These vintage mugshots allow us to see both the horror and humanity in the faces of criminals from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
James Dawson
Indecent Exposure
North Shields Police Station, UK
June 9, 1902Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Lawrence Armstrong
Theft
North Shields Police Station, UK
September 30, 1915Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Mustapha Irola
False Pretenses
North Shields Police Station, UK
August 19, 1904Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
William Stanley Moore Dealing opium Central Police Station, Sydney May 1, 1925Sydney Living Museums
Isabella Hindmarch Theft Newcastle, UK Circa 1871-1873Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Charles Ormston Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Circa 1930sTyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Herbert Ellis Central Police Station, Sydney Circa 1920Sydney Living Museums
Andrea Laudano
Larceny
North Shields Police Station, UK
July 21, 1904Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Ellen (“Nellie”) Kreigher Murder Central Police Station, Sydney July 13, 1923Sydney Living Museums
James Chase
Obtaining money by false pretenses
North Shields Police Station, UK
January 22, 1916Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
William Morrissey
Sleeping Outdoors
North Shields Police Station, UK
July 11, 1904Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
London Circa 1880SSPL/Getty Images
Digambar Badge One of the attempters on Gandhi’s life, afterwards released for cooperating with the prosecution India May 12, 1948 Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images
Catherine O’Neill Theft New York 1906 Library of Congress
Cachar, Assam, India Circa 1870
Under British rule, members of local tribes and ethnic groups deemed “criminal” were required to check in with local police weekly and be processed.Hulton Archive/Getty Images
James Davit Obtaining money by false pretenses Newcastle, UK Circa 1871-1873Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Tom O’Day, alias Joe Chancellor Member of the Hole in the Wall gang
Circa 1900Library of Congress
Lewis Powell (aka Payne)
Abraham Lincoln assassination conspirator
Aboard the U.S.S. Saugus
April 27, 1865Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images
Lizzie Cardish Arson Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary 1906Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Nathan Leopold Murder Joliet Prison, Illinois 1924Topical Press Agency Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Francis Flood Theft Central Police Station, Sydney May 5, 1920Sydney Living Museums
Charles S. Jones
Larceny
North Shields Police Station, UK
September 15, 1914Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Alice Cooke Bigamy and theft State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, New South Wales 1922Sydney Living Museums
John Gumis
Larceny
North Shields Police Station, UK
October 5, 1903Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Valerie Lowe Breaking and entering Central Police Station, Sydney February 15, 1922Sydney Living Museums
Dutch Schultz Gangster 1931Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Jean Baptiste Troppmann Murder Paris 1869Apic/Getty Images
From left: Leonetti, Guiffaut, and Galendemi (first names unspecified) Bank robbery and murder Marseilles, France Circa 1930FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Mafia shootout suspects Regio Calahia, Italy Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images
James E Howe
Theft
North Shields Police Station, UK
September 19, 1906Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
1889Harlingue/Roger Viollet/Getty Images
Jane Forbes
Larceny
North Shields Police Station, UK
January 26, 1905Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Walter Smith Breaking and entering Central Police Station, Sydney December 24, 1924Sydney Living Museums
Shortly after the invention of photography, police quickly realized its utility in fighting, or at least dealing with, crime.
James Dawson
Indecent Exposure
North Shields Police Station, UK
June 9, 1902Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Lawrence Armstrong
Theft
North Shields Police Station, UK
September 30, 1915Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Mustapha Irola
False Pretenses
North Shields Police Station, UK
August 19, 1904Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
William Stanley Moore Dealing opium Central Police Station, Sydney May 1, 1925Sydney Living Museums
Isabella Hindmarch Theft Newcastle, UK Circa 1871-1873Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Charles Ormston Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Circa 1930sTyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Herbert Ellis Central Police Station, Sydney Circa 1920Sydney Living Museums
Andrea Laudano
Larceny
North Shields Police Station, UK
July 21, 1904Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Ellen (“Nellie”) Kreigher Murder Central Police Station, Sydney July 13, 1923Sydney Living Museums
James Chase
Obtaining money by false pretenses
North Shields Police Station, UK
January 22, 1916Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
William Morrissey
Sleeping Outdoors
North Shields Police Station, UK
July 11, 1904Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
London Circa 1880SSPL/Getty Images
Digambar Badge One of the attempters on Gandhi’s life, afterwards released for cooperating with the prosecution India May 12, 1948 Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images
Catherine O’Neill Theft New York 1906 Library of Congress
Cachar, Assam, India Circa 1870
Under British rule, members of local tribes and ethnic groups deemed “criminal” were required to check in with local police weekly and be processed.Hulton Archive/Getty Images
James Davit Obtaining money by false pretenses Newcastle, UK Circa 1871-1873Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Tom O’Day, alias Joe Chancellor Member of the Hole in the Wall gang
Circa 1900Library of Congress
Lewis Powell (aka Payne)
Abraham Lincoln assassination conspirator
Aboard the U.S.S. Saugus
April 27, 1865Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images
Lizzie Cardish Arson Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary 1906Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Nathan Leopold Murder Joliet Prison, Illinois 1924Topical Press Agency Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Francis Flood Theft Central Police Station, Sydney May 5, 1920Sydney Living Museums
Charles S. Jones
Larceny
North Shields Police Station, UK
September 15, 1914Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Alice Cooke Bigamy and theft State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, New South Wales 1922Sydney Living Museums
John Gumis
Larceny
North Shields Police Station, UK
October 5, 1903Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Valerie Lowe Breaking and entering Central Police Station, Sydney February 15, 1922Sydney Living Museums
Dutch Schultz Gangster 1931Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Jean Baptiste Troppmann Murder Paris 1869Apic/Getty Images
From left: Leonetti, Guiffaut, and Galendemi (first names unspecified) Bank robbery and murder Marseilles, France Circa 1930FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Mafia shootout suspects Regio Calahia, Italy Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images
James E Howe
Theft
North Shields Police Station, UK
September 19, 1906Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
1889Harlingue/Roger Viollet/Getty Images
Jane Forbes
Larceny
North Shields Police Station, UK
January 26, 1905Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums/Flickr
Walter Smith Breaking and entering Central Police Station, Sydney December 24, 1924Sydney Living Museums
Police in Europe and the US began using photography to keep records of criminals starting in the 1840s, only a couple years after the invention of photography itself. By 1888, French policeman Alphonse Bertillon had created the template for the “mugshot,” featuring a single photo of the subject straight-on, coupled with a photo of the subject in profile.
Since then, the countless mugshots taken of criminals (and the wrongfully arrested) around the world have given us a photographic record of the kind of history we can’t really get anyplace else.
Many of our surviving images of the past are of royalty, nobility, and the wealthy. We learn about kings and dukes, patrons of the arts and wealthy merchants. Far more rarely do we have a chance to truly glimpse into the lives of ordinary people, let alone criminals.
Mugshots are a record of the past that few people see, and their confrontational nature, with the subject staring directly at the camera, forces us to confront their humanity. People in mugshots are divorced from their context, in many ways, and allow us to see them as the people that they are, not figments of a long gone past.
Above, you’ll find some of the most striking mugshots that history has to offer.
Next, see some of the best famous mugshots of artists, leaders, and entertainers throughout history.
