Tales of misery, crime, beatings and inspiration for Oliver Twist

A MAN is executed and his rotting corpse put on display; his brother commits highway robbery and is transported to Australia and put in irons and a small boy is tricked into working in tortuous mill conditions.

These are just a few of the shocking tales of crime and punishment in 19th-century Derbyshire described by author Ian Morgan – and yet he says his latest book, Within Sight of the Gibbet, is ultimately one of hope.

Ian, 50, who lives in Mansfield, said: "I suppose the underlying story is that, as horrific as it is, there is actually hope. If you take note of what happens to these people, the consequences of their hardships being made public were that things got better for everybody else."

The first section of the book is about a boy called Robert Blincoe, who believes he is being rescued from the workhouse to be brought up as a gentleman.

It's a trick and he eventually finds himself working in the notorious Litton Mill at Millers Dale, where he suffers great hardship. As well as the heavy – and extremely dangerous – work, he is subjected to beatings and sadistic torture.

As an adult, he tells his story to a reporter and it helps to bring about reform in the mills. It is also thought that Robert's story was the basis for Dickens' Oliver Twist.

Later in the book, murderer Anthony Lingard is tried and executed in Derby, then his body is gibbeted – hung in a public place close to the scene of the crime – as a warning to others.

It is seen by a mill owner called William Newton who campaigns to get gibbeting abolished.

Two years later, Anthony's brother, William, commits highway robbery and is sentenced to death.

Ian says: "All the reports say the highwayman's death sentence was commuted but nobody knew what happened to him after that. I have traced him to Australia – he was actually transported and, at one point, became a bush ranger."

The author, who gives historical lectures, was developing a new talk about Eyam when the idea for the book came to him.

"I was talking to a friend and said I couldn't think of a good ending for my talk. He said 'why don't you do Anthony Lingard?' and he told me the story. Then he looked across the table, lifted an eyebrow and said, 'but don't think about making a book from this, it's been done'."

But Ian was not deterred.

"Yes, all the stories that have been done are very good – but not accurate," he says.

So he set out to sort the fact from the fiction, going back to primary sources to verify his findings.

As well as his historical discoveries, Ian says he found out a lot about himself along the way.

"The main thing I've learned is that I don't know how I feel about capital punishment. A few years ago I was all for 'an eye for an eye' but, while doing my research, I've learned about so many miscarriages of justice that now I just don't know. I don't know if I ever will resolve it in my own mind."