Mick Davis – författare

People have lived in the Frome area since prehistoric times and the present town dates back as far as the Saxon era. In the early days it was famous for the quality of its cloth, but the industry and trade declined in the eighteenth century. Over the centuries it has had its fair share of rioting and crime, as well as some notable personalities and eccentrics such as Thomas Bunn, an eighteenth-century philanthropist. It was also the birthplace of Benjamin Baker, builder of the Forth Bridge, and, more recently, Jenson Button, the racing driver. Today it has over 370 listed buildings – more than any other Somerset town – fourteen pubs and two thriving bookshops, as well as an increasing creative and artistic community.In this book, local authors Mick Davis and David Lassman take a journey through Frome to discover some significant and little-known aspects of its rich and varied past. From buildings and streets to people and events, A–Z of Frome highlights fascinating aspects of the town’s history. Here are stories of UFO sightings, a world-famous Roman coin hoard, local inns, the search for underground tunnels and much more.Illustrated throughout, this book will appeal to local residents, visitors and anyone interested in the town’s fascinating and illustrious history.

The ancient city of Bath has always attracted visitors, flourishing in the Georgian era and becoming home for the fashionable and wealthy. The city was rebuilt to reflect its new status and although areas were devastated by aerial attacks in the Second World War and the misguided destruction of the 1960s, Bath today is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.In Bath Murders and Misdemeanours author Mick Davis has delved into local records to reveal the dark side of life in the golden city. From highwaymen to grave robbers and murderers, poisoners to suicides, psychopaths to major disasters, the author has researched and examined a number of little-known crimes that rocked the city in days gone by.This collection of true-life crime stories gives a vivid insight into life in Bath in previous centuries. This book will fascinate anyone with an interest in the history of crime as well as those who want to know more about the history of Bath and the south-west of England.

Frome was historically one of the largest towns in Somerset and is rapidly growing today. Its wealth was built on wool and cloth industries, later metalworking and printing, bringing many people into the town. Agricultural work was also the way of life for many. As these industries rose and fell, the fortunes of many fluctuated and in periods of decline life was often hard.In Frome Murders and Misdemeanours authors Mick Davis and David Lassman delve into local records to reveal the dark side of life for ordinary people through the ages, including tales of bewitchment, counterfeiting, revenge and vicious murder. The stories include a trial for witchcraft and the role of the vicar of Frome, a sadistic murder of a serving girl by her mistress and her mistress’ daughter, the parish constable’s account of his day-to-day dealings with domestic violence, drunkenness and general disorder in Regency Frome, an ageing playboy shot dead by a jealous husband who then shot himself, a farm labourer stabbed to death by his uncle and a triple tragedy of father, wife and son discovered dead in their home by a milkman on his rounds.This collection of true-life crime stories gives a vivid insight into life in Frome in previous centuries. This book will fascinate anyone with an interest in the history of crime as well as those who want to know more about the history of Frome and the south-west of England.

Weymouth has been a major sea port on England’s south coast since the Middle Ages and although it became a popular resort through King George III’s patronage and later when the railways arrived, the area also developed a strong military presence in the nineteenth century with barracks being built in Weymouth and a new naval dockyard developed on the nearby Isle of Portland. A convict prison was opened on Portland and is still a prison today. In this book author Mick Davis explores some of the most notorious crimes associated with Weymouth and Portland through the ages, including a gang of children running wild who terrorised Victorian Weymouth, the tragic shooting of a barmaid by a deluded admirer, the murder of a sailor pushed off a cliff on Portland by a fellow sailor, and many more.This collection of true-life crime stories gives a vivid insight into life in Weymouth and Portland in the past. This book will fascinate anyone with an interest in the history of crime as well as those who want to know more about the history of Weymouth and Portland.

Before its present-day affluence, the Notting Hill area of London once had a second-to-none reputation for its criminality. Victorian developers sought to bring in wealthy Londoners to the large villas, but in the twentieth century the houses became multi-occupancy and the area synonymous with cheap lodging and crimes of every hue. In Notting Hill and North Kensington Murders and Misdemeanours author Mick Davis explores some of the most notorious crimes associated with Notting Hill and adjoining North Kensington from the Victorian era onwards, including some of the less publicised but equally sensational crimes and infamous characters of this fascinating area.This collection of true-life crime stories gives a vivid insight into life in Notting Hill and North Kensington in the past. This book will fascinate anyone with an interest in the history of crime, as well as those who want to know more about the history of this corner of West London.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Britain had eased its problem of crowded jails and surplus criminals by packing them into ships and sending them off to the American colonies to be sold as what amounted to slave labour. All this came to an end with the revolution of 1775 and the legal system was stuck with an ever-increasing army of desperate felons.As there was no national prison system, these felons were crammed on to derelict sailing ships, the hulks, and put to hard labour in appalling conditions, mainly along the rivers Thames and Medway. Their story has been largely ignored by generations of historians and here, for the first time, detailed accounts of their plight, along with the lives and careers of the quite extraordinary men who ruled over them, is examined. Duncan Campbell, for instance, was the ship's captain and plantation owner who first organised the hulk system, and Aaron Graham the magistrate who spied upon, and then defended, the leader of the Nore mutiny and employed William Bligh of the _Bounty_ mutiny to captain his ships.There are biographies of some of the colourful rogues, children and gentleman thieves who were crammed together and condemned to spend years in despair, starvation and degradation, often with their arms and legs manacled and subject to vicious punishments for minor infringements of the regulations.In theory, the hulks were simply holding pens until convicts could be shipped off to the new colonies in Australia, but many sentenced to be transported for terms of between seven years to life were destined to serve most of, if not all, their term onboard. Those that did make it to the other side of the world after a harrowing journey were seldom better off and their story is told in the final chapter.

The Somerset town of Frome might top national polls as a great place to live and enjoy a reputation as the epitome of cool, with Hollywood A-listers regularly spotted on its street and global rock-stars playing its venues, but the place hasn't always been so 'chic' and behind this modern-day fa ade lies a more sinister and foul past; full of murder, kidnapping, rioting, witchcraft and rebellion, among the other nefarious activities that have taken place over the centuries in the town and surrounding areas.Indeed, the very existence of Frome is down to acts of criminality; as it has been said the reason Saint Aldhelm built his Saxon church in the first place, thus bringing the market town into being, was to 'civilise' the outlaws and bandits who roamed the interior of Selwood Forest; the huge tract of woodland which encircled the land that became the original settlement.Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and Around Frome chronicles fourteen foul but fascinating stories that includes the Frome vicar who wrote the most significant book on witchcraft, influencing everyone from The Great Beast himself, Aleister Crowley, to the perpetrators of the Salem witch trials; the key turning point in the Monmouth Rebellion; the last person to be publicly hanged outside Taunton gaol; a war veteran's triple tragedy; and the violent and brutal pitched battle that was the culmination of a long-running feud between the local populace and the Salvation Army.You will never look at Frome the same way again.