Under Fire: The Blitz Diaries of a Volunteer Ambulance Driver

Naomi Clifford

NON-FICTION AND FICTION AUTHOR

Historical posts

13 Park Lane: A brand new historical mystery based on real events

Meet the real characters of my historical crime novel 13 Park Lane

copies of the book 13 Park lane by Naomi Clifford showing back view of a 19th century woman in a green gown

13 PARK LANE

A dark historical crime novel set in Victorian London

“A bright new star on the crime-fiction scene, and her focus on telling women’s stories is just what the genre needs.”

“Compelling storytelling”

“Utterly gripping… I was completely hooked… terrific

ORDER HERE

Under Fire: The Blitz Diaries of a Volunteer Ambulance Driver

UNDER FIRE

The Blitz Diaries of a Volunteer Ambulance Driver

Naomi Clifford

“Fabulous blend of diary accounts and social history”

Available in paperback and ebook formats

ORDER HERE

Read about the lives of wartime ambulance volunteers

Women and the Gallows – the stories of forgotten criminals

‘Frenzied despair’: Sarah Pugh murders her daughter

Horace Cotton: The extraordinary Ordinary of Newgate

Ann Heytrey: hanged at Warwick for murdering her mistress

keelmans hospital newcastle

1829: The cost of executing Jane Jameson

courting couple 1802

“A Warning to Thousands”: Sarah Lloyd

Mary Morgan: “A Provincial Tragedy” (1805)

Charlotte Newman and Mary Ann James

1814: Murder or manslaughter? The trial of Mary Ann Adlam

Basic Instincts: The art of Joseph Highmore at the Foundling Museum

The hazards of hiring: Melinda Mapson

The birth of the pound note and the fate of Sarah Bailey

The end of Frances Thompson, a dealer in false banknotes

Ann Hurle’s story: The execution of “a young woman of education”

1802: Maria Davis and Charlotte Bobbett, who dropped a baby on Brandon Hill, Bristol

diagram of childbirth (cross-section), 1821.

“Is she or isn’t she?” How an age-old plea of pregnancy saved women from execution

Gangs of Market Drayton: Ann Harris (1828)

black and white etching (?) of an 18th century in a mob cap.

The bloody career of Maria Theresa Phipoe

My guest blog for Geri Walton: Women on trial for infanticide

Monochrome (sepia) photograph of the writer George Eliot - middle-aged Victorian woman with bad teeth, hair centre parted

The confession of Mary Voce, who inspired George Eliot

Recipe for rice pudding (19th century)

Three women hanged for poisoning their husbands in 1836: Harriet Tarver

Three women hanged for poisoning their husbands in 1836: Betty Rowland

Three women hanged for poisoning their husbands in 1836: Sophia Edney

Women and the Gallows review: Ripperologist

Beatrice Parvin on Women and the Gallows

eliza fenning broadside detail

Eliza Fenning: Guest post at All Things Georgian

sir richard birnie

The death of Frances Colpitts

Child-stripping and child stealing in the Regency

inquest on margaret hawse

The death of Frances Colpitts – Part 2

The Coffee Grinder Bernard de Hoog (1867–1943) McLean Museum and Art Gallery

Susannah Holroyd: Serial killer

Sarah Chandler: The one that got away (1814)

Charlotte Long, hanged in 1833, for setting fire to haystacks

The Norfolk Murders, Part 2: Catherine Frarey and Frances Billing

The Norfolk Murders, Part 1: Mary Wright

Hannah Palmer: Executed with her brother for the murder of his wife (1801)

murder of mr steele from newgate calendar

1807: The execution of Holloway and Haggerty: tragedy upon tragedy

old print of elizabeth fry reading to prisoners in newgate

Harriet Skelton – “Chosen for death”

illustration of hanging outside newgate prison

Mother of 8 Ann Woodman, condemned to death for uttering forged banknotes

Mary Thorpe: First woman to be executed in the 19th century

Ann Baker, hanged for stealing sheep (1801)

William Hone on the case against Elizabeth Miller, who mistook arsenic for oatmeal

Pregnant and condemned: Pleading the belly and the jury of matrons

Ann Mead: The life and death of a nursemaid

47 cases of infanticide at the Old Bailey

old print of elizabeth fry reading to prisoners in newgate

Harriet Skelton’s letter to the Bank of England

More historical posts

Thomas Rowlandson's coloured print: a stage coach stopping at a country inn, red rooves, various people haning about, a man tending to the horses

Clocking on: Did ‘time’ help Abraham Thornton escape justice?

Georgian era painting of a girl on her way to market. She sits on the wayside, wearing a green cape and hood, and has a basket of her goods next to her

Where was Mary Ashford’s spot at Birmingham market?

Monochrome map showing the important locations involved in the 1817 murder of Mary Ashford near Erdington, Birmingham, created by Rowland Hill

Mapping murder – Rowland Hill’s early career

Coloured print of a schoolmaster returning to a classroom in uproar

Six images of Georgian-era schools

18th century painting of a milkmaid with her children, She stands in working attire, holding a milk churn, farmyard setting

Five views of the countryside at dawn

Five breeds of dog in the Georgian era

James Gillray – Part 2: Hannah Humphrey and the print shops of London

James Gillray, Monstrosities of Kensington Gardens, 1799. Published by Hannah Humphrey © The Trustees of the British Museum

James Gillray’s Monstrosities of 1799 – Kensington Gardens (Part 1)

The Long Room at Trinity College Library, Dublin

Catherine Andras, model-maker to royalty

The life and death of Jerry Abershaw, highwayman

Spa Fields riots: The raid on Beckwith’s gun shop

Basic Instincts: The art of Joseph Highmore at the Foundling Museum

Title page of William Cobbett's state trials

William Cobbett’s State Trials: a complete list

12 scenes of Christmas

1814: Murder or manslaughter? The trial of Mary Ann Adlam

Abduction and Rape in 18th-Century London: The Multiple Misfortunes of Charlotte Williams by Joanne Major and Sarah Murden

Five scenes of children playing

Benjamin Jesty: Pioneer vaccinator

Baby love: 6 Georgian infants

Breast is best but what were the alternatives in the long 18th century?

What happened during the Georgian harvest?

Lady Georgiana Lennox and her adventures with the 1st Duke of Wellington

cruikshank very unpleasant weather 1835

It’s raining pitchforks: the Swing Riots of the 1830s, Or, The miserable life of the ag lab

Indoor fun and games

Colour 18th century painting of men playing cricket in a field

A sure bet – cricket in the Georgian era

book cover for The Late Lord - The life of John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham by Jacqueline Reiter. Oil painting of a youngish 18th century man in a wig

In sickness and in health: a late Georgian aristocratic marriage – John Pitt, the Earl of Chatham, and Mary Elizabeth Townshend

Image of the 1834 destruction of the houses of parliament by fire - monochrome with yellow

The buildings of Georgian Whitehall and Westminster: Houses of Parliament

Monochrome image of Downing Street in London with a lamppost and rows of Georgian houses on the right and left

The buildings of Georgian Whitehall and Westminster: Downing Street

The buildings of Georgian Whitehall and Westminster: Horse Guards, Dover House

The Summer Shower, or Mademoiselle Par, a Pluye

Summer scenes from the Georgian era

The Yorkshire schools in court: 1816