Mr Briggs’ Hat: A Sensational Account of Britain’s First Railway Murder

Author/Guide: Kate Colquhoun

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July 1864: The first recorded railway murder

ISBN: 978-0349123592
Genre: Crime, Fiction, Historical, Non-Fiction

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What you need to know before your trail

In July 1864, Thomas Briggs was travelling home after visiting his niece and her husband for dinner. He entered a First Class carriage on the 9.45pm Hackney service of the North London railway. At Hackney, two bank clerks entered the carriage and discovered blood in the seat cushions; also on the floor, windows and sides of the carriage. A bloodstained hat was found on the seat along with a broken link from a watch chain.

The race to identify the killer and catch him as he flees on a boat to America was eagerly followed by citizens both sides of the Atlantic. Kate Colquhoun tells a gripping tale of a crime that shocked the nation.

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America/ USA
G: New York - harbour

Travel Guide

The case of Mr Briggs

This was the time when train travel was almost an art form. There were separate compartments in carriages and they weren’t joined by a corridor like later trains.

As lovely as these trains were to ride in there were many concerns at the time as to what would happen if someone took ill or indeed if a crime took place with no room to escape.

This murder was shocking on many levels – the man was a well to do, gentleman riding in first class and at first there was no body. The carriage was blood spattered the man’s hat and watch would soon become very important to the investigation

This first railway murder was scandal in its time – the public seemed to devour the crime stories which were starting to appear in the sensationalist press. The press were all over the story and as the reader, you get to go through the entire police investigation as it happens.

The silversmith and the hatmaker became part of the case – and the chase is on to find the murderer..