Prisoners Convictions and sentences

[Pugwash34]

Could anyone help? I recently found an ancestor in the 1911 census who was shown to be in Maidstone Jail. His name was Ambrose George Redhouse. His last known whreabouts before this Census  was in the Liverpool area

I am trying to find out when & why he was sent to prison and for how long, but so far havent been able to find anything on the web.

I am in North Wales so cannot access any information local to the Maidstone area via library etc.

Also, does anyone know the catchment area (pardon the pun ) for Maidstone jail at this time?. I mean What area would you have been tried in to be sent to this jail? was it just Kent or could it have been further afield

[wendy47]

Hi

Welcome to Rootschat.  Great site

You could try the following website for more info

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=120

The following link may help too.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=95a703c135ddfeda0b63f68794d4d2c1&topic=352947.0

Wendy 

[stanmapstone]

I don't know if it is your man, but in "The Times" of 16th October 1909, at the Court of Criminal Appeal, leave to appeal was refused in the case of Rex v Redhouse.

Stan

[Pugwash34]

Thanks for the info Wendy & Stan I subscribed to Times online for the day yesterday and had a good troll through. I wasnt able to get anymore on Ambrose apart from  that listing of Rex v. Redhouse and that simply says that a redhouse had his right to appeal refused. still, Its given me a possible date to work on

However I found various other titbits about other relatives (albeit distant ones) but still worthy of adding the info onto my tree.

Regarding the National archive site, I will be having a look sometime today

Thanks again to you both,  and thanks for the welcome Wendy. It really is a great board

Regards

Neil

[Pugwash34]

Well, they say you shouldn’t dig into the past unless you are prepared for the worst possible outcome. And boy, did I find that out.

I was on a bit of a quest to find out why my Great grandfather was in prison. When I learned the truth, to say it was a bit of a shock is an understatement.

Let’s just say that it’s up there with, and in my opinion worse than murder. I am so glad that my grandfather never knew the truth about his father.

Hey Ho, you can’t change the past. Fortunately all of his descendants turned out to be good people.

[AntonyMMM]

Prisoners in the system could be surprisingly mobile - and could serve their sentences, especially those sentenced to penal servitude, in prisons far from home (or where they committed their offences).

When I was teaching I used a couple of examples - both from the 1880s. A woman convicted of theft in Preston, Lancashire  - after a couple of weeks held locally she she spent all her 5 year sentence in London ( Millbank and Fulham), and a man convicted of theft in Accrington, Lancashire who spent his 5 years firstly in London (Pentonville) and then most of his time was in Portland, Dorset.

The railway system was far more extensive ( and efficient !) than it is now, and prisoners could be moved easily and quickly.