his cases that he became famous for. She even brings Caminada’s very own Moriarty in a professional thief and very dangerous man who blamed him for being arrested and imprisoned for a few years.

This is a fascinating account for all those that like a mixture of social history, urban history and true crime stories, as we see Caminada’s attempt to clean up Manchester. This really is an interesting book well worth reading and then investigating Manchester’s Victorian Criminal history and you will discover a totally other world.… (més)