My books remain open for family history work, heritage and media consultancy, talks and anything else pertaining to the nineteenth century, the coroner’s court and dying horribly!
You can catch me speaking about my work at a variety of online and in-person events: check the events page for more details.
t took five years and five months to get to this point. And of course, the thirty-five years before that.
On the way there, I put my hype playlist on. Loud bangers. Chuck a drumkit down the stairs to get you in the mood. System of a Down. Rammstein. Nine Inch Nails.
Remember where you came from, remember what you are.
I came from a working-class family. As a child, there was never enough money, never the right clothes, never the right shoes. Autistic but I didn’t know it, compounding the not-fitting-in. I couldn’t go to uni, we couldn’t afford it, wasn’t even an option. I could only afford it at 26 because the OU funded poor people. They don’t do that anymore. I was the second person in my family to go to uni (my sister went first), and I’m the only one with a masters, let alone a doctorate.
I started my BSc in February 2012. K101 – An Introduction to Health and Social Care. Two tiny kids, living alone, unemployed for the first time since I was 18. Terrified. Determined.
Furious that their mother has decided to do a degree
Those tiny kids are now almost 17 and nearly 15. Their little brother is 10.
Fastfoward a little to June 2016, and a first class degree in…science but by then I was a family historian in the making, and my favourite module was history of medicine. I signed up for an MA. My mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer four days later. She died one month in. I carried on for her. And I didn’t want to stop, so I didn’t.
I did all this for her, for my mum Joey, who died far too young. It’s not just that she got me into the history of crime with an absolute library of true crime, she got me into the history of people like me. Without ever realising it, she showed me the value of history from below.
She taught me whose stories are worth telling.
I was demented with anxiety in the week before my viva, cursed with a migraine, unable to see the wood for the trees, convinced my whole thesis was crap. But I woke up on Friday morning calm and ready, a steady stream of reassurance and hype coming in on my phone to speed me along. My supervisors were already there, amazing as ever.
Going into the exam panel, even though I have known both my examiners for years, felt like going on trial.
As it should.
But I passed. I can’t call myself a doctor until the university officially confers the degree, which involves a little bit of tidying on my end and a lot of admin on theirs. Then my thesis will be open access and you can all read it. You know. If you want.
But I passed. I have completed education. Loads of GCSEs, no A levels, but a BSc, MA and PhD.
There are a lot of people to thank.
My supervisors, Professor Paul Lawrence and Dr Donna Loftus. My examiners, Dr Daniel Grey and Professor Rosalind Crone. Legends all.
Lots of OU staff, PARTICULARLY Marie-Claire who sorted out all my funding and admin. But also Dr Luc-Andre Brunet, Dr Erica Borgstrom, Dr Caroline Derry, Dr Denise McHugh, Dr Stuart Mitchell and Dr Angela Sutton-Vane.
Among the myriad delightful academics I have met along the way, Professor Julia Laite, Dr Chris Williams and Dr Mike Esbester have all been incredibly kind and generous, giving me opportunities to share my work and helping out/giving me free books (THANKS CHRIS!!).
Words are not enough to thank the staff, past and present, at Peterborough City Archive, for their boundless support over the last few years. Gail, Elisabeth, Amanda and James, thank you very much.
A PhD would be lonely without friends.
I began this PhD in October 2020, in the midst of pandemic and lockdowns. For most researchers, this meant isolation. For me, as a part-time PGR and full-time carer, it opened up a research community through emails, social media, video calls and zoom meetups. Many of these virtual meetings have blossomed into real friendship. You’re all in my actual thesis acknowledgements (so lol, you have to read it now)but I want to give a MASSIVE SHOUT OUT to Katie, Meesh, Michelle, Nicola, Carly, Jack and the BGS crew, The Footnotes and to Alexa, Steph, Ella and Helen.
A PhD would be impossible without family
Dad and Lou, Jenny and Mich, Judy and John, Dan, Benj, El, Jess, Sooz, Tony and Quinn, not forgetting the in-laws and the niblings. I love you all. Thank you for a million different things like esoteric knowledge about railway engines, babysitting, Excel help, cheerleading, distracting me with drama, proof-reading… and telling me to get on with it.
My boys, my babies who are all nearly men, thank you for making it as hard as humanly possible to get any work done. Way to push your mother, lads.
You make me burst with pride every single day.
But thank you, most of all, to the second most knowledgeable person in the world on Peterborough’s inquests, my beloved husband Tom. I literally couldn’t have done it without you, mi amor.
It’s Christmas and I have a full thesis draft. That’s right, after five years and nearly four months, it’s finished. I will be handing it in on New Year’s Eve.
Next year, I’ll be doing my viva, doing a lot of talks to get the word out about my thesis, maybe writing a book and – very importantly – looking for a job! I will be taking commissions from February, so if you want a family tree… hit me up!
For the past few years, I have been publishing the Friday Murder Club on Substack. I am trying to figure out how to host it locally so nobody has to give money to Substack anymore, but until then, you can find it here.
This is a list of all the murders I’ve written about this year. Some are free, if you fancy a gander. A huge thank you if you have subscribed to the newsletter, or if you’ve read and shared my work on social media. It really does make all the difference.
Merry Christmas, I hope you have a peaceful break x
I’ve published twenty-one stories of murder this year, with thirty-six victims. These are their names:
I’ve been very quiet on here – still posting regularly to my Substack – but otherwise trying to finish up my thesis. I will be submitting it at the end of next month.
I’ve won two awards this year. The first was the Herman Diederiks prize for best article by a junior scholar in the field of European criminal justice history, awarded by the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme. My article is about homicide in the English coroner’s court and will be Open Access in two years!
Hello everyone, long time no blog because I’m deep into writing my thesis up and it has to take priority. HOWEVER, I have a couple of local events coming up that I thought I would draw your attention to.
First, on 2nd September 2025, I’ll be speaking to Folksworth Ladies Circle at Folksworth Village Hall at 7:30pm about Victorian inquests in the area. Non-members are welcome, at a cost of £2.
And on 6th November 2025, I’ll be speaking to Werrington Local History Group at Werrington Village Centre at 7:30pm. This talk covers death on the railway, and will be similar to the talk I gave at the museum last year, but with more focus on Werrington. Non-members are welcome, and it will be £5 on the door.
I will be speaking at Werrington again in October 2026 about RIOTS! but that’s quite a long way off…
I hope you can come!
If you would like to book me to speak at your event, please get in touch!
I’ve been very quiet on here this year because I’ve been working exceptionally hard on my PhD and lawd, it takes up the time. I have a few public events booked in next year, and will share more information closer to the time.
However, I’ve been writing murders on my substack all year, but they don’t come up on Google searches. So, here is a linked list, an index. They’re all free to read, and if you’d like a little murder every other Friday in term time, subscribe!
I deliberately name the victim, not the killer. Some of these murders ended in execution, some in acquittal, some in laughably brief prison sentences (and I’ve indicated which in the list).
But my focus is, and always will be, on the people who died.
Ann Mason, Godmanchester, 1891. Murderer died on remand.
Joseph Leatherdale, Salcott, 1890. Death sentence commuted to life imprisonment.
Jeremiah Preston, Lyddington, 1878. Six weeks in prison for gross negligence.
Elizabeth White, alias Bess Knox, Berwick, 1871. No criminal charges.
Elizabeth Fallon, Bradford, 1909. Six months imprisonment for manslaughter.
First, an online talk for Curious Histories on 18th June. This will cover the Victorian coroner and inquest practice, using some Brighton-based case studies. This includes the infamous Brighton Poisoner case!
I’ve spent the last few months contributing to a railway exhibition at Peterborough Museum. On 19th August, midway through the exhibition, I’ll be doing an in-person talk at the museum about the nineteenth-century railway in Peterborough, through related inquests. I’m really looking forward to this, it’s very close to my heart.
Astonishingly, I’ve now kept this little business going for five years. It’s not always easy, with three kids and a PhD and numerous side projects humming along in the background… but I persist because it’s immensely rewarding. My books are currently open, but the waiting list is fairly long.
This year, I’ve completed six full length family trees, which covered 6675 people, and averaged out at 20k words each. I’ve also done four smaller commissions. I’ve taken part in two conferences, one seminar, given a public lecture at uni (which will be online eventually) and got involved in an exhibition at Peterborough museum on the history of the railway (coming in the summer)
In late 2022 and 2023, I had the pleasure and good fortune to work on seasons 2 and 3 of the BBC podcast Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley, as a researcher for Professor Rosalind Crone.
The new series starts today at 11:30am on Radio 4, or you can listen to it on BBC Sounds. I worked on two cases, including today’s episode on Maria Manning. The Manning case was probably my favourite of all the six cases I’ve done across the two seasons, and you’ll ‘hear’ why if you tune in.
I also worked on the episodes in season two concerning Christiana Edmunds, Edith Thompson, Marguerite Fahmy (which had some wonderful primary sources) and the Liverpool poisoners, Flanagan and Higgins.
I’d like to thank Ros and StoryHunters for making the whole experience so much fun!
I’ve been writing murders on my substack all year, but they don’t come up on Google searches. So, here is a linked list, an index. They’re all free to read.
I deliberately name the victim, not the killer. Some of these murders ended in execution, some in acquittal, some in laughably brief prison sentences (and I’ve indicated which in the list).
But my focus is, and always will be, on the people who died.
Sophie Michell 