We have been contacted by Scott Lomax, who is the author of a recently published local history book: Deadly Derbyshire: Tales of Murder & Manslaughter c. 1700-1900.
It features more than 50 cases of murder and manslaughter to have taken place in Derbyshire during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The book includes a case from Parwich. In 1807 William Webster committed murder by poisoning. I have obtained a reasonably large amount of information about the case and presented it in the book.
Other cases from across the entire county are also featured, including cases never before written about. I have uncovered many cases which had been lost in the archives.
The book is available from all good bookshops and there are also copies in some of the county’s libraries.
More details can be found on Scott’s website, and the book can also be purchased from Amazon.
PARWICH.ORG 
This brings to mind the strange case of the Victorian miscreant Jock the rapper.He would lurk in the swirling foggy alleyways of Wirksworth after dark and leap out in front of unsuspecting young ladies ,give them a quick rendition of ‘Donald where’s ya troosers ‘ raise his kilt above his head and then swiftly vanish into the night with their screams of terror ringing in his ears.
He was never caught.
one of the victims. Miss Roe lived at Brook House in Parwich
In 1878 a certain Bessie Plum of Peak Forest stood accused at Buxton assizes of invoking the creatures of the night ,practising the dark arts and of supping with the devil hlmself who would manifest in the guise of a goat at the stroke of midnight. She vehemently denied these allegations claiming that they had arisen from malicious gossip and hearsay . She appealed for acquittal on compassionate grounds stating that her son Billy would be left to fend for himself in the event of her conviction.
At the turn of the nineteenth century Uriah Creep a farrier from Doveholes was convicted of voyeurism and pilloried for three days in Ashbourne market place.He was caught whilst spying on young courting couples on the I Peek trail.
In 1828 Cuthbert Grime and his brother Horace of Derby were actively involved in the heinous albeit lucrative trade of procuring fresh cadavers to medical schools for anatomical research. They would stealthily work by moonlight in the churchyards disinterring their shrouded booty , they were both eventually apprehended after drunkenly boasting of their exploits in a local tavern they were tried,found guilty and handed down suspended sentences on the gallows. The dissected remains were later reinterred with all due respect hence the epitaph R.I.P. Rest In Pieces.
In 1859 Felix Bartholomew of Bonsal a notoriously prolific cat burglar was finally brought to justice after falling from a roof and breaking his leg .Five moggies,four ginger toms,three tabbies two tortoiseshells and a Persian were all reunited with their owners.
In the early eighteen hundreds a spate of horse stealing in Parwich led to the instigation of the first neigh-bourhood watch.
In 1809 Shamus O’Toole of Dublin an itinerant gambler was severly beaten after being caught cheating at cards in the Green man hotel, Ashbourne ,as he staggered into the street he was showered with the contents of several chamber pots being emptied from the windows above. He was then set upon by footpads who stole all his valuables ,clothes and even his boots and left him with only his longjohns, wandering around In a daze he was flattened by the mail coach as it rattled through town and then trampled by a herd of cattle being driven to market, as he lay sprawled on the cobbles breathing his last a passing priest asked him if their was anything he could do?,’yes Father ‘he gasped,’would you give this to my wife’,’of course I will ,what is it my son?’,’its me lucky shamrock Father’.
On a more serious note there happens to be a portrait of William Webster hanging in the Derby museum & art gallery . His family always insisted that he was framed.
In Victorian times there were sinister goings on in Brassington . Items of ladies hosiery were mysteriously disappearing from washing lines after dark. A local man Percival Snipe was finally caught red handed in the dead of night during a police stake out. Magistrates fined him five shillings and ordered him to be placed on the socks offenders register.
In 1891 Victoria Plum of Hartington stood accused of inflicting grevious bodily harm on her husband. The court heard that after years of drunken bullying and abuse she struck him repeatedly over the head with a chamber pot.The judge showed her leniency under the circumstances but warned her to expect a custodial sentence if she ever got intoxicated again.