Michala Hulme: Last News

Victorian Manchester is often celebrated as a place of industrial might, technological innovation and economic growth. But there was another side to the city that was not for the faint-of-heart.

A refuge for travellers for almost two centuries the Cat and Fiddle Inn is one of the north west's best-known pubs.

direct to your inboxTis the season to be jolly.But that's not the case for everyone.Manchester's Christmas past is steeped in grisly and terrifying tales of revenge, lust and betrayal. Here Michala Hulme, an associate lecturer in history at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of Manchester: Bloody British History, takes a look back at some of the darker Christmas episodes in Manchester's history. On December 25, 1880, chemist and druggist Alfred Hartley was spending his first Christmas in prison after being found guilty of the manslaughter of Caroline Barkham.The events that led to his arrest began shortly after 10pm on October 28, 1880, when two police superintendents asked to see the contents of a handcart that was being pushed