Category: Bow Street Society’s London
-
BOW STREET SOCIETY’S LONDON: RAILWAYS, May 2026
London in the nineteenth century, as now, had a variety of travel options. In this final part of my mini blog series focusing on travel in the metropolis, we’re going to be taking a look at the railway network. In 1896 / 1897 (the setting for my books), both the underground and overground railways were…
-
BOW STREET SOCIETY’S LONDON: TRAMS, April 2026
We’re stepping back in time and returning to the nineteenth century once again to explore how Londoners travelled from A to B when private carriages and good old-fashioned walking weren’t an option. This month, we’re putting the magnifying glass on trams. Originally powered by steam, these vehicles later made the transition to literal horsepower in…
-
BOW STREET SOCIETY’S LONDON: CABS, March 2026
Welcome back to the blog! This month, we continue our exploration into late-nineteenth century transport by examining Cabs, specifically the fares and regulations around their hire. This is a topic close to the heart of the Bow Street Society’s driver Mr Samuel Snyder, who has been a veteran of the two-wheeler cab for decades. The…
-
BOW STREET SOCIETY’S LONDON: OMNIBUSES, February 2026
Bow Street Society fans know that if you want to find your way around its London, the person you need to speak to is the Society’s driver and veteran cabman Mr Samuel Snyder. What did real-life travellers in late-1890s London rely upon to get around, though? In this month’s blog, I take a look at…
-
COFFEE WITH AN ARCHIVIST: David Luck, Bethlem: Museum of the Mind, January 2025
I’m thrilled to bring you a new Coffee with a Curator feature for 2025. Previous instalments have featured chats with curators, archivists, historians, and heritage managers from a variety of organisations including police museums, housing associations, and virtual museums. This time, I’m delighted to welcome David Luck, archivist at Bethlem: Museum of the Mind to chat about the…
-
BOW STREET SOCIETY LOCATIONS YOU CAN ACTUALLY VISIT, June 2024
As readers of the Bow Street Society books will know, I enjoy featuring real-life locations within the fictional stories. Also, that as far as possible, I source floor plans of these locations to ensure the descriptions are as accurate as possible. Although the series is far from over, lots of real-life locations have already been…
-
LONDON’S BURNING, November 2024
A Brief History of Fire Fighting in the Metropolis For many in England, November 5th is a night of bonfires and fireworks to mark Guy Fawkes Night and the historical gunpowder plot to destroy parliament. As the rhyme goes: remember, remember, the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason…
-
POLICE STRIKE AT BOW STREET, July 2022
With the cost-of-living crisis and rising inflation affecting us all, it’s fair to say that the standard of living isn’t great at the moment. The recent strikes by employees of the national railways and London Underground have highlighted some of the struggles of modern times. With talk of more strikes by the railway unions, and…
-
DIAMOND JUBILEE for the Bow Street Society, June 2022
June 2022 marks the 70th year of the reign of Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II, officially making her the longest reigning British monarch in history. Prior to this, the accolade belonged to Her Majesty’s great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria who reigned for almost 64 years from 1837 – 1901. Therefore, the members of the Bow Street…
-
COFFEE WITH AN HISTORIAN: Christine Wagg, The Peabody Trust, February 2022
In January, subscribers to the Gaslight Gazette were treated to the first read-through of part one of the brand-new Bow Street Society Casebook short story, The Case of the Scream in the Smog. They would’ve also read a very special thanks I gave to the Peabody Trust and its historian, Christine Wagg, prior to the story’s…