Frome was historically one of the largest towns in Somerset and is rapidly growing today. Its wealth was built on wool and cloth industries, later metalworking and printing, bringing many people into the town. Agricultural work was also the way of life for many. As these industries rose and fell, the fortunes of many fluctuated and in periods of decline life was often hard. In Frome Murders and Misdemeanours authors Mick Davis and David Lassman delve into local records to reveal the dark side of life for ordinary people through the ages, including tales of bewitchment, counterfeiting, revenge and vicious murder. The stories include a trial for witchcraft and the role of the vicar of Frome, a sadistic murder of a serving girl by her mistress and her mistress' daughter, the parish constable's account of his day-to-day dealings with domestic violence, drunkenness and general disorder in Regency Frome, an ageing playboy shot dead by a jealous husband who then shot himself, a farm labourer stabbed to death by his uncle and a triple tragedy of father, wife and son discovered dead in their home by a milkman on his rounds. This collection of true-life crime stories gives a vivid insight into life in Frome in previous centuries. This book will fascinate anyone with an interest in the history of crime as well as those who want to know more about the history of Frome and the south-west of England.

The ancient city of Bath has always attracted visitors, flourishing in the Georgian era and becoming home for the fashionable and wealthy. The city was rebuilt to reflect its new status and although areas were devastated by aerial attacks in the Second World War and the misguided destruction of the 1960s, Bath today is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. In Bath Murders and Misdemeanours author Mick Davis has delved into local records to reveal the dark side of life in the golden city. From highwaymen to grave robbers and murderers, poisoners to suicides, psychopaths to major disasters, the author has researched and examined a number of little-known crimes that rocked the city in days gone by. This collection of true-life crime stories gives a vivid insight into life in Bath in previous centuries. This book will fascinate anyone with an interest in the history of crime as well as those who want to know more about the history of Bath and the south-west of England.

The Somerset town of Frome might top national polls as a great place to live and enjoy a reputation as the epitome of cool, with Hollywood A-listers regularly spotted on its street and global rock-stars playing its venues, but the place hasn't always been so 'chic' and behind this modern-day fa ade lies a more sinister and foul past; full of murder, kidnapping, rioting, witchcraft and rebellion, among the other nefarious activities that have taken place over the centuries in the town and surrounding areas. Indeed, the very existence of Frome is down to acts of criminality; as it has been said the reason Saint Aldhelm built his Saxon church in the first place, thus bringing the market town into being, was to 'civilise' the outlaws and bandits who roamed the interior of Selwood Forest; the huge tract of woodland which encircled the land that became the original settlement. Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and Around Frome chronicles fourteen foul but fascinating stories that includes the Frome vicar who wrote the most significant book on witchcraft, influencing everyone from The Great Beast himself, Aleister Crowley, to the perpetrators of the Salem witch trials; the key turning point in the Monmouth Rebellion; the last person to be publicly hanged outside Taunton gaol; a war veteran's triple tragedy; and the violent and brutal pitched battle that was the culmination of a long-running feud between the local populace and the Salvation Army. You will never look at Frome the same way again.

People have lived in the Frome area since prehistoric times and the present town dates back as far as the Saxon era. In the early days it was famous for the quality of its cloth, but the industry and trade declined in the eighteenth century. Over the centuries it has had its fair share of rioting and crime, as well as some notable personalities and eccentrics such as Thomas Bunn, an eighteenth-century philanthropist. It was also the birthplace of Benjamin Baker, builder of the Forth Bridge, and, more recently, Jenson Button, the racing driver. Today it has over 370 listed buildings - more than any other Somerset town - fourteen pubs and two thriving bookshops, as well as an increasing creative and artistic community. In this book, local authors Mick Davis and David Lassman take a journey through Frome to discover some significant and little-known aspects of its rich and varied past. From buildings and streets to people and events, A-Z of Frome highlights fascinating aspects of the town's history. Here are stories of UFO sightings, a world-famous Roman coin hoard, local inns, the search for underground tunnels and much more. Illustrated throughout, this book will appeal to local residents, visitors and anyone interested in the town's fascinating and illustrious history.

'The story of Mrs. Gordon Baillie is stranger than anything to be met with in the field of fiction.' Mrs. Gordon Baillie, known throughout her life as Annie, was born in the direst poverty in the small Scottish fishing town of Peterhead in 1848\. Illegitimate and illiterate her beauty and intelligence nevertheless enabled her to overcome her circumstances and become a charming and wealthy socialite living a life of luxury whilst raising money for worthy causes and charitable works. Behind her supposed perfect and contented life, however, lay one of the most notorious and compulsive swindlers of the Victorian Age. Her fraudulent fundraising and larger-than-life schemes played out across four decades and three continents, Europe, America and Australasia, and involved land owners crofters, aristocrats, politicians, bankers, socialist revolutionaries, operatic stars and the cultural icons of the day. She became mistress to a rich aristocrat, married a world-renowned male opera singer and later took as a lover a vicar's son with anarchist tendencies. For most of her 'career' she kept one step ahead of the law and her nemesis, Inspector Henry Marshall of Scotland Yard, but finally becoming undone through her own compulsion for petty theft, despite her amassed fortune. During her life she used more than 40 aliases, produced four children and spent her way through millions of ill-gotten pounds, dollars and other currencies. But at the turn of the twentieth century, her notoriety was such that she took refuge in America and disappeared from history.