Essayer OR - Gratuit
HATE MAIL
BBC History UK
|October 2023
The 19th and early 20th centuries saw an explosion of malicious letters penned by anonymous authors. As Emily Cockayne reveals via six cases, these messages often reflected the fears and prejudices that stalked Britain

“Red ink is fit enough I hope ha ha.” So read the infamous first ‘Dear Boss’ letter, written in September 1888 in the aftermath of the first gruesome murders in London’s East End. Penned in red ink and signed ‘Jack the Ripper’, it was sent to a London-based news distribution service. Hoax letters about the crimes continued to appear until 1896.
By that time, unsigned letters – or those signed with initials, symbols or a pseudonym – had become fairly common. Some were intended to unsettle the recipient; others were written to undermine a third person. Letters were sent to individuals, authority figures and even entire communities. Most malicious anonymous letters were concerned with reputation, or were written in response to real or imagined grievances and designed to wreak revenge. Most were destroyed after receipt, but a few became the focus of investigation if they were obscene, threatening or libellous. We can’t be entirely sure what types of people wrote anonymous letters, because we can only analyse those that were investigated, and that sample will reflect the biases, norms and preoccupations of society at the time. However, examining the letters does offer us certain clues.
The introduction in 1840 of the pre-paid Penny Post improved the privacy of the mail, which increased still further in the 1850s with the installation of pillar boxes. In 1870, attention was drawn “to the nuisance that the new half-penny post was likely to become by mischievous persons sending obscene, slanderous, or grossly offensive remarks on the open cards”. Half a century later, during the interwar period, the media fixated on reports of ‘epidemic’ campaigns during a heyday of anonymous letter-writing.
Cette histoire est tirée de l'édition October 2023 de BBC History UK.
Abonnez-vous à Magzter GOLD pour accéder à des milliers d'histoires premium sélectionnées et à plus de 9 000 magazines et journaux.
Déjà abonné ? Se connecter
PLUS D'HISTOIRES DE BBC History UK

BBC History UK
What lies beneath
PENELOPE M ALLISON is impressed by a study of the famous Roman town inundated by Vesuvius’s eruption
2 mins
August 2025

BBC History UK
WARHORSE
From William the Conqueror's battle-winning cavalry to Richard III's fatal final charge, Oliver H Creighton and Robert Liddiard explore five moments when horsepower changed the course of medieval history
9 mins
August 2025

BBC History UK
A temple to textiles
A magnificent Georgian venue designed to showcase the finest Yorkshire cloth, the Halifax Piece Hall has been repurposed numerous times over the centuries. CONNIE ROUT explores this spectacular al-fresco venue
2 mins
August 2025

BBC History UK
"The Age of Spectacle starts here"
When Bob Geldof exhorted audiences to fill Wembley Stadium and empty their pockets for famine relief in Ethiopia, he changed the face of charity fundraising – and of live music. On its 40th anniversary, David Hepworth – one of the BBC presenters on the day – explores the legacy of Live Aid
10 mins
August 2025

BBC History UK
The queen in the eye of a storm
She was an Italian Catholic in a ferociously anti-papist English court. An aspiring nun in a hotbed of hedonism. Breeze Barrington follows the extraordinary trials and tribulations of James II & VII's second wife, Maria of Modena
9 mins
August 2025

BBC History UK
“A connection was made between the rarefied world of the royal court and the politics of the street”
JONATHAN HEALEY tells Ellie Cawthorne about the dramatic moments that sparked the breakdown of Charles I’s relationship with parliament and the outbreak of the Civil War
9 mins
August 2025

BBC History UK
The opening salvo
NICK LLOYD enjoys a rich account of the outbreak of the First World War and the early weeks of the conflict
4 mins
August 2025

BBC History UK
Grand salad
ELEANOR BARNETT prepares a colourful dish, inspired by Tudor and Stuart recipes, that's designed to impress eyes as well as stomachs
2 mins
August 2025

BBC History UK
Lorenzo Da Ponte
Librettists get overlooked, but Mozart's great operas wouldn't be what they are were it not for Da Ponte, who was immensely gifted
2 mins
August 2025
BBC History UK
VICTORIAN BOXING SENSATIONS!
Sarah Elizabeth Cox introduces the pugilists who punched their way into Britons' affections during the dying days of bare-knuckle prize-fighting
8 mins
August 2025