25 surnames linked to Britain’s most notorious historical criminals – is yours one of them?

What if your great-great-granddad wasn’t a war hero… but a murderer?

For some families, a look through the family tree reveals dark surprises. Instead of nobles or landowners, they find something else entirely – a highwayman, a poisoner, or a public enemy whose crimes once shocked the nation.

And here’s the strange thing: some surnames come up again and again in court reports and criminal records from 18th and 19th century Britain. From execution lists at Tyburn to grim local legends, these names became infamous – but they’ve never gone away.

We’ve looked through historical newspapers, trial archives and genealogical records to bring together 25 surnames that are directly linked to Britain’s most shocking crimes – all more than 100 years ago.

Yours might be one of them.

Whether it’s a link to a famous outlaw or a name that once made headlines, these surnames hold dark stories worth exploring.

25 surnames with a gory past

1. Turpin

Dick Turpin was no Robin Hood. He was a thief, rapist and highwayman hanged in 1739. His name still appears in Yorkshire family lines.

2. Sheppard

Jack Sheppard escaped prison four times in 1724, becoming a folk hero and a nightmare for the London authorities. He was just 22 when hanged at Tyburn.

3. Wild

Jonathan Wild ran both sides of the law in Georgian London – crime boss and self-appointed thief-catcher. He sent rivals to the gallows while running his own gang.

4. Rann

John “Sixteen String Jack” Rann was a notorious highwayman known for his flair – silks, ribbons, and charm. He laughed on the scaffold before his execution in 1774.

5. Thurtell

John Thurtell, a former naval officer, brutally murdered William Weare in 1823 over a gambling debt. The case became a national sensation – one of Britain’s first true crime frenzies.

6. Palmer

Dr William Palmer, the “Rugeley Poisoner”, was convicted in 1856 for killing a friend with strychnine. He was suspected of at least a dozen more poisonings, including his own family.

7. Peace

Charles Peace, a violin-playing burglar and killer from Sheffield, led a double life for years. He murdered a neighbour and became one of the most wanted men in Victorian England.

8. Courvoisier

François Courvoisier, a Swiss valet, murdered his employer Lord William Russell in 1840. His trial gripped London – even Dickens and Thackeray watched the execution.

9. Greenacre

James Greenacre dismembered his fiancée and scattered her remains across London in 1836. The tabloids dubbed him “The Edgeware Road Murderer”.

10. Rush

James Rush murdered his landlord and the man’s family in a bungled attempt to seize their farm. The 1849 murders near Norwich shocked rural England.

11. Tawell

John Tawell poisoned his lover with prussic acid in 1845. He was caught thanks to the new electric telegraph – Britain’s first murder solved by technology.

12. Corder

William Corder murdered Maria Marten in the “Red Barn” in Suffolk in 1827. He buried her body and fled. The case inspired stage plays, songs and ghost stories.

13. Barrett

Michael Barrett was the last person publicly executed in Britain, hanged outside Newgate in 1868 for his role in the Clerkenwell explosion.

14. Kelly

James Kelly murdered his wife in 1883, escaped Broadmoor and was later suspected – but never proven – to be Jack the Ripper.

15. Milsom

Jack Milsom was one half of a brutal burglary-turned-murder in Bath in 1896. The case led to one of the last public hangings in the South West.

16. Wainwright

Robert Wainwright murdered his mistress and kept her dismembered body hidden in a box in his warehouse. His 1875 trial shocked London society.

17. Haggerty

Patrick Haggerty was part of a brutal robbery gang in the early 1800s. He was hanged at Newgate with two accomplices – over 40,000 people watched.

18. Patch

Richard Patch murdered his business partner to take over his shipyard in 1805. His lies unravelled in court and his name became synonymous with greed and betrayal.

19. Holloway

John Holloway murdered his partner and transported her body in a box on a wheelbarrow through Brighton in 1831. His gruesome journey became a national scandal.

20. Pegsworth

George Pegsworth was accused of multiple poisonings in the 1860s and was widely believed to be a serial killer, though never formally tried for all the deaths.

21. Good

Thomas Good was convicted of an infamous 1822 robbery and assault on a mail coach in Devon, part of a gang that terrorised travellers across the West Country.

22. Dove

William Dove poisoned his wife with strychnine in Leeds in 1856. The press dubbed him “The Leeds Poisoner” and followed every twist of his trial.

23. Goodridge

Sarah Goodridge was convicted of poisoning her husband in the 1850s in one of the era’s most sensational domestic murder trials. The case inspired lurid headlines and a popular broadsheet ballad.

24. Gammell

Robert Gammell was convicted of violent robberies across the Midlands in the 1830s. He became known for multiple daring escapes before his final capture.

25. Webster

Dr Edward Webster was hanged for murdering a creditor in the 1840s – a respected medical man who turned killer when debt threatened his reputation.

This article was produced with the support of AI tools to assist in sourcing and structuring information. All content has been reviewed, verified and completed by a National World journalist prior to publication.