Dark Side of the Cut: A History of Crime on Britain’s Canals
‘Cut’ is a colloquial term for a canal, and The Dark Side of the Cut is a collection of accounts of real-life violent crimes on British waterways in the 19th century. Not that there was any lack of petty crime, since pilfering from cargoes was near universal.
Through these case studies we glimpse the harsh life of the ‘water gypsies’ (canal boat families) living largely outside the institutions of the wider society – no schools and no medical care – which persisted into the second half of the next century.
The longest case study in the book is that of Christina Collins, who was murdered and probably raped by two boatmen in 1839 en route from Manchester to London. It was news to me that the canals were regularly used for passenger traffic, usually by ‘fast’ fly boats which travelled non-stop day and night. The transit was slow but much cheaper than the stage coach. Although persistently harassed, poor Christina stayed with her boat rather than forfeit the fare, with tragic consequences. The offenders went to the gallows.
A trove of human drama from a less explored facet of the Industrial Revolution.
