The Thames Torso Murders

Dismembered corpses are discovered scattered along the banks of the river Thames, a calculating clinical multiple murderer is on the loose, and the London police have no inkling of the killers identity and, more than a century later, they still don't. In this, M.J. Trows latest re-investigation of a bizarre and brutal serial killing, he delves deep into the appalling facts of the case, into the futile police investigations, and into the dark history of late Victorian London. The incredible criminal career of the Thames torso murderer has gripped readers and historians ever since he committed his crimes in the 1870's and 1880's. The case poses as many questions as the even more notorious killings of Jack the Ripper. How, over a period of fifteen years, did the Thames murderer get away with a succession of monstrous and sensational misdeeds? And what sort of perverted character was he, why did he take such risks, why did he kill again and again?

History

TROW, M.J.

Europe

Wharncliffe

In their daily battle against a remorseless tide of crime, officers of London's Metropolitan Police routinely risk their lives protecting society.Veteran detective and crime author Dick Kirby has brought together a superb collection of inspiring stories of police gallantry over the last hundred years.All four officers to be honored with the George Cross, the highest civilian award have their stories told including Jim Beaton who saved Princess Anne from kidnap in The Mall.Three women officers have been awarded the George Medal, two for decoy work, the third for a heroic rooftop rescue.The book concludes with the astonishing story of a retired detective who tackled armed robbers at the cost of his eye. He may have left the Met behind him but not his courage.Every page of this gripping book is full of excitement and courage of the highest order.

The Brave Blue Line: 100 Years of Metropolitan Police Gallantry

Kirby, Dick

The Squad that investigated The Great Train Robbery. "The Old Grey Fox" or "One Day Tommy" (Detective Chief Superintendent Tommy Butler) selected six of the best officers on the elite Metropolitan Police Flying Squad to investigate the Crime of the Century, but while many books have been written by and about every criminal arrested for this crime, NONE have been written about the detectives who traced and tracked them. Tommy Butler delayed his retirement to complete the job, but died a few months after he retired at 57 years of age, the only detective of his rank in the late 1950s and 1960s not to publish an autobiography.This book provides a detailed account of the men tasked with tracking down the most notorious thieves in British history. It examines the investigation in detail and asks how it would contrast with the methods used today should a similar incident take place.Geoff Platt examines what happened to these men after the investigation was closed and the effect it had on both their personal and professional lives.

The Great Train Robbery and the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad

Biographies & Memoirs

Platt, Geoff

Leaders & Notable People

Never before has a comprehensive history been written of the track used by railways of all gauges, tramways, and cliff railways, in Great Britain. And yet it was the development of track, every bit as much as the development of the locomotive, that has allowed our railways to provide an extraordinarily wide range of services. Without the track of today, with its laser-guided maintenance machines, the TGV and the Eurostar could not cruise smoothly at 272 feet per second, nor could 2,000-ton freight trains carry a wide range of materials, or suburban railways, over and under the ground, serve our great cities in a way that roads never could. Andrew Dow’s account of the development of track, involving deep research in the papers of professional institutions as well as rare books, company records and personal accounts, paints a vivid picture of development from primitive beginnings to modernity. The book contains nearly 200 specially-commissioned drawings as well as many photographs of track in its very many forms since the appearance of the steam locomotive in 1804. Included are chapters on electrified railways, and on the development of mechanized maintenance, which revolutionized the world of the platelayer.

The Railway: British Track Since 1804

Engineering & Transportation

Dow, Andrew

Transportation

From the early 1800s and for nearly 170 years, steam locomotives were built in Great Britain and Ireland, by a variety of firms, large and small. James Lowe spent many years accumulating a considerable archive of material on the History of the locomotive building industry, from its early beginnings at the dawn of railways, until the end of steam locomotive construction in the 1960s. British Steam Locomotive Builders was first published in 1975 and has not been in print for some years. This useful and well researched book is a must for any serious railway historian or locomotive enthusiast, 704 pages with reference to 350 builders, 541 illustrations and 47 diagrams. The material in this book has been carefully selected to cover all the leading former steam locomotive manufacturers in the British Isles.

British Steam Locomotive Builders

Lowe, James W.

First published in 1879, this book has been identified as a lost publication by Peter Waterman, who is writing the introduction to the reprint. The book, which was published in the year of the Tay Bridge Disaster and the Zulu War in South Africa, looks in to the history and development of the steam Locomotive, from 1804-1879. It shows examples of famous types of machines, from the past and the then most up to date pieces of railway Locomotive technology. With a Selection of quality drawings and engineering diagrams, as well as rare photographs of locomotives from this remarkable period of industrial change, The Victorian Steam Locomotive is a timely and long-overdue insight into the thinking of Victorian Engineers, written as a contemporary text.

The Victorian Steam Locomotive: Its Design and Development 1804-1879

Clark, D. Kinnear

Dempsey, GD

The Squad that investigated The Great Train Robbery. "The Old Grey Fox" or "One Day Tommy" (Detective Chief Superintendent Tommy Butler) selected six of the best officers on the elite Metropolitan Police Flying Squad to investigate the Crime of the Century, but whilst many books have been written by and about every criminal arrested for this crime, NONE have been written about the detectives who traced and tracked them. Tommy Butler delayed his retirement to complete the job, but died a few months after he retired at 57 years of age, the only detective of his rank in the late 1950s and 1960s not to publish an autobiography. This book provides a detailed account of the men tasked with tracking down the most notorious thieves in British history. It examines the investigation in detail and asks how it would contrast with the methods used today should a similar incident take place. Geoff Platt examines what happened to these men after the investigation was closed and the effect it had on both their personal and professional lives.

Fred West. Ian Brady. Harold Shipman. These names haunt the national consciousness and yet none was as prolific as the little-known ‘Underground Killer’, Kieran Kelly. Operating without motive or rationale he pushed sixteen souls to their deaths on the tracks of the London Underground, before vanishing back into the crowd. Geoff Platt has painstakingly researched the ‘career’ of Kelly, whose name may be unfamiliar even to those who study the minds and misdeeds of the criminal underworld. In a time of greater governmental control of the media, the case was hushed up, lest the residents of London be gripped by mass hysteria at the thought of a faceless killer lurking on the platforms of the Central line. Kelly’s first victim was his best friend and could have been called a crime passionnel, as it was committed in the heat of an argument after an evening of heavy drinking. However when Kelly realized his crime had gone undetected he felt a rush of power which he sought to recreate again and again. The killer took delight in his apparent cunning – he often passed himself off as a star witness, who had been talking to the ‘poor, depressed man about his unfaithful wife, when the train arrived at the station and he jumped underneath it’. The implications of Kelly’s actions spread wide, leaving families unable to claim life insurance once the death was ruled as suicide. The officers involved in the case were a small, select cadre of elite Flying Squad and Serious Crime Squad Officers from South London, the same ones who had also been dealing with the Krays and the Richardsons. Their story is equally compelling, involved as they were in extreme, unusual and certainly unorthodox tactics. These intricate strands of a murky underworld weave together to make a fascinating, if gruesome, story.

The London Underground Serial Killer

Self-Help

Death & Grief

Martyn Johnson's What's Tha Up To This Time? continues his wonderful stories about policing during the 1960s and 1970s. As with his previous two volumes, the best selling What's Tha Up to? and What's Tha Up to Nah?, this book is written from the heart, not so much nostalgia as a genuine feeling for the people, animals, places and history of Sheffield.From naked young ladies at Wentworth Woodhouse to suspicious scrap yards and secondhand shops, shoplifters, burglars and pickpockets, Martyn takes you on an amazing journey through an almost lost world of crime and characters. Meet George and Albert Bloggs, Sadistic Sid, Mr Cellarman, Twirls the key man, Mr Furnaceman, Mr Handcuff-man; and not forgetting Big Ginge and the most glamorous of all, 'Diana Dors'. Why not let Martyn tell you about his hilarious 'contemporaneous' court experience and the day he became Lester Piggot and a very reluctant sea fisherman. Whether it's the story of the dodgy unisex haircut, the mystery of the lost fingers or insights into the Dog and Partridge characters or Banners Department Store, there's something of interest for everyone inside this book. Humor apart, Martyn's empathy and feeling for the people of Sheffield and South Yorkshire shines through the pages, including some sad and difficult cases and times.

What’s Tha Up To This Time?: More Memories of a Sheffield Bobby

Johnson, Martyn

Historical

This pictorial book covers London’s railways from 1967 to 1977, showing the transition from steam to diesel and electric traction. This volume has a very readable narrative, telling tales of the authors adventures during his many trips around the London railway network. The volume encapsulates a period of time in Britain, during which a great deal of change was taking place, not only with railways and transport, but also socially and economically. Jim Blake, describes all of these changes, while also looking at the capitals transport scene of the period.

London’s Railways 1967 - 1977: A Snap Shot In Time

Blake, Jim

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Wharncliffe publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Wharncliffe

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Wharncliffe publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Thames Torso Murders

The Brave Blue Line: 100 Years of Metropolitan Police Gallantry

The Great Train Robbery and the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad

The Railway: British Track Since 1804

British Steam Locomotive Builders

The Victorian Steam Locomotive: Its Design and Development 1804-1879

The Great Train Robbery and the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad

The London Underground Serial Killer

What’s Tha Up To This Time?: More Memories of a Sheffield Bobby

London’s Railways 1967 - 1977: A Snap Shot In Time