ABSTRACT
Edwin Grey (1859–c. 1955) grew up in the village of Harpenden in the 1860s and 1870s. Grey published several books looking back on his life in Harpenden and his working life. His is thus the nostalgic view of someone very much untouched by the vicissitudes of poverty or the long arm of the law. He claims that Harpenden was ‘free from any serious crime’, with criminality confined to a little petty theft and the occasional fist fight. The likelihood that he may simply not have been aware of more serious incidents is acknowledged, however, as he notes that he often used to hear of fights taking place between navvies and others at the time of the railway construction. The village constable is depicted as a figure of some authority, who nonetheless maintained good relations with those he policed.
