This series has already stated that Victorians liked to drink at Christmas. This was noted by elements of the 19th century press, and never made more clear than in a piece in the Yorkshire Herald in 1892.
The paper noted the ‘extraordinarily large number’ of violent and sudden deaths that had been reported to the Liverpool coroner that Christmas.
24 people had been reported to have died on Christmas Day alone, including one alleged murder, six children suffocated to death, and six elderly people found dead.
It was also reported that there had been several more deaths in the city on Boxing Day.
The Yorkshire Herald stated,
“The investigation of the coroner’s office show that drink is directly or indirectly responsible for the majority of the cases.”
Source: The Yorkshire Herald, 28 December 1892
Criminal Historian 