A New Man for a New Century: Dr. Crippen and the Principles of Masculinity

Abstract

In London, 23 November 1910, the American Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen was hanged for the murder of his wife, Cora. In October Crippen’s trial had lasted five days, but the case itself commanded newspaper attention for nearly six months. Further, it has not only earned Crippen a place at Madame Tussaud’s, but also prompted an array of fictionalized retellings, and has figured in retrospective accounts of sensational British crimes for over 80 years.¹ Even with numbers of new entrants to the field, Crippen continues to jostle among a select few contenders for the title of Britain’s second most famous murderer.