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Tizer
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30/04/2008
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11:07
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The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913, have been put online
The home page of the web site says: "A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court"
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org.uk/
A press release from Associated Press reads:
London's Old Bailey criminal court puts archive online
By ROBERT BARR
LONDON (AP) - In the scales of justice in 19th-century London, the theft of two coats, two pairs of trousers, two waistcoats, a handkerchief, a pair of gloves and a notebook equaled one life.
John Alberson was 13 years old when he appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey criminal court in January 1835, and was sentenced to death.
Alberson's voice is heard very briefly: "Did not the prosecutor say he would not hurt me, if I said where the clothes were?" The prosecutor denied any promise.
That's one brief life, one tragic tale among records of 100,000 criminal cases which became available Monday on a searchable Web site.
That brings the total number of cases at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org.uk to nearly 200,000 from 1674 to 1913.
New additions include notes of the trial of the notorious wife-killer Hawley Harvey Crippen in 1910; the destitute Emma Elizabeth Ashton who killed her sons aged 18 months and 4 months in 1880; the suffragette Emily Davison who attacked a post box in 1912; and the trial in 1905 of Marion Seddon, who was sentenced to death after surviving a suicide pact with her husband. The jury urged mercy.
The Old Bailey Proceedings Online site is a project of the Humanities Research Institute at the University of Sheffield.
The project director, Professor Robert Shoemaker, head of the history department at the University of Sheffield, calls it "the largest body of published material about the lives of ordinary people ever."
The earliest records in the database are quasi-journalistic reports, but Shoemaker said the City of London gradually exerted control and made the reports more official.
The records are not extensive. The account of Alberson's trial runs just a few pages, with brief summaries of the testimony.
"It's the witness statements that are usually most thoroughly reported because those were deemed to be of the most interest to readers," Shoemaker said in an interview.
The project, which put its first records online in 2003, has cost about $2.2 million, Shoemaker said.
Scholars can use the database to track trends in criminal law and justice, details of ordinary life and changes in the spoken language, he said.
Or it can just reward idle curiosity.
Shoemaker said he had searched the site for the earliest reference to "pajamas," and found it in 1895 in a reference to a person "described as having an American sort of voice and having a suit of pajamas."
The new Central Criminal Court, commonly called the Old Bailey, was built in 1907 on the site of Newgate Prison, which was demolished five years earlier.
The oldest trial accounts come from an issue of News from Newgate dated April, 1674 - "wherein is prescribed the villainous acting of Thomas Mullinex, alias Weaver, who breaking into the house of Walter Carey Esq; clapping a pistol to his breast as he lay in his bed, and forced him to lie still, and caused his lady to rise to shew the rest of his comrades where her money lay, with the manner of their taking."
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melteaser
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Posted - 30/04/2008 : 11:17
There was a article about the Old Bailey on the BBc site the other day. The Old Bailey was really slow on Monday to the point that the homepage wasn't loading.
Another link for assizes/court cases is http://www.lancastercastle.com/html/convict/default.php
Mel
http://www.briercliffesociety.co.uk  |
Tizer
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Posted - 30/04/2008 : 16:17
Thanks for the other link Mel. I haven't tried the Old Bailey site myself but thought it was worth mentioning it on here. I heard about it first on the radio and sounded interesting, not just for genealogists but for those into social history. For instance, if someone was up in court for an affray in a pub then the details of the inside of the pub and the other people in it would probably be included in the proceedings.
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melteaser
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Posted - 01/05/2008 : 07:08
I've been looking at quite a lot of trials etc. just lately. I find them fascinating. The sentences for some 'trivial' cases seemed so harsh and yet serious cases like beating a man to death didn't carry a death sentence!
Mel
http://www.briercliffesociety.co.uk |
belle
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Posted - 03/05/2008 : 12:02
Tizer, thanks for the link, i have just spent an hour looking at what people with our family names were up to in the 16-1900's. It made fascinating reading, one highwayman, two or three deported, one poor woman having her hand branded for being a thief, one aquitted because of her bellie (ie pregnant!), two or three witnesses, one policeman who later became an inspector, one Surgeon and several rather wealthy victims!
Life is what you make it |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 04/05/2008 : 08:07
I was a bit surprised whan I saw the announcement that the OB proceedings were now on line as I used them about 18 months ago when I was doing the 'Drugged to Death' series. Nice to see you are about BJ even if you did give me a slight headache.......
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
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Online proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913
