Criminal Courts

Many families will have one or even more black sheep in the family with a criminal conviction.

Rumours of the deeds may be passed down through generations or may come to light to explain a sudden change of location or absence from all records for many years.

In modern times there is one conviction database that reflects convictions in different types of court.

Research of older convictions can be a laborious business even if you know which Court was involved in the case.

What Court  records exist

More serious offences were dealt with by Assize Courts or Quarter Sessions.

Offences that we may consider minor in modern times such as theft were usually considered serious on olden times and as such offenders often appeared before the Assize Court .

Sentencing was often severe with transportation , prison with hard labour or even hanging meted out for comparatively minor crimes.

Records are often incomplete with large gaps in the years.

Local Justice of the Peace and Local Officials dealt with minor offences.

Records for these offences rarely survive.

Where can I find criminal records? 

They are also likely to be held at many different places ranging from the National Archives, County Records Offices and individual museums.

The first place to start is the local County Records Office. If records are not held at the CRO then the staff will probably know what is available and where to find them.

If your ancestor lived in London the Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1834 are available at www.oldbaileyonline.org.

Local History Societies have in some case checked records and published books or web sites containing details of convictions. These mainly seem to relate to the 1600's and 1700's.

Newspapers often reported on criminal cases. A check on the archives of the local paper can produce results.

Ancestry has the England and Wales Criminal Registers from 1791 to 1892  online. This means that for a small fee you can search details of most assize records.

Where else can I find criminals details? 

Calendars of prisons can provide useful information of convictions involving custodial , transportation or death sentences.

Many prisons hold a list of those people who have received capital punishment at their prison.

There are several websites that specialise in providing details of people transported to Australia or other parts of the British Empire.

How do I find out what Court my ancestor appeared before?

Although most people tended to appear before the Court in the area in which they lived this cannot be relied upon.

As there is no central index records for neighbouring counties may need to be checked as well as counties that may have had some connection with your ancestor.