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The Apprentice of Split Crow Lane
- The Story of the Carr's Hill Murder
- Narrated by: Jim Barclay, Anna Bentinck
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, True Crime
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Early in the morning of Monday, 8 July 1895, 13-year-old Robert Coombes and his 12-year-old brother, Nattie, set out from their small, yellow-brick terraced house in East London to watch a cricket match at Lord's. Their father had gone to sea the previous Friday, the boys told their neighbours, and their mother was visiting her family in Liverpool. Over the next 10 days, Robert and Nattie spent extravagantly, pawning their parents' valuables to fund trips to the theatre and the seaside.
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Early in the morning of 6 May 1840, on an ultra-respectable Mayfair street, a footman answered the door to a panic-stricken maid from a nearby house. Her elderly master, Lord William Russell, was lying in bed with his throat cut so deeply that the head was almost severed. The whole of London, from monarch to street urchins, was gripped by the gory details of the Russell murder, but behind it was another story, a work of fiction, and a fierce debate about censorship and morality.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 19
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 14
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Story4 out of 5 stars 14
On 17 August 1860, wealthy widow Mary Emsley was found dead at home, killed by a blow to the head. What followed was a murder case that gripped the nation.There was an abundance of suspects, from disgruntled stepchildren and a spurned admirer to a trusted employee, former police officer and spy. A sensational trial culminated with a public execution, but years later the case caught Arthur Conan Doyle’s attention. Convinced that an innocent man had been convicted and executed, he could never find the real murderer, but now, best-selling author Sinclair McKay has solved the case.
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- By: Thomas Morris
- Narrated by: Rupert Farley, Thomas Morris
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 141
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 127
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 127
Blending fascinating history with lacerating wit, The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth will take you on a tour of some of the funniest, strangest and most wince-inducing corners of medical history. This fascinating collection of historical curiosities explores some of the strangest cases that have perplexed doctors across the world.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 102
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- By Rachel Redford on 23-02-17
Summary
A Victorian murder. A Victorian madman. A modern judgment.
Gateshead, April 1866. The Apprentice of Split Crow Lane takes the forgotten case of a child murder in 1866 as a springboard to delve deeply into the pysche of the Victorians. What Jane Housham finds in this exploration of guilt, sexual deviance and madness is a diagnosis that is still ripe for the challenging and a sentence that provokes even our liberal modern judgment.
Set around Gateshead, it is a revelatory social history of the North - an area growing in industry and swelling with immigration, where factory workers are tinged blue and yellow by chemicals, the first tabloids are printed, children are left alone by working parents and haystack fires sweep the county in rebellion against the introduction of the police force.
Into this landscape a five-year-old Irish girl named Sarah Melvin sets out over the fell to look for her father, and a troubled young man makes a frightening leap of logic to save his own skin. Told here for the first time, this is an extraordinary story of sexual deviance and murder. In lively, empathic prose, Jane Housham explores psychiatry, the justice system and the media in mid-Victorian England to reveal a surprisingly modern state of affairs.
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What listeners say about The Apprentice of Split Crow Lane
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- RubyShoes
- 14-04-17
Awful in my opinion
An excellent example of how to handle historical cases using available documents and surviving reports from the time to create a narrative is His Bloody Project - Graeme Macrae Burnet
An awful example is The Apprentice of Split Crow Lane.
It's just a jumble of words the case, the social history, press reports and everything but the kitchen sink thrown together. So disorganised it drove me nuts.. and the tone of the narration is that of a poor quality teacher sending a class to sleep.
Sadly after 5 hours I could bear no more I had to return it for the refund - something I hate doing even mediocre books I try and struggle through hoping they'll improve but not this one!
1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- SarahF
- 09-03-18
Fascinating content, grim subject matter
Would you listen to The Apprentice of Split Crow Lane again? Why?
No, but only because I don't think I'd learn anything new
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Apprentice of Split Crow Lane?
Cuthbert's confession was truly harrowing to hear.
Any additional comments?
Please be prepared for some nasty details about the murder and motive. I have an interest in true crime, but I felt quite disturbed by this. I'm glad I listened to it though, as I feel I learned a lot.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- SJC
- 13-11-17
Excellent, if harrowing at times
A harrowing listen at times with much detail which is clearly not for the faint-hearted or squeamish amongst us, it is obvious that this book has been researched extensively. Interesting that it goes way beyond the murder and the reasons behind it but examines the early times of psychology. Truly fascinating.
The performance was excellent and I'd like to listen to more narrated by Jim Barclay.
A great listen for anyone interested in criminal history, like myself. A relatively strong stomach for gruesome detail is also helpful.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- White Socks!
- 20-04-17
Interesting, but a little verbose.
A great historical story that often goes off on a tangent.
The narrator's different accents kept it vivid and real.
Overall, an interesting incite into Victorian life.