A glimpse into research
Our fellows’ favourite sources
During their fellowship at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg, the researchers work on a project of their own choice related to the Kolleg’s topic. Sometimes a single source is at the centre of these projects, sometimes there are hundreds, and it is not always classical historical source material. That is why we have asked our fellows to present a source that is central to their research project, that is particularly meaningful or that simply reads like a thriller – their absolute favourite source, so to speak.
We publish these continuously on the weekends during Advent, allowing us to look back on the year once again.
Beate Althammer
Project: Crime, Law and Mercy: A History of Pardoning in Modern Europe
Source: The National Archives, HO 144/51/89206: The case of Charles Frost
The source I have chosen is a police report from London dated 22 June 1882, which cites the statement made by someone who had attempted to commit suicide. On its own, the text seems puzzling, but it is only the first page of a thick file that goes back to 1866 and that documents in great detail the strange life story of Charles Frost, this man who was tired of life. It is the story of a casual labourer and petty criminal who was repeatedly sentenced to prison and penal servitude. But he had not committed the two most serious crimes that he was convicted of: burglaries in 1866 and 1878. This in any case is what Frost himself, as well as a number of people from his family and social circle, claimed very persistently in dozens of petitions for pardon and interrogation protocols. Finally, the Home Office was also convinced that Frost was the victim of miscarriages of justice and granted him a free pardon in both cases, on the basis that his innocence had since been proven. The case file not only tells a fascinating life story from multiple perspectives; it also offers deep insights into the meaning and workings of the English system of pardoning – the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. But why, despite his pardons, Charles Frost still wanted to drown himself in 1882 – this I will explain elsewhere.
PD Dr. Beate Althammer is a historian whose research interests include the history of labour and social policy, migration and crime in the 19th and 20th centuries. She is a fellow of the Käte Hamburger Kolleg from January to May 2025.
Zitieren als:
Althammer, Beate, The case of the suicidal petty criminal. A glimpse into research, EViR Blog, 28.11.2025, https://www.evir.uni-muenster.blog/en/the-case-of-the-suicidal-petty-criminal/.
Lizenz:
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