and now the end is near........

To mark the end of the 2 year Paths to Crime cataloguing project we aim to establish a series downloadable walks.  These trials will visit the places which have featured in the Quarter Session Rolls and help you imagine the crimes and criminals of the day.

To celebrate the launch of our first trail we will be undertaking a guided walk through Harrold, Odell and Sharnbrook on Sunday 30 June.

We invite you to join us for all of or just part of the walk.  The complete walk is a little under 7 miles. Along the way, we will share with you some of the characters and stories which have emerged from the cataloguing of the Quarter Session Records.

We start off in Harrold at 11.30am  (please meet at the main car park in Harrold Country Park).  After a picnic break we will commence the second stage of our walk from Odell to Sharbrook at 1.30pm (meeting at the Odell end of the Country Park by the otter) and our finally leg, around Sharnbrook, will start at 2.30pm (from the High Street/Church Street in Sharnbrook)

We hope to see you there, but if you can't make it, don't forget the walk will be downloadable from the website for you to do at your leisure.

For more information visit http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/PathstoCrime/PathstoCrimeWalks/PathstoCrimeWalks.aspx#

The Bedfordshire Reformatory

The Quarter Sessions dealt with more than just criminal matters; they also dealt with other judicial business.  For example, 1864 included a committee report about the Bedfordshire Reform School at Turvey. This poorly handwritten report (possibly just a draft version) provides us with some valuable insights into the School, its aims and how it operated.

Here’s a brief summary of its contents:  

- last report was 3 years ago and provided for the period from the opening of the school in May 1857 to the end of 1860. 

- the total number of boys admitted since opening is 85.  39 have been discharged. 8 were transferred to other reformatories. 6 had died.  2 absconded. 30 were currently at the institution.

- the committee met on 3rd Wednesday in each month and weekly visitation are made.

- 45 1/2 acres of land was held, the land having been drained by the boys under expert tuition.

- a bake house and dairy had been erected.

- a medical officer visited at least once a fortnight.  The health of the boys was satisfactory.

- instruction in reading, writing & arithmetic was given 3 times a week and religious instruction was given by neighbouring clergymen.

The report concluded the institution was fulfilling its brief and that with divine blessing, best results could confidently be hoped for!

QSR1864/1/2/3

The Queens Shilling

1856 saw William Burns recruited by Robert Worsley, a private in the 73^rd Regiment of Foot.  Worsley asked Burns if he was willing to serve her Majesty for 10 years and Burns replied yes.  Burns was given a shilling by the recruiter as a sign of the deal.  Burns remained with Worsley in St Albans on the Thursday and Friday night but disappeared about noon on Saturday.   On the same day he disappeared John Thompson, a sergeant in the 58^th regiment, saw the prisoner at Dunstable.  He had heard the prisoner wished to enlist and went to him and asked if he was willing to serve Her Majesty in the 58^th Regiment.  The prisoner replied yes.  He asked the Burns if he had been in the army before or if he had been enlisted.  Burns replied no.  He enlisted him in the name of Andrew Swaney and again he was given a shilling.  However, Worsley had pursued the prisoner and that evening advised Thompson the prisoner had enlisted before.  In the prisoner had no alternative but to acknowledge he had.  In his defence, Burns claimed Worsley had promised to enlist him as a civilian for the term of 10 years in the 73^rd Regiment and promised to have him sworn in on Friday, so he could be send away.  During the time he was there, Worsley never even given him a billet for the 3 nights and had made him pay for his own lodging.

In December of the same year, the case of William Spacey came to trail.  Spacey lived at Milton Bryan and was a labourer.  On 11 December, PC Alfred Ing was at Woburn and saw the prisoner who he knew well.  The prisoner came to him and said he would like to be a soldier and if he saw a militia man he would enlist in the Bedfordshire Militia.  Ing told Spacey he was able to enlist him if he wished to join the militia.  Spacey said he knew of no impediment as to why he should not join the service and he said he was free able and willing to serve.  As a result, Ing gave Spacey a shilling and told him to come to Woburn the next morning.  Spacey didn't show.    However, Police Superintendent William Ralph Young also knew the prisoner.  Young was aware Spacey had already joined the Bedfordshire Militia but had been discharged for some defect which rendered him unfit for service, possibly a crooked toe.

Both men were found guilty, with Spacey imprisoned for 3 months and Burns for a month.

QSR1856/3/5/26
QSR1857/1/5/11

I have no doubt that soot is mine!

On many occasion we have come across policeman comparing footmarks, left at the scene of a crime, to the boots worn by the prisoners.   An early document of the month from the Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Record Service offered a good description.

However the detective work of the police frequently goes even beyond that.  For example, in the cases of stolen crops, samples are taken from the original source and compared with the stolen loot.  A factor such as the number of times the wheat is dressed becomes relevant.  Often in the case of crops, such as potatoes, a cultivator can recognise the goods stolen from him as he is the only grower of that variety in the area. Sometimes it hard to believe that a chimney sweep would recognise the soot stolen from him, but allegedly the quality and colour did vary!

Already this current session, Epiphany QSR1855, has given us another couple of examples.  John Green, the keeper of the White Hart at Hockcliffe, discovered 2 of his flock of sheep missing. In a near ditch he found blood, sheepskins, heads, entrails and feet.  Police Sergeant Clough took away the neck bones and feet of the sheep.  On discovering a number of bones in the house of James Stone, he was able to compare the cuts and break in the bones.  This proved that the bones found in the ditch were from the same animal as those found in Stone’s home. 

James Addison Taylor, a poulterer and game dealer lived in Park Street West, Luton and had several dozen larks hanging by his door.  They were tied in dozen by string through their beaks. When he went to take them in and found 4 larks and 6 heads left in one of the dozens and 2 were gone, heads and all.  There were 8 gone altogether.  When the stolen larks were located he took with him the heads left on the string.  He was able to compare them with the bodies found.  An added detail stated that one of the birds tongues was left in the body, drawn out of the head, and one of the heads left at the shop had no tongue in it.  It was gory stuff to read but was compelling evidence.

QSR1850/4/5/12a-13a/a

QSR1855/1/5/8

QSR1855/1/5/19

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

25 years now complete.

We're pleased to say that 25 years of Bedfordshire Quarter Sessions Rolls have now been catalogued.

As of today, you can now find the following years on the Bedfordshire & Luton Archives and Records Service catalogue:

1839-1843
1849-1853
1870-1877
1880-1887

We know the records have already proved invaluable to some family historians and we hope they continue to offer a very useful insight into 19th Century Bedfordshire.

Wrest Park - Lunchtime Talk

In case news hadn't spread, we thought we'd let you know of a talk taking place on Friday 11th May between 1pm and 2pm at the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives Service.   The talk is titled "Grand Designs - the conservation of Wrest Park Architectural Drawings".

Just call the service to book a place.