Charles Peace

Common card · No. 220865

Charles Peace (14 May 1832 – 25 February 1879) was an English burglar and murderer, who embarked on a life of crime after being injured in an industrial accident in a steelworks when he was 14 years old, when a hot steel rod entered his leg. He had a lifelong limp after the accident. After killing a policeman in Manchester, he fled to his native Sheffield, where he became obsessed with his neighbour's wife, eventually fatally shooting her husband. Settling in London, he carried out multiple burglaries before being caught in the prosperous suburb of Blackheath, wounding the policeman who arrested him. He was linked to the Sheffield murder, and tried at Leeds Assizes. Found guilty, he was hanged at Armley Gaol. His story has inspired many authors and film makers.

Read on Wikipedia · Image ThroaphamHistory, CC BY-SA 4.0