Inside Midsummer 1854

Having completed entering the quarter session rolls for the 1880's I've now hopped back to completing the 1850s.  These years feature many more cases than the later years, and in turn take longer to catalogue.

This week I have been cataloguing the 1854 Q4 but I thought it was be a good idea to give you all a feel of a typical quarter.

Here's some statistics based in the Midsummer Session of 1854.

• Number of defendants - 33.  30 men & 3 women
• Number of cases (some defendants appear on more than one charge, others are jointly accused) - 29
• Age range of defendants - youngest is 14, the eldest 58. 14 defendants were under 20 years.
• Number found guilty - 25 of 33
• Range of Sentence - from 4 years penal servitude to 14 days imprisonment
• Types of crime - mostly theft including 7 cases of stolen fowls.  Other thefts range from a stolen wooden washing tray to a silver watch guard, and from theft of a hymn book to a faggot of wood worth a half penny. We also have the killing of a sheep, a case of embezzlement, obtaining a shawl by false pretences and a sexual assault.
• Occupations of the defendants - being Bedfordshire it is unsurprising many were agricultural labourers (18 in fact).  We also have lacemakers, bricklayers, shoemakers, a basketmaker,  a commercial traveller, those in the plait trade, a butcher, a baker (not candlestick maker I'm afraid) and interestingly a Private Soldier in the Coldstream Guards.

We do see some seasonal themes, with the theft of food being prevalent in the Michaelmas quarter and the same family names crop up quarter after quarter ( in fact the same defendants crop up quarter after quarter). Obviously each quarter brings with it something different although we rarely have a quarter where we don't have at least one stolen fowl!  It all adds to the fascination of the Quarter Sessions Rolls.  

QSR1854/3

Punishment in the 1840s

Punishments handed out at the Quarter Sessions ranged from transportation for life to a fine or being bound over to keep the peace. The main source for finding out what sentences were imposed by the justices is the 'Return of all persons committed, or bailed to appear for trial, or indicted' at the Quarter Sessions. This document lists the defendants for the quarter, gives their name, age (sometimes omitted), a very brief summary of the crime (often just 'simple larceny') and a note of the sentence or acquittal if the case came to trial, or a brief explanation of the reason if it did not. This return can be found in the file category 'Prisoners', with a reference in the form QSR1841/1/3/10, where 1841 is the year, 1 is the quarter, 3 is the file (prisoners), and 10 is the item number.

In the early 1840s transportation was still being used quite frequently for more serious crimes or repeat offenders, and most Quarters would see at least one offender transported. The most common sentence was a term of imprisonment in the House of Correction with hard labour. Young offenders aged under 18 were usually ordered to receive one or more whippings during their term of imprisonment, with this to be carried out in private. Some offenders were sentenced to spend specified periods of their sentence in solitary confinement, for example in October 1841 John Houghton was to 'be imprisoned and kept at hard labour in the House of Correction for this county four calendar months, two weeks of the said term to be solitary at different intervals'. Prison sentences ranged in length from a couple of days to one year. Where an offender was sentenced to a prison term further information about the individual may be found in the Gaol Database for Bedfordshire. Further records for Bedford Gaol and House of Correction are found under collection references QGE, QGR and QGV, for which more information can be found here.