Aram, Eugene (bap. 1704, d. 1759), murderer and philologist, was born at Ramsgill and baptized on 2 October 1704 at Middlesmoor, West Riding of Yorkshire. Little is known of his mother, but his father, Peter Aram (bap. 1667, d. 1735), employed as gardener to ...
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Margaret D. Sankey
Balfour, Robert, fifth Lord Balfour of Burleigh (d. 1757), murderer and Jacobite sympathizer, was the son of Robert Balfour, fourth Lord Balfour of Burleigh (d. 1713), and Lady Margaret Melville, daughter of the first earl of Melville. Robert's attraction to a young woman of lesser social rank prompted his parents to send him on the grand tour in the hopes of breaking their attachment. Before leaving, however, ...
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Bayeux, Osbert de (fl. 1120–1184), ecclesiastic and suspected murderer, was a nephew of Archbishop Thurstan of York (d. 1140). An archdeacon named Osbert occurs in the 1120s; if this was Osbert de Bayeux then he must have been promoted as archdeacon, presumably by his uncle, at an early age. As ...
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Beane, Sawney (fl. 15th–16th cent.), legendary murderer and cannibal, is first mentioned in print in broadsheets about 1700. Various versions of his life appeared: in some he is said to have been active during the reign of James I of Scotland (1424–36), while other accounts date his crimes to the reign of ...
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Beddingfield [née Rowe, Row], Margery (bap. 1742, d. 1763), murderer, was the daughter of John Rowe or Row (c.1702–1778), a substantial Suffolk farmer, and his wife, Margery (c.1710–1756). The couple had two sons while living at Kelsale and moved to ...
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Richard Davenport-Hines
Bingham, (Richard) John, seventh earl of Lucan (b. 1934, d. in or after 1974), suspected murderer, was born on 18 December 1934 at 19 Bentinck Street, Marylebone, elder son of (George Charles) Patrick Bingham, sixth earl of Lucan (1898–1964), and of Kaitilin Elizabeth Anne Dawson (1900–1985)...
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(Richard) John Bingham, seventh earl of Lucan (b. 1934, d. in or after 1974) by Bassano © reserved; photograph Camera Press, London / National Portrait Gallery, London
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Mary Blandy (1718/19–1752), by Thomas Ryley, after F. Wilson, c. 1740s–50s
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Andrea McKenzie
Blandy, Mary (1718/19–1752), murderer, was born in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, the only child of Francis Blandy (c.1689–1751) and Mary Stevens (c.1700–1749), parents so 'excessively fond' of her that they could 'scarce bear her out of their sight...
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See Königsmark [Coningsmark], Karl Johann, Count Königsmark in the Swedish nobility
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See under
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Andrea McKenzie
Branch [née Parry], Elizabeth (1672x87–1740), murderer, was born either in Bristol or at Norton St Philip, Somerset, the youngest daughter of a ship's surgeon. Her father, who later 'acquir'd a handsome Fortune' as a shipmaster, gave Elizabeth £2000 upon her marriage to ...
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Greg T. Smith
Broadingham, Elizabeth (d. 1776), murderer, lived in Flamborough, near York, with her husband, John Broadingham, a convicted smuggler. No information about her exists before her trial. During her husband's confinement in York Castle, Elizabeth took up residence with one Thomas Aikney. The two continued the adulterous relationship and moved to ...
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Philip Carter
Brownrigg, Elizabeth (c. 1720–1767), murderer, of whose parentage and early life nothing is known, is first heard of in the late 1740s working as a servant for a family residing in Prescot Street, Goodman's Fields, London. According to the Gentleman's Magazine she was then about twenty-seven years old, at which age she married ...
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William Burke (1792–1829) by Benjamin William Crombie, pubd 1829 [on the day before his execution] Scottish National Portrait Gallery
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J. Gilliland
Burke, William (1792–1829), murderer, and his accomplice, William Hare [see below], were Irish immigrants whose activities in Edinburgh made theirs perhaps the best-known pair of names in Scottish history. William Burke was probably born in the parish of Urney, near Strabane, co. Tyrone...
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Greg T. Smith
Butchill, Elizabeth (c. 1758–1780), child murderer, was raised in Saffron Walden, Essex. Nothing is known of her parents. Roughly three years before her offence Butchill, 'a decent plain young woman' (Laurie, 958), moved to Cambridge to live with her aunt ...
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Butters, Mary [called the Carnmoney Witch] (fl. 1807–1839), accused murderer, achieved fame and notoriety on an August night in 1807 when she attempted to work a charm to return the butter to the milk of a cow belonging to a tailor by the name of ...
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J. Andreas Löwe
Calverley, Walter (d. 1605), murderer, was the eldest son and heir of William Calverley (d. 1572), writer, and his wife, Katharine, daughter of John Thorneholme of Haysthorpe, Yorkshire. His family were recusant landowners of Calverley, West Riding of Yorkshire, where he was probably born. While still a child, he lost his father. Under the terms of ...
