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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: jansen on Saturday 27 June 09 21:55 BST (UK)
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i am tracing an ancestor listed in the 1881 census as a prisoner in preston prison. the national archives dont hold records for preston prison and lancs archives are incomplete. does anyone know where i can find any info on the actual sentences passed on criminals in the courts.
thanks
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It looks like the National archives might hold a few Lancashire Assize court records, such as when a prisoner got sent down:
scroll down until you see Assizes 13 (Criminal Assizes) and Assizes 12 (civil assizes) - unfortunately it looks like some years are missing
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/localhistory/gallery4/assizes.htm
Good Luck
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hi rena.
thanks for that. i have e-mailed the national archives with the info i require so wait to see the outcome.
regards. jansen
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A word of caution. The trial could have taken place anywhere - prisoners were sometimes sent a long way.
I found a man in HMP Borstal (Rochester, Kent) in the 1881 census. Eventually I discovered he had been given 7 years at the Quarter Sessions in Stafford in 1876.
A good line of research is to try the 19th century newspapers collection for a report of the trial. Once you've got the place and date of a trial, you can then access the TNA records with confidence.
good luck,
Martin
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the problem i have is that i dont know any dates of when my ancestor was sent to prison.
in the 1871 census he is living with his family in the rural outskirts of blackburn but in prison in 1881. by 1891 he is living in the union workhouse in blackburn where he died in 1892.
i have started going through the local newspapers but gave up as there too many years to research.
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That was exactly the problem I faced. When the British Library Nineteenth Century newspapers became searchable online, it only took a couple of hours to find reports on three trials. Despite a name (David White) that's not uncommon, combining it with his occupation and home town filtered the search results to a managable number.
If you give some details of your ancestor, someone here might be able to find him.
Martin
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If the person was tried at Assizes or Quarter Sessions they will be listed in Calendars of Prisoners (HO140) or Criminal Registers (HO27) at TNA. These are arranged by County and will provide the date and the result of the trial.
I agree that if you have access to it the British Library 19th Century newspaper database is definitely worth a try.. I found details of a Lancs. trial that I would not otherwise have found, but only after I'd finally got around to reading the search tips!
Have you looked for the person's name in Access to Archives (via the TNA website)? My prisoner's name turned up there, and although the record turned out not to contain anything of use, it did give a clue to his whereabouts.
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A word of caution. The trial could have taken place anywhere - prisoners were sometimes sent a long way.
I found a man in HMP Borstal (Rochester, Kent) in the 1881 census. Eventually I discovered he had been given 7 years at the Quarter Sessions in Stafford in 1876.
A male relation of mine was in HMP Borstal (Rochester, Kent) in the 1881 census. I would love to find out why he was in prison and for how long. How did you find out that your man had been sentenced to 7 years
Thanks, W
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The E&W Criminal Registers on Ancestry may help -- they cover up to 1892.
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Hi
Ancestry (subscription only so you cannot request lookups) holds indexed images of the records held at The National Archives
England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 - HO26 and HO27 (Middlesex 1791-1892 and the rest of England and Wales 1805-1892)
The registers will give the name, place and date of the trial, the crime and the sentence. The earlier registers will give age.
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec/?htx=List&dbid=1590&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&offerid=0%3a7858%3a0
You can get a free two week trial from Ancestry, or many people access by the library edition.
some information on this topic (now out of date) on the libraries that subscribe
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,161337.60.html
Regards
Valda
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POst the name here and someone may help
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Dear Jansen
My research for my ancestor Jacob Silverthorne led me to fact he had been arrested ,charged and convicted tried and sentenced at The Lent Assizes for Wiltshire.
In1993/4 I started my quest for information as to this incident ,non or hardly any on line records back then so everything was "manual." The court records then were Kept at The Public Record Office at Chancery Lane ,London WC2A 1LR.As I was unable to look myself I employed a researcher to look there for me,finding the relevant pages for my man ,the pages had markers put in them,and later photographed,called a"reprographic order"
I eventually received 5 xA3 Sheets of reprographs yellow background but very clear text all beautifully hand written.
My guy was sentenced to be HUNG for stealing a side of BACON!,however the sentence was commuted to 2 years HARD LABOUR.I can't find where he served his sentence or release papers if they exist,so make sure if you go down the same route you get everything relevant to the person you are looking for at the time. Sorry I can't remember the cost guess it would hardly be relevant to today.
Hope this is useful to you ,and good luck on your quest
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My Williams family came from Beguildy, a tiny village in Radnorshire, Wales, where they were a wealthy farming family and John Williams farmed at Gwenerrin in the late 1700s which is still there. While Googling for Williams and Beguildy, a friend came across the very surprising story of THE LONDON MONSTER, who was identified as Rhynwick Williams whose father was a well-off apothecary, Thomas Williams, and whose grandfather John Williams was 'still living in Beguildy'! This leads me to believe that this notorious criminal may have been related to my John Williams. The sensational trial took place in 1790 and Rhynwick (or Rhenwick) was given 6 years in Newgate Prison.
I am hoping to establish the family of this Rhynwick (or Rhenwick) Williams and wondered how I would be able to do this. It seems that he was born somewhere around 1767 as he was reported to be 23 when arrested in 1790.
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Monster
Mary