Dartmoor Prison 1871

[paulhill]

Hi,
Does anyone know if the prisoner records for Dartmoor Prison are online?

My ancestor John Hember was listed as a prisoner at Dartmoor in the 1871 census and I would love to discover what his crime was.

                        Many Thanks, Paul.

[Valda]

According to the census John Hember born Westbury Gloucestershire was not a prisoner but a convict - there is a difference. He was in a government prison not a local county prison from which he was probably transfered after being convicted. As a convict he would have been serving hard labour, so his crime was sufficient that he must have been tried at either the quarter sessions - records in a local county record office, or at the Assizes - records at The National Archives. The Assizes were the higher of the two courts.
Very few records for Dartmoor prison survive - let alone online, but Gloucestershire Record Office does have an online database for quarter sessions records.

Year Surname Forename Gender Parish Reference Occupation Catalog
1848 hember george U Westbury-on-Try Q/Gc6/1 labourer Gaol
1867 hember john U Westbury on Try Q/Gc6/5 labourer Gaol
1864 hember john U Westbury-on-Try Q/Gc6/4 labourer Gaol

It looks like a second offence.

You can contact Gloucester Record Office directly

http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1335

Regards

Valda

[Stewart R]

Paul

Just noticed your enquiry re Dartmoor prison of 1871. My Gr.Gr.Grandfather was a warder at the said prison at this time. Given what I've found out about the treatment of convicts by the guards at Dartmoor I'm trusting that their paths never crossed.

Stewart

[slightlyfoxed]

Presumably you Googled Dartmoor Prison???
Devon CC has a section with addresses on it.
apparently the Dartmoor Prison records are in A2A
??

[Valda]

Dartmoor was a government prison and therefore any records will be held by The National Archives (which does not index its records on the A2A website which is for county record offices and other repositiories). County record offices hold the surviving records for county prisons. The survival of prison registers in general is patchy.

A2A

'These archives are cared for in local record offices and libraries, universities, museums and national and specialist institutions across England and Wales, where they are made available to the public.'

Devon Record Office has a webpage of information about Dartmoor Prison

http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/community/the_county/record_office/record_offices_in_devon/guide_sources/crime/dartmoor_prison.htm

TNA does not have any surviving Dartmoor prison registers - for all governements prisoners including those held at Dartmoor it will have quarterly lists, assize trial records, trial calendars, prisoners licences (not indexed so difficult to search but very informative and at a later date can include photographs), etc but no actual prison registers for Dartmoor.

Regards

Valda

[ronesue]

Hi Paul, Sue here, I believe you were interested in my Gt Gt Gt Grandmother Georgina Hembers brother,  I am not sure if I told you in previous messages  but I sent off for the court papers from Gloucestershire, and they stated that Hember was well known to the police for fighting etc., but that he stole a clothes prop from a neighbour and also some rabbits that is why he was sentenced to Dartmoor Prison, it gave his description as swarthy, he had also had a fight with a policeman previously to his sentencing, so he had "form" it was around about Christmas time when he stole the prop, I thought to myself perhaps they used it as fuel to cook the rabbits on, times were hard, but what a harsh sentence for such a small crime.  Hope that helps