Table Of Content‘Thrillingly unique and meticulously researched, Glynn provides an
urgent re-imagination of criminology as we know it.’
David Lammy, MP
‘Glynn makes an impassioned plea to locate the historical within the
contemporary and black presence within the absence. The collation of
historical sources invite the reader to envision an illuminating black
historical criminological imagination that offers an important disci-
plinary contribution.’
Professor Coretta Phillips,
London School of Economics and Political Science
‘Black people’s presence in the history of criminal justice in the UK suf-
fers from a fate even worse than the “enormous condescension of pos-
terity” that E. P. Thompson says was imposed on the English working
class. With this book Glynn supplies a corrective as he rescues black
“activists, advocates, revolutionaries, writers, and artists” from the
oblivion of white erasure. Out of the archives rise the voices of black
people from the 17th, 18th, and 19th century. Court transcripts, crime
registers, slave trades, and other sources provide a presence that Glynn
fashions into an important narrative. It is a narrative against conde-
scension and oppression that points to a richer future for criminology.’
Rod Earle,
Senior Lecturer in Youth Justice, The Open University
Invisible Voices
Invisible Voices explores the intersection of criminology and history as
a way of contextualizing the historical black presence in crime and
punishment in the UK. Through case studies, court transcripts, and
biographical accounts it reimagines the understanding/ s of the role of
history in shaping contemporary perceptions. The book:
• Moves beyond the confines of presenting ‘c riminological his-
tory’ as monocultural
• Demonstrates how ‘ mainstream criminology’ is complicit in
obscuring ‘ hidden criminological histories’
• Critically assesses the implications regarding the positioning of
‘ the black presence’ within the discipline of criminology
• Revises current thinking around excluded, marginalized, and
muted histories, when looking at ‘ crime and punishment’ as a
whole.
The opening chapters lay the foundation for locating the histori-
cal black presence in crime and punishment, whilst offering practical
guidance for anyone wanting to pursue the journey of unearthing hid-
den history. Chapters 5– 9 comprise compelling case studies designed
to fuel new discussions regarding important excluded voices in crime
and punishment history. The following chapters reveal powerful tes-
timonies from those black voices involved in speaking out against
slavery during the Georgian and Victorian periods, and highlight the
pivotal role played by black activists during significant periods of
British history. C hapter 12 explores ‘T he Black Rage Defence’, illumi-
nating a moment in British legal history which tied both the UK and
US into a struggle for validating mental health and offending, where
race was a significant factor. The final chapter focuses on the need to
engage criminologists in a critical dialogue regarding a reimagining of
the way criminological history is ( re) presented.
Invisible Voices is crucial reading for students not just of Criminology
and History, but also Sociology, Cultural Studies, Black Studies and
Law, as well as criminal justice practitioners. It also aims to provide
scope for A- Level students contemplating going to university, commu-
nity educational programmes, and prison education departments, as
well as anyone wanting to learn more about the black presence in UK
history.
Martin Glynn is a criminologist with over t hirty- five years’ experience
of working in criminal justice, public health, and educational settings.
Martin gained his PhD at Birmingham City University in February 2013,
where he is currently a lecturer in criminology, alongside being the writer
in residence at the National Justice Museum ( Nottingham). Published
works by Dr Glynn include Black Men, Invisibility, and Desistance from
Crime: Towards a Critical Race Theory from Crime ( Routledge, 2014),
Speaking Data and Telling Stories: Data Verbalization for Researchers
(Routledge, 2019), and Reimagining Black Art and Criminology: A New
Criminological Imagination (Bristol University Press, 2021).
Invisible Voices
The Black Presence in
Crime and Punishment in
the UK, 1 750–1 900
Martin Glynn
Cover image: © Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Martin Glynn
The right of Martin Glynn to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accor-
dance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress C ataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Glynn, Martin, 1957– author.
Title: Invisible voices : the Black presence in crime and punishment in the
UK, 1750–1900 / Martin Glynn.
Description: Abindon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2022. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022000195 (print) | LCCN 2022000196 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367757380 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367743963 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003163787 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Criminal justice, Administration of—Great
Britain—History. | Discrimination in criminal justice
administration—Great Britain—History. | Blacks—Great
Britain—History. | Criminals—Great Britain—History.
Classification: LCC HV9960.G7 G59 2022 (print) | LCC HV9960.G7 (ebook) |
DDC 364.941—dc23/eng/20220228
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022000195
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022000196
ISBN: 9 78- 0- 367- 75738- 0 ( hbk)
ISBN: 9 78- 0- 367- 74396- 3 ( pbk)
ISBN: 9 78- 1- 003- 16378- 7 ( ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9 781003163787
Typeset in ITC Giovanni Std
by codeMantra
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
Black xi
Provocations xii
SECTION 1 Locating the Black Presence in Crime and
Punishment 1
Prologue 3
C HAPTER 1 Towards a Black ( Historical) Criminological Imagination 6
C HAPTER 2 Researching the Black Presence in Crime and Punishment 16
CHAPTER 3 Gathering the Information 27
vii
CHAPTER 4 Don’t Gaslight Me, Slavery Matters 47
SECTION 2 Trials and Transcripts 63
C HAPTER 5 The Case of Arthur William Hodge 65
C HAPTER 6 The Case of John Kimber 86
C HAPTER 7 The Case of Sir Thomas Picton 104
C HAPTER 8 The Case of William Woodcock 112
C HAPTER 9 The Case of John Hogan 123
SECTION 3 Black Voices Speak 143
C HAPTER 10 Visible Voices 145
C HAPTER 11 Activists, Participants, and Rulers 171
CHAPTER 12 McNaughton and Black Rage 193
Epilogue Criminologist as Historian 205
Index 211
viii
ConTenTs
Preface
History for me is about repair, healing, and the building of personal
agency on account of inaccurate depictions of my past that today is
in need of the revision and reimagining. The history I refer to here is
unreconciled in its telling by those who have hidden multiple truths
in exchange for the propagation of superiority. Like my predecessors I
have spent years examining how changes of notable historical events
such as rapid population growth, industrialization, slavery, the colonization
of Africa, and subjugation of Indigenous peoples have impacted on our
understandings of crime and punishment during the 18th and 19th
centuries. These historical determinants have moved me beyond the
barbarism of the ‘b loody code’, into a space from which to conduct
this critical inquiry into the hidden past. The Waltham Black Act of
1723 established the bloody code, which imposed the death penalty for
over 200 offences, supposedly acting as a deterrent. However, I have
struggled to identify myself within the pages of ‘ crime and punish- ix
ment’ history on account of the racialized biases that have excluded
me. It is further upsetting to learn how many previous scholars have
air brushed me out of wider contemporary debates and claims made
regarding the history of crime and punishment as a whole. A key impe-
tus for me therefore in writing this book was not to lean too heavily
on regurgitating the apparatus and mechanisms of crime and punish-
ment, but instead, to detect and focus, on lifting the veil of silence
that surrounds ‘ the black presence’ that is both obscured and hid-
den from the public gaze. Having grown tired of the absence of crit-
ical discourses on race and the racialization of crime within the UK,
I have similarly observed how the narrative of the black presence in
crime and punishment, when it does emerge seldom rises above sound
bite platitudes, combined with and oppositions to the expression of
political blackness, as witnessed by the responses to the recent ‘b lack
lives matter’ movements both in the US and UK, over the death of
George Floyd in May 2020. I then decided to take a personal stand
to revise this distorted mythology that has defined the black contri-
bution to crime and punishment as merely historically oppressed.
Understanding binary concepts, such as assimilation v integration, black-
ness v whiteness, colour blindness v racial privilege, independence v interest
convergence, has previously passed off as simplistic arguments, which
at times is nothing more than fighting over a patch of racialized waste
