Up next in 10
Fascinating Attempts at Victorian Forensic Investigations
Sep 16, 2025
The Victorian Era, which spanned from 1837 to 1901, was a great time for not only industrialization, science, and economic prosperity, but also for the development of crime-solving techniques. While police tactics of the 1800s left much to be desired, the 19th century saw many important discoveries and developments in the world of criminal forensics that created a blueprint for modern day investigations. From fingerprinting to the development of crime scene photography, Victorian era detective work made considerable progress over 60 years.
View Video Transcript
0:00
Most people know that the Victorian era, which spanned from 1837 to 1901, was a great time for
0:06
industrialization, science, and economic prosperity. But few realize the 19th century also saw many
0:14
important discoveries and developments in the world of criminal forensics that created a blueprint for
0:19
modern-day investigations. So today, we're going to take a look at some fascinating Victorian
0:25
attempts at forensic investigation. OK? Someone call William Peterson, because it's time
0:30
for some Victorian CSI. In 1788, German anatomist Johann Christoph Andreas Mayer
0:39
became the first scientist to suggest that fingerprints are unique to each individual
0:44
But the implications of this insight must not have been immediately apparent, because it wasn't until the late 19th century
0:50
that someone thought to apply the principle to criminal investigations. That someone was a doctor named Robert Blake Overton
0:58
who wrote to Scotland Yard in 1840, suggesting the detectives there try and use fingerprint evidence
1:04
to catch the murder of Lloyd William Russell. The investigators were willing to hear him out
1:09
but Overton was apparently a little too ahead of his time. Fingerprinting evidence wouldn't become a routine part
1:15
of investigations for another 50 years, give or take a few years
1:19
In 1880, physician Henry Foulds published a paper in the scientific journal Nature, again suggesting that fingerprints left at a crime scene could be
1:28
used for the scientific identification of criminals. The matter still wasn't seriously
1:33
considered by police, though. In fact, it wasn't until the 1890s when Sir Francis Galton developed
1:39
a classification of fingerprint patterns for police ysis that fingerprinting evidence would finally be put to use. Fingerprints were then adopted as a means to identify criminals
1:49
In 1892, Francisco Rojas, who killed her two children in Argentina, would become the first person in the world ever caught due to fingerprints being left behind
1:59
at a crime scene. And in 1902, Harry Jackson, who stole a set of billiard balls
2:05
was the first man in the United Kingdom convicted on fingerprint evidence
2:12
Of course, London was never completely devoid of violent criminals, But after Jack the Ripper became one of the first high-profile serial killers of the mass media age
2:22
people took notice of such crimes in a big way. Prior to Jack, crime in the Victorian era was
2:27
perceived to be mostly petty offenses or revenge crimes. Things like robberies, garroting
2:33
prostitution, and drunken disorderly charges were the norm, while sadistic serial killers
2:38
weren't even on the cultural radar. Criminals of the time were often perceived merely as lazy
2:43
lower class citizens looking to make a quick buck. But once Jack the Ripper began brutally carving up
2:48
his victims, that perception changed fast. Desperate to catch the Ripper, the police
2:53
found themselves willing to try out some new ideas And the first criminal profile was created as an attempt to understand this new type of monster The first person to profile a criminal was named Bond Thomas Bond We love
3:06
to be able to say he was on Her Majesty's Secret Service, but he was actually a surgeon with the
3:10
Metropolitan Police. After examining the evidence, Bond concluded that Jack the Ripper was a man
3:16
subject to periodical attacks of homicidal and erotic mania, quite likely to be a quiet
3:21
inoffensive-looking man, probably middle-aged and neatly and respectably dressed. Bond also believed Jack would probably be solitary and eccentric in his habits. He also is most likely
3:31
to be a man without regular occupation, but with some small income or pension. Since the Ripper was
3:37
never caught, we'll never know how accurate Bond's profile was. What we do know, however
3:42
is that criminal profiling would go on to become a standard tool of law enforcement
3:47
Authorities have long used microscopic ysis to study hairs and fibers left at crime scenes
3:53
Rudolf Virchow conducted the first forensic human hair comparison way back in 1861
3:58
finding that the hairs on the case's defendant matched, by all indications
4:03
hair found on the victim. However, despite the similarity in appearance, the hairs could never be considered unique to an individual. While forensic hair ysis in
4:12
the Victorian era followed that understanding, microscopic examination of hairs and fibers were
4:18
still often used in criminal proceedings. Comparative evidence of hairs, however, had limited use
4:24
While hair could be used as circumstantial evidence, or to give further information on
4:28
the criminal's age or sex, it could never be considered an absolute definitive match
4:33
It could still be pretty effective, though. For example, in the 1863 case of Reg v. Steed
4:38
the perpetrator stomped on the victim's head, killing him. There were hairs lodged on the bottom of the boot of the accused
4:45
which matched hairs from the deceased. The victim was wearing a red neck scarf
4:50
And investigators also found red fibers on the bottom of the perpetrator's boot. The hair and fiber comparison helped secure a conviction
4:57
Early ysis of bullets was rudimentary. Since guns were not yet mass produced
5:02
comparisons between bullets and the guns that fire them could often be made by eye
5:06
For example, in 1835, Henry Goddard, a member of the London Bow Street Runners, was able to identify
5:13
a gun used in a murderer based on a slight defect in the discharged bullet. As the mass production
5:18
of firearms began to take off, however, identifying bullets with the naked eye was no longer a feasible
5:24
option. Investigators had to begin using microscopes to see the bullets more clearly
5:30
They also developed techniques like rolling the bullets onto inked paper to search for any
5:34
identifying marks. The new methods meant that ballistic ysis could be considered more than
5:39
just a shot in the dark. While medical experts often testified in criminal cases prior to the
5:49
19th century, their testimony was not accompanied by an autopsy. In fact, it seems surprising by
5:55
today standards but those experts typically didn make any formal examination of the body at all Seeing the problem of inaccurate medical testimony surgeon and coroner Thomas Wakely began to push for a required postmortem in suspicious deaths
6:10
Eventually, the Medical Witness Act of 1836 allowed coroners to conduct autopsies when
6:15
deemed necessary and encouraged testimony from medical experts. While autopsies were conducted more frequently
6:22
they still were not the norm due to cultural concerns about cutting open a dead body
6:27
By the time of England's infamous Whitechapel murders, however, autopsies had come a long way
6:33
Medical examiners used body cooling and rigor mortis to approximate the time of death
6:37
They also conducted much more thorough and standardized autopsies of victims. However, despite the advances, these procedures were still primitive in a lot of ways
6:47
The post-mortem examinations were often held in sheds, makeshift morgues, or even a house where the victim died
6:54
Doctors didn't give hygiene and sterilization much consideration. They believed that rubber gloves dulled the surgeon's sense of touch
7:01
Poisoning was a popular method of murdering people during the 19th century. This isn't too hard to believe, since the prevalence of chemist shops made poison easily accessible
7:10
And it was well known that autopsies of victims were often inconclusive
7:15
Many victims appeared to have died of natural causes. So if you wanted to kill someone, poisoning was definitely the way to go
7:21
Scientists did slowly begin to chip away at the problem, though. For example, in 1836, chemist Marsh developed the Marsh Test
7:30
which allowed doctors to test human tissue for the presence of arsenic
7:34
This development led to the convictions of many murderers during the Victorian era
7:38
including Sarah Daisley, nicknamed the Potten Poisoner. Authorities suspected Daisley of murdering her first husband and son
7:46
She was eventually convicted of murdering her second husband after his body was exhumed for a Marsh test
7:57
It wasn't until the early 1900s that scientists developed a universal test for the presence of
8:02
blood, but Victorian investigators examined blood long before that. In fact, Professor Matthew Orphila
8:09
began examining bodily fluids microscopically and developing tests to distinguish these substances
8:14
in the early 1800s. In 1873, English medical writer and toxicologist Alfred Swain Taylor
8:21
described three methods for examining blood stains. Taylor developed processes for chemical, microscopic, and optical investigation
8:29
He provided instructions on how these methods could positively identify human blood
8:33
and distinguish it from similar substances such as dyes and paints. Furthermore, he discussed using the ysis of blood splatter
8:41
to indicate the time and manner of death. In the infamous case of the road murder
8:46
16-year-old Constance Kent confessed to killing her four-year-old brother by slashing his throat
8:52
with a razor blade. Swain and the medical examiner suggested that because there was little blood at the crime scene
8:58
despite the victim throat being cut the child died from previous injuries such as strangulation before the perpetrator slashed his throat They concluded that Kent confession was likely false
9:10
and she was probably covering for another family member. We'd like to say this story ended happily ever after
9:16
for Constance, but sadly, she was convicted nonetheless. If you watched Weird History's video
9:21
about how people in the Victorian era spent their free time, then you already know that people from that time
9:26
were well-versed in taking photos of the deceased. That being said, most of these morning photographs
9:32
as they were known, were taken for personal reasons. However, while crime scene photography
9:37
was conceptualized during the late 1800s, it was not often employed. Seems obvious to us now, but taking crime scene photos
9:44
didn't even start becoming a standard practice until Alfred Swain Taylor wrote his 1865 book
9:50
The Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence. In that book, Taylor opined
9:55
It would be well if, before a body is moved, a photograph could be taken of the attitude and position
10:01
of surrounding objects in relation to it. In some cases, investigators brought photographers in
10:07
to document a specific blood splatter pattern or the state of the victim
10:11
But in general, crime scene photography still wasn't regularly utilized at the time
10:16
Jack the Ripper struck in the 1880s. In fact, there are only photos of one Ripper victim, Mary Kelly
10:22
The bodies and scenes were generally cleared as quickly as possible to prevent public hysteria
10:27
It wasn't until the turn of the century that investigators started to agree upon the importance
10:31
of crime scene photography. While many of the forensic innovations of the Victorian era
10:44
turned out to be breakthroughs that forever changed how investigations are conducted
10:48
some of them didn't quite pan out. For example, when investigators photographed
10:53
Jack the Ripper's victim Mary Kelly, the main focus was her eyes. Why the eyes? Well, according
10:59
to Inspector Walter Dew, photographers captured Kelly's eyes in the hopes that perhaps a lasting
11:05
image of the killer was preserved on her retinas. Needless to say, eyes don't work like that
11:10
and the photos didn't help identify the killer. Luckily, proponents of crime scene photography
11:15
pressed on about its usefulness. And in 1888, the Metropolitan and London police began photographing
11:21
victims' faces as means of identifying the deceased, rather than their eyes to try and
11:26
identify the killers. The Whitechapel murders marked another first in that journalist published
11:32
a sketch of the man suspected to be Jack the Ripper. Witnesses had seen the assailant in
11:37
the vicinity of the crime scenes, so actual descriptions did influence the sketch. However
11:42
the ultimate value of the final drawing was highly questionable, since the artist also added
11:46
his own thoughts of how an evil murderer like Jack the Ripper might look. Despite these early
11:51
exercises in artistic license, police sketches based on eyewitness descriptions of suspects
11:57
became a common tool of investigations and are still frequently employed by the crime solvers of today
#People & Society
#Science