Marats assassination was probably the first murder and the first current event to be depicted in clay.
But it wasnt until a couple of decades later that Staffordshire figures became widely available and household items.
In 1827, a small village named Polstead in Suffolk came at the center of worldwide attention.
Maria had already borne a child to William, and a couple more illegitimate children to different men.
The two had arranged to meet at the Red Barn, a local landmark, before eloping to Ipswich.
After that night, Maria was never seen again alive.
But Marias stepmother had a dream that Maria had been murdered and buried in the Red Barn.
Corder, who was now married with a new wife, was later tracked down to London and arrested.
He was sentenced and hanged.
His execution was witnessed by more than 10,000 people.
The scene of the murder, the Red Barn
Murders and public executions were big entertainment for Victorian folks.
The Red Barn Murder found wide coverage in the media.
The case was closely followed by newspapers, and books were published while the trial was still underway.
Songs were written and the gruesome murder was reenacted in plays.
The fascination continued throughout the century and the next.
Such huge public interest caused the Staffordshire potters to produce a number of Staffordshire models of The Red Barn.
One of the figurines got sold at an auction not too long ago for 11,760.
The Red Barn figures contain three sets.
The group on the left depicts the murderer and his victim.
The last group shows Corder standing before the judge.
The figures are around 20 cm tall.
He would later base the Bleak House character Mademoiselle Hortense on Maria.
William Palmer, who poisoned his friend John Cook, and was executed in public by hanging in 1856.
Palmer made large sums of money from the deaths of his wife and brother after collecting on life insurance.
Charles Dickens called Palmer “the greatest villain that ever stood in the Old Bailey.
