Explore the stories surrounding crime and justice on Bow Street.
MUSEUM LATE: Pride, Protest, & Preserving Our History
Friday 19th June, 18:30 (Doors open 18:00)
Bar open throughout the evening
Join us this June for a late museum opening to celebrate Pride Month and hear about the Echoes from the Dock project, and how you can get involved.
So come along after work, grab a drink at the bar, and mingle in the museum as we host a very special schedule of contributions…
With Sue Gives a F*ck emceeing, you can expect ‘deadpan, knife sharp’ wit throughout the night. A drag performer, comedian, and writer who started life in front of RuPaul, Sue Gives a F*ck has hosted countless sell-out shows and won numerous awards, from The Glory’s Lipsync 1000 to the Museum of Comedy’s New Comedian of the Year.
Hear playwright and crime fiction author Robert Holtom discuss the process of transforming queer history into stories, novels, and plays. Their debut murder mystery, A Queer Case, came out last year and has been longlisted for the CWA Whodunnit Dagger and is a finalist for the LGBTQ+ Mystery Lammy Award. The sequel, A Morbid Passion, comes out this year.
Stop by the Drunk Tank and make a protest… (badge), that you can wear with Pride! Queer communities have long used pin badges as portable, visible symbols of protest—signalling identity, solidarity, and resistance in everyday spaces where open expression was often unsafe. Will yours be a sign of celebration, protest, or both? Badge making will run throughout the evening with museum staff on hand to help you.
Speak to the conservators of the courtroom dock where Wilde once stood. The conservation team from Plowden & Smith will be present throughout the evening to discuss the ins-and-outs of object conservation. An unmissable opportunity for anyone interested in the field to gain insights into an ongoing project.
Hear from and speak to the ‘Echoes from the Dock’ curator. Following a brief update on project progress, catch our project curator any time during the evening to discuss the ongoing curation process. You are also invited, should you wish, to leave your contact details if you have any personal experiences with the criminal justice system which you feel are relevant to the exhibition, and/or express interest in being involved in its co-curation.
Gather together as we round off the evening with an exclusive live acoustic performance from Danny Starr, a singer-songwriter from London ‘known for attention-grabbing melodies and thought-provoking lyrics that are immediately identifiable as his own.’
The Echoes from the Dock project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It is with thanks to National Lottery Players that we are able to conserve the courtroom dock where Oscar Wilde stood for his committal hearing at Bow Street Magistrates’ Court which resulted in his trial at the Old Bailey and subsequent prison term. The culmination of the project will be an exhibition that explores the queer community’s relationship to criminal justice from Wilde’s arrest in 1895 to today.
Timings: doors open at 18:00, event ends at 20:30
Conditions of entry: this event is recommended for anyone over the age of 18 years.
Tickets: this event is in person at Bow Street Museum of Crime and Justice. This is a dynamic event with multiple activities happening throughout the Museum across the evening, it is therefore a standing only event. There will be no seating available (other than the benches in the cells).
Prices to attend at the Museum: £10 regular admission/ £5 student tickets
PLEASE NOTE:
Photography will be taking place during this event. Images may be used on our website and social media platforms. If you do not wish to appear in any photographs captured, please speak to a member of museum staff.
Queens of the Underworld: A Journey into the Lives of Female Crooks
Thursday 13th August, 18:30 (Doors open 18:00)
Popular culture is littered with famous criminal men – from Robin Hood and Dick Turpin to Ronnie Biggs and the Kray Twins – but what about all the criminal women? Where are the highwaywomen and jewel thieves, the bank robbers and gold smugglers, the motor bandits and burglars?
In Queens of the Underworld, Caitlin Davies traces the history of professional female crooks, from Moll Cutpurse who ruled the Jacobean underworld, to Noreen Harbord the postwar Queen of the Contraband Coast, and Zoe Progl, Britain’s No. 1 Woman Burglar who appeared in the Bow Street dock in the autumn of 1960, recaptured after her notorious escape from Holloway Prison.
Caitlin Davies is a novelist, non-fiction writer and award-winning journalist. Her recent books focus on women in the justice system, as criminals, prisoners and detectives. Bad Girls: The Rebels and Renegades of Holloway Prison was nominated for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing (2019).
Caitlin is also Writer in Residence at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, as a Royal Literary Fund Fellow. She lives in Kent and is a trained Professional Investigator. https://www.caitlindavies.co.uk/
Booking essential as places are limited.
Timings: doors open at 18:15 and entry before then will be refused. The talk begins at 18:30 and lasts approximately 75 minutes, including a Q&A with the audience. This will be followed by a book signing.
Conditions of entry: this event is recommended for anyone over the age of 16 years.
Tickets: there are two ways to attend this event, in person at Bow Street Museum, or online via a live stream (using Zoom).
Prices to attend at the Museum: £15 in person/ £6 online
Check back here soon for future talks or subscribe to our Newsletter to be first in the know.