The Country Maid Companion Blog Part Six - Crime in Victorian Norwich

“You should take a care, dear maid. There are fortune hunters, garroters, cutpurses, all ready to take advantage of someone new to Norwich.”

When we last accompanied Grace to Norwich, her sightseeing tour had just been rudely interrupted by a gang of thieves.

Living in a city during the 1850s was far more dangerous compared to life in the countryside, but what sort of criminals haunted Victorian streets?

Of course, there were your common pickpockets (known as cutpurses and dippers), burglars (a buster), shoplifters (palmers) and confidence men (magsmen). Alongside these were body snatchers who would dig up corpses and sell the parts to medical students and dragsmen who, upon spying some unattended luggage on a carriage, would slice the straps and be away before anyone noticed.

More criminal slang can be found here at: Victorian London - Words and Expressions - Criminal Slang

Garroters were a particularly nasty type of criminal. Not only did they rob you, but it was a 50/50 chance whether you survived the ordeal. A garroter would creep up behind their victim and strangle them with a thin piece of cord, sometimes falling back on squeezing the person’s windpipe tightly with their arm if they didn’t have any wire to hand. Police uniforms during this time had a high collar to prevent strangulation.

During 1856 and 1862-63 in London, there was even a mass panic about a rise in garrotting cases in London, although statistics now show crime rates at the time were no different to other years and public fear had been whipped up by the press. People were so afraid that special accessories started to be advertised in papers. The most popular was a leather collar to protect the throat.

Robert Peel’s police force began life in London in 1829, but it was several years later when Norfolk formed their own. Instead, the community had to band together and pay for their own independent nightwatchmen or take matters into their own hands.

It was 1836 when Norwich, Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn finally formed their own police forces. It became compulsory for the rest of the country in 1856. However, these newly organised groups were mistrusted because of the government’s involvement in their creation.

I actually have in my work in progress folder a serial idea inspired by Norwich’s early years of policing and firefighting, although it’s a few bits and pieces of scenes and one character plan written out, so it probably won’t see the light of day anytime soon!

Where Grace, Robert and Finn encounter the gang is somewhere in Norwich that carried the stigma of deprivation and criminality. No-one would be surprised at them finding trouble at the Norwich Yards.

During the city’s early years, its folk preferred staying within its medieval walls. When the population boomed, rather than build outside they instead threw up poorly made housing behind larger, affluent buildings and pubs and so created miniature courtyards where multiple families were squashed together, sharing a single outhouse and water pump, which led to poor sanitation and squalor. Many of the Yards were called after the pubs they lived next to, such as the Adam & Eve Yard, Golden Lion Yard and Arabian Horse Yard.

The people living inside these Yards were proud. Many mothers and wives spent their waking hours keeping the inside of their homes clean even while the muck piled up outside.

Throughout the years, several attempts were made to clear Norwich’s Yards, though most failed because there was no other alternative. Only in the 1930s, when affordable housing began to appear, could these old courts be torn down or refurbished.

Around the city, blue plaques can be found where previous yards stood, and those who grew up in the Yards shared their memories of living there: Norwich Yards Memories from Pre War Days

Once Grace returns to Marchant manor, I didn’t originally plan on having her confront Lady Marchant about the coin trick from Part 4. Our Country Maid wasn’t meant to speak at all, instead meekly nodding along. It was one of those moments where a character has something to say, but will she end up regretting her attitude?

Next time, Grace tries to keep out of Lady Marchant’s way after receiving her first warning, only to come across the ghost of the manor – Rebecca Marchant.

There might also be another encounter with the gang and their leader in a later part 😉

Part 6: Robert rushes over to defend Jane and Freddie pays the gang to disperse. Upon hearing about Jane’s sister, Freddie remarks she should be careful, it’s not uncommon for women to be led astray by a lover and then find themselves abandoned in the city. Subdued, they return home and Jane is summoned by a furious Ruth. Jane begs for another chance, which she gets, but she’ll be returned to the countryside should another scandal occur.