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Mr Briggs' Hat: A Sensational Account of Britain's First Railway Murder [Paperback]

Kate Colquhoun (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 2 Feb 2012

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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Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Abacus (2 Feb 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0349123594
  • ISBN-13: 978-0349123592
  • Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 2.4 x 19.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 18,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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› Visit Amazon's Kate Colquhoun Page
Kate Colquhoun
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Product Description

Review

(A) thrilling book, which reads at times like a good Victorian novel... an utterly compelling did-he-do-it (Sunday Times )

Deploying her skill as a historian, Colquhoun turns a single curious murder case into a fascinatingly quirky portrait of the underside of mid-Victorian London. I found it unputdownable (Daily Telegraph )

Kate Colquhoun is a fine, robust writer who makes the most of its every twist and turn (Mail on Sunday )

With a storyteller's instinct for colour and suspense Kate Colquhoun has brilliantly recreated the five-month period from Thomas Briggs' death to Muller's execution (Daily Express )

Kate Colquhoun's irreproachable unpicking of the case is meticulous, patient, thorough and measured (Independent )

Book Description

The fascinating story of the first ever railway murder
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 50 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Mr Briggs' Hat 8 May 2011
By S Riaz HALL OF FAME TOP 10 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Mr Thomas Briggs was an upstanding member of society. On a summer Saturday morning, he left his home for work at his bank. Finishing early, he ate dinner with his niece and then returned home on the train at 8pm. At that time first class carriages had separate compartments, two rows of seats facing each other, without any corridor to go from one carriage to another. Questions had already been raised about what a person could do if they were taken ill or needed assistance. What nobody expected was for a first class passenger, travelling on a short journey home,to be murdered. However, that is exactly what happened to Mr Briggs. When the train stopped, passengers alerted train staff to the fact that the carriage had bloodstains on the seat and the door. There was an empty bag, a walking stick and a crushed hat - later found not to belong to Mr Briggs. The carriage door was locked and the police called, but there was no sign of either an attacker or a victim. Mr Briggs was later found thrown from the train and he never regained consciousness before dying.

The crime was shocking, unprecedented and sensational. It was felt that nobody was safe and the police were under pressure to solve the mystery quickly. Inspector Tanner was given the difficult task of solving the crime. Everything seemed to lead to a dead end until a silversmith, appropriately called John Death, identified Mr Briggs watch chain which was brought to his shop and exchanged for another. Tanner was quickly on the trail of a possible assailant and the chase was on.

I do not want to give away what happens in this wonderful book, but it is just like following the criminal investigation as it happened. The author has brought to life the characters and there is a real sense of urgency and concern about false leads, whether there is enough evidence and whether the man they are chasing is simply a victim of circumstances or the murderer. The book has suspicious foreign suspects, thrilling transatlantic chases and is an exciting and interesting read. The author has done a wonderful job of recreating the entire mystery. And what, exactly, happened to Mr Briggs's hat? Highly recommended - this is history at its best.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars So Much More ... 5 Mar 2012
By Joanna Cannon
Format:Paperback
Mr Briggs' Hat is a wonderful account of a truly fascinating murder case. Kate Colquhoun delivers the facts with such incredible clarity, yet tells them in a way which would rival any great novelist, creating a perfect balance of evidence and story-telling. The meticulous research is actually breathtaking. In the hands of a less-skilled writer, I might not have cared quite so much about Mr Briggs, but Ms Colquhoun writes in such a way that I felt as though I were unconvering the truth alongside her, and the discovery of new witnesses and changes in direction meant the pages of the book almost turned themselves. By the end of the story, I cared so much, I wanted to march into the courtroom and plead with the jury to see sense.

This is also so much more than a tale of murder. It's a beautiful insight into Victorian life; a brilliant account of man's reflexive fear of change, of a population fragmented by class and politics, and of a time which found itself on the edge of a moral quandary. It's the story of a man whose fate will be determined, not just by the evidence, but by the attitudes of the society in which he finds himself.

Perfect.
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26 of 30 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing and involving real-life murder-mystery 5 May 2011
By Keris Nine TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Kindle Edition
On 9th July 1864, a murder took place that captured the interest and the imagination of the British public. The victim was Thomas Briggs, a banker in the City, whose body was discovered on railway tracks of the North London Railway line, his watch and hat missing, the first-class carriage he occupied on his journey left spattered with blood and a hat belonging to someone else. What is notable about the incident is that it was the first killing to ever take place on a British Railway, in an enclosed carriage that had no entrance or connecting passageway, but rather only a direct entry from a station platform.

The notoriety of the murder is heightened further by the Victorian public's new-found appetite for grubby crime stories being related in sensational literature, and in the novelty of the progress of a real-life case being relayed in the now readily available newspapers and periodicals. The fascination for the details of the case reaches even greater proportions when it is learned that the chief suspect, a German tailor, has left the country on a slow-boat across the Atlantic. A police detective is dispatched on a faster ship to arrive in the still expanding New York before the suspect, to apprehend him and extradite him back for trial. The Victorian public avidly follow the exciting course of events that unfold before their eyes.

As, nearly 150 years later, should the modern reader following the case as related in fascinating detail by Kate Colquhoun. As you would expect, the book is thoroughly researched - not just for the particulars of the case of Thomas Briggs, intriguing as it is as a murder-mystery, but also for the effort that has gone into putting it into the context of British society during the Victorian era. In addition to what the case tells us about the newly formed police service, the early forensic science of the period and the workings of the judicial system, much is also revealed about the nature of the public, class differences and international tensions, the nature of the press and the literature of the period.

While there is no skimping on historical research and presentation of all the relevant facts pertaining to the case and the social situation that it takes place in, Mr Briggs' Hat is never dull or academic, but highly readable and no less thrilling than any fictional work, covering every angle of what remains an intriguing and involving real-life murder-mystery.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars A real life Victorian mystery
I must admit to a certain initial prejudice against purchasing this book because, having read the blurb, it seemed to me an attempt to cash in on the success of Kate Summerscale's... Read more
Published 6 hours ago by David Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars A VICTORIAN CRIME ON THE RAILWAYS
This was a most enjoyable account of a Victorian murder on a train.It throws up lots of interesting questions that in most cases were resolved over the next few decades, and shows... Read more
Published 1 day ago by bibliophile
4.0 out of 5 stars Great for Railway buffs
Factual story presented as a novel. Easy to read and more to the story than at first might be supposed. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Published 1 month ago by Mikehtc
3.0 out of 5 stars Hardly Sensational
Only 3 stars for this read, I just could not connect with it at all, even though it is a true account, got a little bored !
Published 1 month ago by mrs Caroline cuckson
4.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking
By the end of the book one is not sure whether the alleged villain did or did not kill Mr Briggs. The evidence against
him given in a court of law today would more than... Read more
Published 1 month ago by David Thorpe
5.0 out of 5 stars loved it
Highly recommended, never felt it dragged along and held my attention. Take care when reading on public transport, maybe hide the cover!
Published 2 months ago by Stephen
5.0 out of 5 stars Mr Briggs'Hat
Thomas Briggs was attacked and ejected from a railway carriage in July 1864. His injuries were severe and he subsequently died from them without regaining consciousness. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Damaskcat
4.0 out of 5 stars an intriguing, riveting read which kept me hooked
When I started to read this book, I wasn't sure what I would find and if I would actually like it as it was the first time I had read a `true crime' genre of book. Read more
Published 2 months ago by E Thomas
4.0 out of 5 stars Unputdownable
Excellent story and an unputdownable read. Has you gripped till the end I believe it's a true story and it's told well
Published 2 months ago by pamela williamson
2.0 out of 5 stars A NOT SO SENSATIONAL ACCOUNT
THE T.V. PROGRAMME WAS EASIER TO FOLLOW, THE BOOK WAS VERY HARD TO FOLLOW, MOVING FROM LOCATIONS, DATES AND WRITING STYLES
Published 2 months ago by STUBBSENCO
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