Gender, society and the law — Telling the history of Scotland through 15 violent crimes

An intriguing new book explores the reactions of society and the law to violence, from the role of gender through to attitudes towards homosexuality, writes Peter Ranscombe.

Flick through the pages of a history book and there are some Scottish court cases you would expect to appear: Moorov v HM Advocate, establishing the doctrine of similar fact evidence; Duke of Argyll v Duchess of Argyll, with its questions over the confidentiality of her diary; and perhaps even Donoghue v Stevenson and its snail in a ginger beer bottle

Historian Louise Heren has done something different. In her new book, Scottish History in 15 Violent Crimes: Gender, Society and the Law, Louise includes several famous cases – such as Burke and Hare, Madeleine Smith and Peter Manuel – and then goes beyond those well-known examples to explore how society and the law have responded to violent crimes.

Her book examines 15 cases between 1700 and 2000, spanning a period that covers the final execution for witchcraft through to the first prosecution for marital rape. It’s part of a broader ‘History in 15’ series from publisher Bloomsbury Academic, which also includes Atlantic History in 15 Slave Revolts, A New History of Australia in 15 Animals and US History in 15 Foods.

“The question for me was how to come at cases in a slightly different way,” Louise explains. “For example, one of the cases that has been covered very well in other books is Oscar Slater. Many other writers, particularly legal historians, come at it as a miscarriage of justice, exploring where the evidence fell down and the involvement of Arthur Conan Doyle, who created Sherlock Holmes.

“Instead, I look at the names on the petition for the reprieve of the death sentence for him, which thankfully works. You can see it’s people from all walks of life across Glasgow who are signing it, with no xenophobia. They know this case is wrong, despite the fact he was found guilty in the court.”

‘Real crime’ vs ‘true crime’

While the book is aimed primarily at undergraduate students – and can be used to support a 15-seminar module for historians and criminologists – Louise had a weather eye on well-informed lay readers too. “The cases in this book are written in a more narrative style than you might expect in an academic book, but there’s no embellishment – I don’t go off describing the weather or what people are wearing,” she explains. “That’s where I draw a distinction between ‘real crime’, which is what academic historians write, and ‘true crime’, which is what other people write.”

Scottish History in 15 Violent Crimes is Louise’s second history book for Bloomsbury, following on from 2023’s Sex and Violence in 1920s Scotland: Incest, Rape, Lewd and Libidinous Practices, 1918-1930. Since 2012, she has specialised in interrogating records from Scotland’s High Court of Justiciary, building up a database of more than 1,000 cases relating to sexual violence. A grant from the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland helped to fund further research at the National Records of Scotland (NRS) for her latest book.

Having studied history at the University of St Andrews under noted historians including Christopher Smout and Bill Knox, Louise embarked on a career as a television producer, making documentaries about wildlife, science and adventure. She returned to St Andrews as a part-time student and completed her doctor of philosophy degree in 2020.

Originally, the focus for her doctorate was going to be on violence more widely, and on murder in particular. But, after spending her first few weeks conducting research at the NRS, she found her niche. “When I began looking at the case numbers, I thought it was going to be overwhelming, so I decided to start with sex crimes,” she remembers. “After the first week, I realised it was a fascinating area, and after a few months I went to Bill Knox – my supervisor – and explained that it was overwhelmingly interesting, and I needed to focus on sexual violence on its own.”

Louise’s other books include British Nannies and the Great War and Tanks on the Streets? The Battle of George Square, Glasgow 1919, written with Gordon Barclay, which re-examined the narrative surrounding soldiers being deployed during a riot and challenged the urban myth that the then-war secretary, Winston Churchill, had deployed tanks to stifle social revolution.

Scottish history’s place within wider British history

Louise hopes the readers of Scottish History in 15 Violent Crimes – and especially well-informed lay readers – will come away from the book with a refreshed perspective. “I hope they understand that Scottish history is very different from English history, but is a massive component part of British history,” she says.

“I get fed up when historians claim to be writing about ‘British history’ but really it’s just ‘English history’. People don’t understand how pivotal Scotland has been in its influence on British history. For example, the final case in my book is the first trial for marital rape, which highlights how the law changed in Scotland before the rest of the UK.”

She also hopes her book helps readers to become more reflective and less quick to judge when they’re reading media accounts of current criminal cases today, such as the 2023 murders in Nottingham and the agitations surrounding the 2024 murders in Southport. “What I hope comes across through how I’ve dealt with some of these crimes is that sometimes the law has empathy, where society has to learn that empathy,” she explains.

“Looking at cases from the 1920s, when society and the law and doctors are getting a better grasp of mental health issues – and don’t forget that Scotland leads the way in medical jurisprudence at this period – juries do show empathy in their verdicts.

“When we think about how we respond to violent crime being reported today, there is an awful lot of rabble rousing going on. We can’t jump to assumptions – we’ve got to empathise with the perpetrator as well as with the victim. I’m not forgetting the victim, but I’m also understanding social history and how the ghastly conditions that people have lived in until relatively recently can make you just lose it and commit a crime.”