The Miscellanea of Samuel King, Being the Thoughts,

 Musings, Comments and Diary Extracts of the Professor...

My name is Professor Samuel King... if you are reading this, then the time is right for the world to share many incredible secrets and learn of some truly extraordinary adventures.

I have gathered together these diary extracts, commentaries and personal histories in the hope that you, dear reader, will be able to piece together a picture of my world, which will both, enlighten and amaze.

Be prepared, for what you believe you know of the world in 1842 may not be so!

England in 1842 was still a country that allowed public executions. For years hangings had taken place in the village of Tyburn. Then in 1783 when they were moved to Newgate Street just outside of the infamous Newgate Prison.

Public hangings continued until 1868, when, thanks to the appeals from luminaries such as Charles Dickens, they were taken inside the prison, away from the sight of the hungry crowds.

In a letter in 1846 Dickens wrote:

“No sorrow, no salutary terror, no abhorrence, no seriousness; nothing but ribaldry, debauchery, levity, drunkenness, and flaunting vice in fifty other shapes. I should have deemed it impossible that I could have ever felt any large assemblage of my fellow-creatures to be so odious. I hoped, for an instant, that there was some sense of Death and Eternity in the cry of “Hats off!” when the miserable wretch appeared; but I found, next moment, that they only raised it as they would at a Play–to see the stage the better, in the final scene.”

He was a wise and insightful man, and I enjoyed our conversation and association over many years.

I digress…

When Victoria came to the throne in 1838, we had high hopes for a new age: The Victorian age. In many ways, we were not disappointed. In other ways there was a ‘darkness’ to the era: poverty was a virus, which ran through the very veins of England, and crime was becoming more desperate and persistent. For many this was a time of infinite discovery and wonderment.

For me, it represented the beginning of a lifetime of adventure…