The Malthouse Murder | Wolverton’s Burning Secret (1867)
News of the Times | Episode 564 |1867
Welcome to News of the Times — where true crime meets smoke, suspicion, and a suspiciously well-stacked pile of coal.

In the early dawn of 1867, the villagers of Wolverton awoke to smoke curling from the local malthouse — but the scent wasn’t malted barley.

Beneath the flames, they uncovered a charred horror: the half-burned body of Martha Britten, her wedding ring glinting defiantly through the soot. Her husband, George, stood nearby, insisting it wasn’t her. Even as the evidence said otherwise.

This is a tale of domestic darkness, blunt instruments, and a man who blamed the Devil — quite literally — for everything. From jealous rage to clumsy cover-up, The Malthouse Murder unfolds like a Victorian penny dreadful with a particularly grim punchline.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday

📚 Related cases from the archive:
1867: Bridget Durgan: The Maid, The Murder, and the Smile That Haunted 1867 | EP515
https://youtu.be/-Y557qWfRzQ
1868: The Body in the Cupboard: A Mystery That Baffled Victorian London | EP528
https://youtu.be/9SGIxyna1q8
1866: The Murder That Stunned Victorian London — The Shocking Case of Mrs. Millson (1866) | EP537
https://youtu.be/jYBX_tfxyoc
1869: Arsenic, Bonnets and Betrayal: The 1869 Dudley Poisoning of Joseph Oliver | EP559
https://youtu.be/Igt7pytWWxU

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If you enjoy our ad-free, archive-based storytelling, help us keep the lantern lit:

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🕯 About the Channel
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’ inquests to forgotten newspaper columns.

If you like your true crime thoughtful, atmospheric, and rooted in real records — welcome to the vault.

🎩 — RC & Tea

Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs.

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes.

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If you would like to donate, we love coffee! Warmly appreciated :-) | https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

Sarah Chesham: The Essex Poisoner Who Changed British Law (1847–1851)
News of the Times | Episode 563 | 1851
In the sleepy village of Clavering, Essex, two young boys died days apart — sudden, wrenching illness, no clear explanation. Locals whispered… but the law shrugged.

Then a neighbour’s infant died.
Then her husband.
All had one visitor in common.

Her name was Sarah Chesham — but to the press, she became Sally Arsenic, a domestic poisoner whose quiet kitchen rewrote the rules of Victorian justice.

Accused of killing her children, her husband, and another child in a neighbouring village, she stood trial not once, not twice, but three times — and walked free each time. Until, finally, in a fourth trial, the evidence refused to be ignored.

☠️ This episode reveals the chilling true story behind the woman who horrified a nation.

🕵️‍♂️ Based on original newspaper archives and courtroom testimony, we examine:
Arsenic and the Victorian household
The tragic pattern of “illness” in Clavering
Sarah’s notorious trials and final downfall
The real-life consequences that changed English legal proceedings

📚 A tale of whispers, funeral pies, and arsenic-laced rice pudding — this is one case you may not want to watch over dinner.

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday

📚 Related cases from the archive:
1851: The Disturbing Case of Mary Emily Cage | EP390
https://youtu.be/jvM8alfWztY
1851 & 1875: Cases of Double Black Widows | EP464
https://youtu.be/k9YYxpoQ9Go
1856: The Murder of George Samuel Little Mystery | EP469
https://youtu.be/UeoyQsJtEbU

❤️ Support Independent History
If you enjoy our ad-free, archive-based storytelling, help us keep the lantern lit:

👉 **Patreon** – Full archive, early access, bonus compilations (and it keeps us independent):
https://www.patreon.com/NewsOfTheTimesHistoricalCrime

☕ Prefer a one-off thank-you? We LOVE a posh coffee indulgence! We tip our top hats:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

🕯 About the Channel
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and narrators specialising in 18th to early 20th century British true crime. Each episode is based entirely on archival material — from coroners’ inquests to forgotten ne

Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs.

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes.

https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Support the show

Thanks for listening! You can also connect with us on
Our YouTube Channel: | https://www.youtube.com/@newsofthetimes
Our Facebook Page: | https://www.facebook.com/News-of-the-Times-101108282697405
Have a question or comment? Get in touch with us at newsofthetimespodcast@gmail.com
If you would like to donate, we love coffee! Warmly appreciated :-) | https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

Bayonet Madness in Batley: A Victorian Double Murder
News of the Times | Episode 1865 | 562

When heartbreak met a bayonet in Batley, the result was a tragedy that shook all of Yorkshire.

In August 1865, 19-year-old Eli Sykes seemed the very picture of respectability — steady, polite, a proud member of Queen Victoria’s volunteer corps. But when the young woman he loved, Hannah Brook, told him no, something inside him splintered.
By nightfall, Hannah and her mother lay dying in their own doorway — stabbed fifteen times with the very bayonet he’d drilled with that afternoon.

From jealousy and delusion to public horror and a courtroom gasping at his calm confession, this is one of the darkest and most chilling crimes of Victorian England.

🕯️ In this episode:
A love story turned lethal
A rifleman’s descent into obsession
A community’s grief, and a courtroom transfixed
And a death so brutal, even hardened reporters faltered

☕ Further Particulars
Elsewhere in 1865, a man faced a far graver Victorian crime — wearing his hat too stubbornly.
What began as jury duty soon spiralled into a courtroom showdown between a Quaker, an exasperated judge, and a hat that simply refused to leave the head it adorned.
A spiritual protest?
A fashion crisis?
Or just the world’s most dedicated haberdasher?

We present it now, as proof that even in the sternest of times, absurdity had impeccable manners. 🎩⚖️

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles

📅 New episodes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday

📚 Related cases from the archive:
1865-1920: Madness, Mayhem and Murder on the Railways | Ep106
https://youtu.be/TgAqhsp3xdY
1865: Dr Edward Pritchard | Ep131
https://youtu.be/w0XXXGnE-6g
1865: The Holborn Horror & Ramsgate Reckoning | EP400
https://youtu.be/0IItRV-ZX-A

❤️ Support Independent History
If you enjoy our ad-free, archive-based storytelling, help us keep the lantern lit:

👉 **Patreon** – Full archive, early access, bonus compilations (and it keeps us independent):
https://www.patreon.com/NewsOfTheTimesHistoricalCrime

☕ Prefer a one-off thank-you? We LOVE a posh coffee indulgence! We tip our top hats:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd

🕯 About the Channel
We’re an independent team of historical researchers and

Hear about our ad-free archive on Patreon – 650+ episodes and counting! 🎩 https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Fancy a chuckle between corpses? Discover our first lovingly illustrated volume of wildly unreliable memoirs.

Grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/b406f6f11e

Support us on Patreon for ad-free early access and exclusive bonus episodes.

https://www.patreon.com/c/NewsoftheTimesHistoricalCrime

Support the show

Thanks for listening! You can also connect with us on
Our YouTube Channel: | https://www.youtube.com/@newsofthetimes
Our Facebook Page: | https://www.facebook.com/News-of-the-Times-101108282697405
Have a question or comment? Get in touch with us at newsofthetimespodcast@gmail.com
If you would like to donate, we love coffee! Warmly appreciated :-) | https://www.buymeacoffee.com/newsofthetd