Penge – Dog licenses, pub transfers, teen gambling, child labour and cigar fraud – 1892

Beckenham Journal – Saturday 14 May 1892 Penge Keeping a Dog Without a License.—David Green, 84, Laurel Grove, Penge, was summoned at the Penge Petty Sessions on Tuesday for keeping a dog without a license. Defendant admitted the offence and was fined 10s. and 5s. 6d. costs. Transfer of License.—At the Penge Petty Sessions on […]

Violent poacher, cycling offence and rural justice Gloucestershire – 1931

Tewkesbury Register – Saturday 31 October 1931 PETTY SESSIONS Monday. — Before Colonel A. Dugdale (chairman), Mrs. Brooks, Mrs. Clarke, Major R. C. Freer, and Mr. J. Watton. Armistice Dinner. — Permission was given to the British Legion Club to keep open until 12 p.m. on November 11th on the occasion of their annual dinner. Two Poachers […]

Daring Bank Robbery Disguised as a Nurse – 1889

Northern Daily Telegraph – Monday 14 October 1889 THE BANK ROBBERY BY A WOMAN.PRISONER IN THE DOCK. Great excitement is manifested at Bridgnorth to-day in the magisterial inquiry into the charges of forgery and robbery from the Bridgnorth branch of the Metropolitan and Birmingham Banking Co., preferred against Eliza Jane Scoffham. Prisoner’s career is exceedingly […]

Sweeps and Shillings: Essex Publicans Catch Counterfeiters – 1832

Chelmsford Chronicle – Friday 31 August 1832 UTTERERS OF COUNTERFEIT COIN. James Revenhall, Richard Beven, and Robert Carter, were charged as common utterers of base coin, having been detected in passing counterfeit half-crowns at Ramsden and Downham. James Hitchin said he kept the Hare and Hounds, at Ramsden Heath. About twelve o’clock on Tuesday, the […]

Arson, Canterbury highway robbery, a runaway bankrupt – 1885

St James’s Gazette – Tuesday 23 June 1885 OUTRAGE IN IRELAND. The house of a farmer named M‘Carthy, near Goleen, in West Cork, was burned down on Sunday night. An out-office was also destroyed, together with two cows. It is stated that M‘Carthy’s family had a narrow escape from being burned in the building. M‘Carthy […]

Norfolk’s Assize Trials – 1876

Lynn Advertiser – Saturday 02 December 1876 WINTER ASSIZE AT NORWICH. Mr. Justice Lush, the Judge appointed to try prisoners for offences committed within the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge and Hunts (which by an Act of Parliament last Session were associated together for the purpose of a general gaol delivery), arrived at Norwich on […]

9-Year-Old Boy Sentenced for Horse Theft – 1872

Liverpool Weekly Courier – Saturday 21 September 1872 HORSE THEFT BY A BOY. On Tuesday, at the Halifax Borough Court, a boy, nine years old, named Andrew M’Intyre, was charged with stealing a horse and cart belonging to Robert Womersley, farmer, of Lighthcliffe. Womersley was in Halifax on Saturday, and he left the horse and […]

Victorian Crime in Bedfordshire – 1896

Bedfordshire Mercury – Saturday 29 August 1896 ASSAULTING A WIFE. George Smith, labourer, Aspley Guise, was charged by Susan Smith, his wife, with having assaulted her at Aspley Guise, on the 17th inst. — Defendant pleaded guilty; he said he was sorry, but he had taken too much beer. — Complainant stated that when her husband came […]

A pleasure boat capsizes, a burned infant is discovered, workers die in industrial accidents, and a snuff manufacturer gets fined – 1868

Weekly Dispatch (London) – Sunday 31 May 1868 MINOR OCCURRENCES. An Australian paper states that one effect of the outrage on the Duke of Edinburgh is the rapid increase of Orange lodges in the Australian colonies. Mr. Charles S. A. Abbott, of the Foreign Office, has been appointed secretary to the Commission on the Laws […]

Labourer Sentenced for Attempting to Pass Counterfeit Sovereigns in Hertfordshire – 1879

Hertford Mercury and Reformer – Saturday 18 October 1879 SECOND COURT. Before Mr. G. W. Lydekker (deputy-chairman); Viscount Grimston, Mr. J. Evans, and Mr. T. P. Marten. Attempt to Pass Bad Money. Patrick Gilmore, aged 28, an Irish labourer, was charged with “attempting to utter and put off for certain of the Queen’s current gold […]

Two Lincoln youths arrested for multiple housebreaking offences – 1931

The Lincolnshire Echo – Saturday 26 September 1931 LINCOLN YOUTHS SUSPECTED OF HOUSEBREAKING TWO IMPORTANT ARRESTS — Says Chief Constable SEQUEL TO APPARENTLY TRIFLING INFORMATION POLICE SUSPICIONS FINGERPRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS TO BE TAKEN When two Lincoln youths appeared at the City Police Court this morning, the Chief Constable, Mr. W. S. Hughes, described the arrests […]

Suspicious Death and more in Darwen – 1877

Blackburn Times – Saturday 06 January 1877 DARWEN. SUSPICIOUS DEATH. On Thursday forenoon, Mr. Coroner Hargreaves held an inquiry at the George Inn into the circumstances attending the death of John Brannan, 38 years of age, a labourer, living at 13, Foundry Street, who died under suspicious circumstances. It appears that Brannan lived apart from […]

Drunkenness and Livestock Theft in Redditch and Feckenham – 1872

Bromsgrove & Droitwich Messenger – Saturday 06 April 1872 PETTY SESSIONS. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3. (Before H. MILWARD, E. W. HAYWOOD, E. HOLYOAKE, and J. SMITH, Esqs.) Parish Business. – The constables for the several parishes in the division, who were in attendance, were sworn in. It was stated that Mr. John Crow, who was last […]

Somerset Justice: Lighting Offences, Stalled Locomotives, and Apple Thieves in Court – 1925

Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer – Friday 06 November 1925 THE POLICE COURT. LOCOMOTIVES STANDING ON BRIDGES. LIGHTING OFFENCES. Tuesday, before Lieut.-Col. the Hon. Edward Strachey (in the chair), and Messrs. J. G. Norman, M. James, J. H. Tovey and S. W. Warrell. CINEMATOGRAPH LICENSE. On the application of the Rev. Maxwell Fisher (Rector), the […]

Crime & Justice – Leamington Spa Courier Reports – 1836

Leamington Spa Courier – Saturday 17 September 1836 LOCAL INTELLIGENCE. Commitments to the County Gaol:—By F. Lloyd, Esq., Samuel Fantham, charged with stealing, at Birmingham, a double-barrel gun, the property of Edward Powell. —John Smith, charged with stealing, at Aston, a five-pound note, a sovereign, and three half sovereigns in gold, the property of Jabez […]

Bribery, Rewards, and Justice: Liverpool Police Under Scrutiny – 1839

Transcription of the Article from the Liverpool Mercury, Friday 15 February 1839 REWARDS TO POLICE-OFFICERS At the Police-office, on Friday last, a publican by the name of George Upton was summoned before the Magistrates on an information, charging him with having, at eleven o’clock on the night of the 14th ult., a number of prostitutes […]

Lincolnshire Lent Assizes – Trials, Crimes, and Justice in Victorian England – 1875

Market Rasen Weekly Mail – Saturday 06 March 1875 LINCOLNSHIRE LENT ASSIZES. The Commission for holding these Assizes will be opened on Thursday, the 11th instant. The following is a calendar of the prisoners awaiting their trial: William Kirkby, 18, farm servant, for committing an unnatural offence, at Appleby, on the 23rd July, 1874. Elizabeth […]

Alleged Theft of Over 14,000 Rounds of Ammunition – 1884

Leeds Mercury – Thursday 18 December 1884 THE ALLEGED EXTENSIVE THEFT OF AMMUNITION At the Sunderland Police-court yesterday, before the Mayor and a full bench of magistrates, Thomas Miller, a gunsmith, and John Hefferman, Sergeant-Major of the Sunderland Rifle Volunteers, were charged on remand with stealing over 14,000 rounds of ammunition belonging to the Queen. […]

Battersea Boys Charged with ‘Highway Robbery’ – 1923

South Western Star – Friday 11 May 1923 “THAT’S ROBBERY—HIGHWAY ROBBERY.” Two Battersea boys, Percy Newcombe (11), 98 Livingstone-road, and John Johnson (9), 91 Livingstone-road, were charged on remand with stealing a £1 note belonging to Mrs. Taylor, of Peter’s-place, Battersea, from her son. Last week Detective Bond stated that Johnson told him that Newcombe […]

The Salvation Army Nuisance and an Embezzlement Case – 1883

Globe – Thursday 27 September 1883 front The Salvation Army Nuisance At Accrington Police-court yesterday, six members of the Salvation Army, named George Hill, Ellen Williams, Phoebe Kiley, Leonard Halsall, Alfred Farmer, and Henry Bradshaw, were summoned for assaulting Joseph Edmundson, cab proprietor, on the 17th inst. The evidence showed that the Salvation Army were […]

Diamond Heist Allegations: Defendant Too Ill for Court Appearance – 1901

Blackpool Times – Thursday 03 January 1901 Alleged Theft of a Diamond Ring. Defendant Too Ill to Appear. At the Preston General Quarter Sessions, held yesterday, the Chairman, Mr. Worsley-Taylor, Q.C., M.P., stated that the case against Richard Thompson Cubbin, who was charged with stealing a fur-lined overcoat from the Hotel Metropole, Blackpool; a diamond […]

Justice and Social Order: Victorian Law through the Yorkshire Gazette – 1862

Yorkshire Gazette – Saturday 03 May 1862 TUESDAY, April 29. – Before R. Evers, Esq. OBSTRUCTING THE FOOTPATH. – A youth named Christopher Marsh was charged with obstructing the footpath near to the Railway Station. He was standing on the flags with the usual apparatus for cleaning the boots of any person in passing who […]

Drunken Injury, Burglaries, and Brawls: Crime and Conflict in Sheffield and Doncaster – 1874

Sheffield Independent, Monday, 5 January 1874: Critical Condition of a Drunken Man About eight o’clock on Saturday evening, Police-constable Stone found a man named William Keddy of Arthur Street lying in Bridge Street. He was drunk and bleeding profusely from a wound on the back of his head. The officer removed him to the Police […]