This is a list of some trials in Britain between 1740 and 1837.
This is not, of course, a definitive inventory. It is likely that details of the case were reported in the news. If you can find the name you are searching please make contact by using the enquiry form. I will see if any archive material is available. If you cannot find the person you are searching don’t worry – please enquire anyway. I will do a search and get back to you.
The data for these British trial pages is sourced from references more than 100 years old and took a long time to transcribe and digitise for the internet. They make fascinating reading and create temptation for us to find out more. They cover all life from murder to executions, libel, slander, bankruptcy, love affairs, divorce, wills, land disputes – it’s all there for us to discover and read about in the newspapers generations on.
I have transcribed these pages as faithfully as possible with little change to the language and style. I have taken time-out to remove any references that, today, we might find racist or offensive (as language and attitudes towards life has changed dramatically since the days of these court proceedings).
William Buell, executed for murder at Tyburn, but who came to life when about undergoing dissection at Surgeons’ Hall, 24 Nov, 1740
Lords Kilmarnock and Balmerino for high treason, 28 July, 1746
Mary Hamilton, for marrying with her own sex, 14 wives, 7 Oct, 1746
Lord Lovatt, 8o years of age, for high treason, beheaded, 9 March, 1747
Freney, the celebrated Irish robber, who surrendered himself, 9 July, 1749
Amy Hutchinson, burnt at Ely, for the murder of her husband, 5 Nov, 1750
Miss Blandy, the murder of her father (hanged), 3 March, 1752
Ann Williams, for the murder of her husband, burnt alive, 11 April, 1753
Eugene Aram, for murder at York, executed, 13 Aug, 1759
Earl Ferrers, for the murder of his steward, executed, 16 April, 1760
Mr, MacNaughten, at Strabane, for the murder of Miss Knox, 8 Dec, 1761
Ann Bedingfield, for the murder of her husband burnt alive, 6 April, 1763
Mr, Wilkes, alderman of London, for an obscene poem (” Essay on Woman “), 21 Feb, 1764
Murderers of captain Glas his wife daughter mate and passengers on board the ship Earl of Sandwich, at sea, 3 March, 1766
Elizabeth Brownrigg, for the murder of one of her female apprentices, hanged, 12 Sept, 1767
Lord Baltimore, the libertine and his female accomplices, for rape, 28 March, 1763
Great cause between the families of Hamilton and Douglas 27 Feb, 1769
Great Valencia cause in the house of peers in Ireland, 18 March, 1772
Cause of Somerset the slave, 22 June, 1772
Elizabeth Herring, for the murder of her husband hanged and afterwards burnt at Tyburn, 13 Sept, 1772
Perreau brothers, bankers forgery hanged, 17 Jan, 1776
Duchess of Kingston, for marrying two husbands guilty, 15 April, 1776
Dr, Dodd, for forging a bond of £420, in the name of the earl of Chesterfield executed, 27 June, 1777
Admiral Keppel, by court-martial honourably acquitted, 11 Feb, 1779
Mr Hackman, for the murder of Miss Reay when coming out of the theatre-royal Covent-garden, 16 April, 1779
Lord George Gordon, on a charge of high treason acquitted, 5 Feb, 1781
Captain John Donellan, for murder of sir Theodosius Boughton executed, 2 April, 1781
Mr Woodfall, the celebrated printer for a libel on lord Loughborough afterwards lord chancellor, 10 Nov, 1786
Lord George Gordon, for a libel on the queen of France guilty, 28 Jan, 1788
Mr, Warren Hastings, a trial which lasted seven years and three months commenced, 13 Feb, 1788
The printer of the Times newspaper, for libels on the prince of Wales and dukes of York and Clarence fined £200 and imprisoned one year, 3 Feb, 1790
Renwick Williams, called the “Monster” for stabbing women in London , 8 July, 1790
Barrington, the pickpocket, most extraordinary adept, transported, 22 Sept, 1790
Thomas Paine, political writer and deist, for libels in the Rights of Man, guilty , 18 Dec, 1792
Archibald Hamilton Rowan for libel imprisoned and fined , 29 Jan, 1794
Mr, Purefoy, for the murder of colonel Roper in a duel , acquitted, 14 Aug,, 1794
Mr, Robert Watt and Downie, at Edinburgh for treason, 3 Sept, 1794
Hardy Home Tooke Thelwall and Joyce, for high treason, acquitted, 29 Oct, 1794
Earl of Abingdon, for his libel on Mr, Serman, guilty, 6 Dec, 1794
Major Semple alias Lisle, for felony, 18 Feb, 1795
Redhead Yorke, at York, libel , 27 Nov, 1795
Lord Westmeath v Bradshaw, for criminal damages, £10,000, 4 March, 1796
Lord Valentia v Mr Gawler, for adultery damages £2,000, 16 June, 1796
Daniel Isaac Eaton, for libels on kingly government guilty, 8 July, 1796
Sir Godfrey Webster v lord Holland, for adultery damages £600, 27 Feb, 1797
Parker, the mutineer at the Nore called admiral , 27 June, 1797
Boddington v Boddington, for criminal damages £10000, 5 Sept, 1797
William Orr at Carrickfergus, for high, Treason, executed, 12 Oct, 1797
Mrs, Phepoe, alias Benson murderess, 9 Dec, 1797
The murderers of col, St George and Mr Uniacke, at Cork, 15 April, 1798
Arthur O’Connor and O’Coigley, at Maidstone, for treason latter hanged, 21 May, 1798
Sir Edward Crosbie and others for high treason hanged, 1 June, 1798
Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, at Wexford, for high treason, 21 June, 1798
Sheares, at Dublin, for high treason, executed, 12 July, 1798
Theobald Woulffe Tone, by court-martial he committed suicide, 10 Nov, 1798
Sir Harry Brown Hayes, for carrying off Miss Pike of Cork 13 April, 1800
Hatfield, for shooting at George III, 26 June, 1800
Mr, Tighe of Westmeath v Jones, for damages £10000, 2 Dec, 1800
Mutineers at Bantry Bay, hanged, 8 Jan, 1802
Governor Wall, for cruelty and murder twenty years before , 20 Jan, 1802
Crawley, for the murder of two females in Peter’s-row, Dublin, 6 March, 1802
Colonel Despard and his associates, for high treason hanged on the top of Horsemonger-lane gaol, 7 Feb, 1803
M Peltier, for libel on Bonaparte first consul of France, in l’Ambigue guilty, 21 Feb, 1803
Robert Aslett, cashier at the bank of England for embezzlement and frauds the loss to the bank £320000 found not guilty on account of the invalidity of the bills , 18 July, 1803
Robert Emmett, at Dublin, for high treason executed next day, 19 Sept, 1803
Keenan, one of the murderers of lord Kilwarden hanged, 2 Oct, 1803
Mr, Smith, for the murder of the supposed Hammersmith Ghost, 13 Jan, 1804
Lockhart and Laudon Gordon for carrying off Mrs Lee, 6 March, 1804
Rev C Massy v marquis of Headfort, for damages, £10000, 27 July, 1804
William Cooper, the Hackney Monster for offences against females, 17 April, 1805
General Picton, for applying the torture to Louisa Calderon to extort confession at Trinidad, tried (under 42 Geo, III, c, 85) in the court of King’s Bench, guilty [new trial, same verdict, II June, 1808], 24 Feb, 1806
Mr, Patch, for the murder of his partner, Mr Bligh, 6 April, 1806
Lord Melville, impeached by the House of Commons acquitted, 12 June, 1806
Hamilton Rowan, in Dublin, pleaded the king’s pardon, 1 July, 1806
The Warrington gang, for unnatural offences executed, 23 Aug, 1806
Palm, the bookseller, by a French military commission at Brennau, 26 Aug, 1806
Judge Johnson, for a libel on the earl of Hardwicke guilty, 23 Nov, 1806
Lord Cloncurry v Sir John B, Piers for damages £20000, 19 Feb, 1807
Holloway and Haggerty, the murderers of Mr, Steele thirty persons were crushed to death at their execution at the Old Bailey, 20 Feb, 1807
Sir Home Popham, by court-martial reprimanded, 7 March, 1807
Knight v Dr, Wolcot, alias Peter Pindar for criminal conviction, 27 June, 1807
Lieut Berry, of HMS Hazard, for an unnatural offence, 2 Oct, 1807
Lord Elgin v Ferguson, for damages £10000, 22 Dec, 1807
Simmons, the murderer of the Boreham family at Hoddesdon, 4 March, 1808
Sir Arthur Paget, for crime with Lady Borrington, 24 July, 1808
Major Campbell, for killing Captain Boyd in a duel hanged, 4 Aug, 1808
Peter Finnerty and others, for a libel on the duke of York, 9 Nov, 1808
The duke of York, by inquiry in the house of commons on charges preferred against him by colonel Wardle from 26 Jan to 20 March , 1809
Wellesley v Lord Paget, for damages, £20000, 22 May, 1809
The king v Valentine Jones, for breach of duty as commissary-general, 26 May, 1809
Wright v colonel Wardle, for Mrs, Mary Ann Clarke’s furniture, 2 June, 1809
The earl of Leicester v Morning Herald, for a libel damages £1000, 29 June, 1809
William Cobbett, for a libel on the German legion convicted, 9 July, 1809
Hon, captain Lake, for putting Robert Jeffery a British seaman on shore at Sombrero dismissed the service, 10 Feb, 1810
Mr, Perry for libels in the Morning Chronicle acquitted, 24 Feb, 1810
The Vere-street gang, for unnatural offences guilty, 20 Sept, 1810
Peter Finnerty, for a libel on Lord Castlereagh, 31 Jan, 1811
The king v Messrs John and Leigh Hunt for libels guilty, 22 Feb, 1811
Ensign Hepburn and White the drummer, both were executed, 7 March, 1811
Walter Cox, in Dublin, for libels, he stood in the pillory, 22 March, 1811
The king v W Cobbett, for libels, convicted 25 June, 1811
Lord Louth, in Dublin sentenced to imprisonment and fine for oppressive conduct as a magistrate 19 June, 1811
The Berkeley cause, before the house of peers concluded, 28 June, 1811
Dr Sheridan, physician on a charge of sedition acquitted, 21 Nov, 1811
Gale Jones, for seditious and blasphemous libels convicted, 26 Nov, 1811
William Cundell and John Smith, for high treason, 6 Feb, 1812
Daniel Isaac Eaton, on a charge of blasphemy convicted 6 March, 1812
Bellingham, for the murder of Mr, Perceval the prime minister 15 May, 1812
The king v Mr Lovell, of The Statesman for libel guilty, 29 Nov, 1812
Messrs John and Leigh Hunt, for libels in The Examiner convicted, 9 Dec, 1812
Marquis of Sligo, for concealing a sea-deserter, 16 Dec, 1812
The murderers of Mr Horsfall at York executed, 7 Jan, 1813
Mr, Hugh Fitzpatrick, for publishing Scully’s History of the Penal Laws , 6 Feb, 1813
The divorce cause against the duke of Hamilton for adultery, 11 April, 1813
Mr, John Magee, in Dublin for libels in the Evening Post guilty, 26 July, 1813
Nicholson, the murderer of Mr, and Mrs Bonar hanged, 21 Aug, 1813
Tuite, murder of Mr Goulding executed, 7 Oct, 1813
The celebrated Mary Ann Clark, for a libel on the Right Honerable William Vesey Fitzgerald afterwards lord Fitzgerald, 7 Feb, 1814
Lord Cochrane Cochrane Johnstone Berenger Butt and others for frauds in the public funds, 22 Feb, convicted, 8 June, 1814
Admiral Bradley, at Winchester for frauds in ship letters, 18 Aug, 1814
Colonel Quentin, of the 10th Hussars by court-martial , 1 Nov, 1814
Sir John Henry Mildmay, bart for criminal covictions with the countess of Rosebery damages £15000, 5 Dec, 1814
George Barnett, for shooting at Miss Kelly of Covent Garden theatre, 8 April, 1816
Captain Hutchinson sir Robert Wilson and Mr Bruce, in Paris for aiding the escape of count Lavalette , 24 April, 1816
” Captain Grant,” the famous Irish robber at Maryborough, 16 Aug, 1816
Vaughan a police officer Mackay and Browne, for conspiracy to induce men to commit felonies to obtain the reward, convicted, 21 Aug, 1816
Colonel Stanhope, by court-martial, at Cambray in France, 23 Sept, 1816
Cashman, a seaman, for the Spafields riots and outrages on Snowhill convicted and hanged, 20 Jan, 1817
Count Maubreuil, at Paris for robbing the queen of Westphalia, 2 May, 1817
Mr RJ Butt, for a libel on lord chief-justice Ellenborough, 23 May, 1817
Mr Wooler, for libels on the government and ministers, 6 June, 1817
Thistlewood Dr Watson Hooper and others, for treason 9 June, 1817
The murderers of the Lynch family at Wildgooselodge, Ireland, 19 July, 1817
Roger O’Connor, on a charge of robbing the mail acquitted, 5 Aug, 1817
Brandreth Turner and others, at Derby for high treason, 15 Oct, 1817
Hone, the bookseller, for parodies three trials before Lord Ellenborough extemporaneous and successful defence, 18 Dec, 1817
Mr Dick, for abduction and rape of Miss Crockatt, 21 March, 1818
Appeal of murder case Ashford the brother of Mary Ashford, against Abraham Thornton accused of her murder and acquitted 16 April, 1818
Rev Dr O’Halloran, for forging a frank, 9 Sept, 1818
Robert Johnston, at Edinburgh his dreadful execution, 30 Dec, 1818
Sir Manasseh Lopez, for bribery at Grampound, 18 March, 1819
Mosely Woolfe and other merchants, for conspiracy and fraud, 20 April, 1819
Carlile, for the publication of Paine’s Age of Reason, 15 Oct, 1819
John Scanlan, at Limerick, for murder of Ellen Hanly, 14 March, 1820
Sir, Francis Burdett, at Leiceste for a seditious libel, 23 March, 1820
Henry Hunt and others, for their conduct at the Manchester Reform meeting Reform Meeting, 27 March, 1820
Sir Charles Wolseley and Rev Mr Harrison, for sedition guilty, 10 April, 1820
Thistlewood Ings Brunt Davidson and Tidd, for conspiracy to murder the king’s ministers commenced, 17 April, 1820
Louvel, in France for the murder of the duke de Berri, 7 June, 1820
Lord Glerawley v John Burn, 18 June, 1820
Major Cartwright and others at Warwick, for sedition, 3 Aug, 1820
“Little Waddington,” for a seditious libel, acquitted, 19 Sept, 1820
Lieutenant-colonel French, 6th dragoon guards by court-martial, 19 Sept, 1820
Caroline queen of England, before the house of lords for adultery commenced 16 Aug it terminated 10 Nov, 1820
The female murderers of Miss Thompson, in Dublin, hanged, 1 May, 1821
David Haggart, an extraordinary robber and a man of singularly eventful life at Edinburgh for the murder of a turnkey, 9 June, 1821
Samuel D Hayward, the favourite man of fashion for burglary, 8 Oct, 1821
The murderers of Mrs, Torrance, in Ireland convicted and hanged, 17 Dec, 1821
Cussen Leahy and others, for the abduction of Miss Gould, 29 July, 1822
Barthelemi, in Paris, for the abduction of Elizabeth Florence, 23 Sept, 1822
Cuthbert v Browne, singular action for deceit, 28 Jan, 1823
The famous “Bottle Conspirators,” in Ireland, by ex-officio, 23 Feb, 1823
The extraordinary ” earl of Portsmouth’s case ” commenced, 18 March, 1823
Probert Hunt and Thurtell, murderers of Mr Weare Probert turned king’s evidence afterwards hanged for horse-stealing, 5 Jan, 1824
Mr Henry Fauntleroy, banker of London, for forgery, hanged, 30 Oct, 1824
Foote v Hayne, for breach of promise of marriage damages £3000, 22 Dec, 1824
Mr Henry Savary, a banker’s son at Bristol for forgery, 4 April, 1825
O’Keefe and Bourke, murderers of the Franks family, 18 Aug, 1825
The case of Mr Wellesley Pole and the Misses Long, commenced, 9 Nov, 1825
Captain Bligh v the honerable William Wellesley Pole for adultery, 25 Nov, 1825
Fisher v Stockdale, for libel in Harriette Wilson, 20 March, 1826
Edward Gibbon Wakefield and others, for abduction of Miss Turner, 24 March, 1827
Rev, Robert Taylor for blasphemy found guilty, 24 Oct, 1827
Richard Gillan, or the murder of Maria Bagster at Taunton, 8 April, 1828
Mr Montgomery, for forgery he committed suicide in prison on the morning appointed for his execution 4 July, 1828
Brinklett, for the death of lord Mount Sandford by a kick, 16 July, 1828
William Corder, for murder of Maria Marten, executed, 6 Aug, 1828
Joseph Hunton, a quaker merchant for forgery hanged, 28 Oct, 1828
Burke, at Edinburgh for the Burking murders Hare his accomplice became approver, 24 Dec, 1828
The king v Buxton and others, for fraudulent marriage, 21 March, 1829
Jonathan Martin, for setting fire to York minster, 31 March, 1829
Stewart and his wife, noted murderers at Glasgow hanged 14 July, 1829
Reinbauer, the Bavarian priest for murders of women, 4 Aug, 1829
Captain Dickenson, by court-martial at Portsmouth acquitted, 26 Aug, 1829
Mr Alexander, editor of the Morning Journal for libels on the duke of Wellington, convicted 10 Feb, 1830
Clune, at Ennis for cutting out the tongues of the Doyles, 4 March, 1830
Mr Comyn, for burning his house in the county of Clare hanged, 6 March, 1830
Mr, Lambrecht, for murder of Mr Clayton in a duel, 2 April, 1830
Captain Moir, for murder of William Malcolm hanged, 30 July, 1830
Captains Smith and Markham, for killing Mr O’Grady in a duel, 24 Aug, 1830
Captain Helsham, for murder of lieut Crowther in a duel, 8 Oct, 1830
Mr St John Long, for manslaughter of Miss Cashin, 3o Oct, 1830
Polignac Peyronnet and others, ministers of France, 21 Dec, 1830
Richard Carlile, for a seditious libel, inciting to a riot guilty, 10 Jan, 1831
Mr D O’Connell, for breach of proclamation pleaded guilty, 12 Feb, 1831
St John Long, for manslaughter of Mrs, Lloyd, 19 Feb, 1831
Major Dundas, for the seduction of Miss Adams damages £3000, 26 May, 1831
Rev, Robert Taylor (who obtained the revolting distinction of ” the Devil’s Chaplain”), for reviling the redeemer convicted, 6 July, 1831
Mr Cobbett, for a seditious libel the jury could not agree, 7 July, 1831
Mr, and Mrs, Deacle v Mr Bingham Baring MP, 14 July, 1831
John Any Bird Bell, 14 years of age for the murder of Richard Taylor aged 13 hanged at Maidstone, 1 Aug, 1831
The great cause, earl of Kingston v lord Lorton commenced, 9 Nov, 1831
Bishop and Williams, for murder of the Italian boy, 3 Dec, 1831
Earl of Mar, in Scotland, for shooting at Mr, Oldham 17 Dec, 1831
Elizabeth Cooke, for murder of Mrs Walsh by ” Burking”, 6 Jan, 1832
Colonel Brereton, by court-martial at Bristol, 9 Jan, 1832
The murderers of Mr Blood of Applevale county of Clare, 28 Feb, 1832
William Duggan, at Cork for murder of his wife and others, 26 March, 1832
Mr Hodgson (son of the celebrated Miss Aston) v Greene, 26 July, 1832
Mayor of Bristol, for neglect of duty in the Bristol riots, 26 Oct, 1832
Rev Mr Irving, by the Scots church for heresy, 13 March, 1833
Lord Teynham and Dolan, a tailor for swindling guilty, 19 May, 1833
Attorney-general v Shore (lady Hewley’s charity which is taken from the Unitarians), 23 Dec, 1833
Captain Wathen, 15th hussars by court-martial at Cork, honourably acquitted his colonel lord Brudenell cashiered, Jan, 1834
Proprietors of the True Sun, for libels guilty, 6 Feb, 1834
Mary Ann Burdock, the celebrated murderess at Bristol, 10 April, 1835
Sir John de Beauvoir, for perjury acquitted, 29 May, 1835
Fieschi, at Paris for attempting the life of the king Louis Philippe by exploding an infernal machine, 30 Jan, 1836
Hon GC Norton v lord Melbourne, in court of Common Plea for criminal conviction with the Honourable Mrs Norton verdict for defendant, 22 June, 1836
Lord de Roos v Cumming, for defamation, charging lord de Roos with cheating at cards verdict in favour of Mr Cumming, 9 Feb, 1837
James Greenacre and Sarah Gale, for the murder of Hannah Browne Greenacre convicted and hanged Gale transported, 10 April, 1837
Georgian Trials in Britain – British legal system – 1700’s, 1800’s