May 26 in Victorian History
What the Victorians were up to on this date, year by remarkable year.
1868
The last public hanging in Britain
Fenian bomber Michael Barrett is hanged outside Newgate Prison before a crowd of thousands -- the last public execution in British history. The crowd's behaviour disgusts reformers, and Parliament bans public hangings within days. Henceforth the gallows stand behind prison walls.
1897
Dracula is published
Bram Stoker's Dracula appears in London bookshops, published by Archibald Constable. The Transylvanian count, pieced together from folklore, penny dreadfuls and a Whitby holiday, stalks into literature. Stoker dies believing it a modest success; immortality comes later.