David Olusoga reveals how a murder ‘shaped generations’

The historian relates the impact on his relatives of an 1890s crime committed by his great-great-grandfather

One newspaper headline called it “The Tragedy at Byker”, a revenge killing that shocked the working-class area of Victorian Newcastle, but for the renowned historian and broadcaster David Olusoga it is a story that went on to shape one side of his family.

Speaking for the first time about a murder for which his great-great-grandfather was convicted, Olusoga has revealed the lasting impact on his relatives, long after the violent death in 1896 on the streets of Byker.