[This document can be acquired from a sub-directory coombspapers via anonymous FTP or COOMBSQUEST gopher at the Australian National University, Canberra on the node COOMBS.ANU.EDU.AU or from the ANU Soc.Sci.WWW Server at http://coombs.anu.edu.au/CoombsHome.html] The document's ftp filename and the full directory path are given in the coombspapers top level INDEX files] [This version: 20 June 1994] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- UK NATIONAL REGISTER OF ARCHIVES - information leaflets ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NATIONAL REGISTER OF ARCHIVES information sheet no 9 sources for criminal and legal history ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This information sheet briefly describes the unpublished sources noted in the National Register of Archives (NRA), the specialist repositories that may be contacted and the most useful general works of reference. Among other subjects covered in this series are labour history, women's history and family history. 1. NRA INDEXES All three indexes contain information of interest for the history of crime and the criminal justice system. The numerical NRA references (given below) are to lists received by the NRA from libraries, record offices and other repositories. These may be consulted in the NRA's public search room. Personal Index Indexes the papers of individuals who can be traced in standard works of reference like the Dictionary of National Biography, Who Was Who and The Law List. Individual and descriptive searches are available and a thesaurus of descriptions can be accessed on-line. The index is designed to notice only groups of ten or more items of correspondence; to trace smaller quantities will normally require personal search of likely NRA reports. A database of the papers of individuals not easily traced in reference works is in preparation. If searching unsuccessfully for women, you are advised to check the entries for their close male relatives. Business Index May be trawled by name or type of business (a list of business codes and vocabulary search for the business index are available on-line), town, county, document dates or any combination of these. The papers of solicitors' firms are to be found under code 22, sub-code 2, legal services. Subject Index This index is arranged archivally rather than thematically, comprising references to the institutions which generate records rather than the places and events to which they relate. It may be searched by any word in an institution's title, by type of institution, by town or county, or any combination of these. A list of codes can be consulted on-line, as can a vocabulary list. Church courts are to be found under code 6, Church of England, sub-code 2. Code 16, Central Government, contains a number of sub-codes of interest, including: 311, Court of the King's Bench; 316, Court of the Star Chamber; 332, the Lord Chancellor's Office; 401, the Home Office; and 406, the Prison Commission. Code 17, Local Government, also contains a number of useful sub-codes, such as 18, Police Authorities. Prisons will be found in code 17, sub-code 9. Approved Schools (formerly known as reformatories) are to be found in code 24, sub-code 3. Within code 26, Societies and Associations, is included sub-code 10, societies formed for the protection of property, while records of various branches of the Discharged Prisoners Aid Society are to be found under sub-code 16, Welfare and Charitable Societies. Code 33, Professional Bodies, includes in sub-code 6 those for members of the legal profession. Records relating specifically to Scotland are to be found noted under code 36. NRA "Special Series" Lists relating to Quarter Sessions and Petty Sessions are filed apart from the main NRA in "special series" which are housed outside the search room. Though entered upon the register, these lists are not generally indexed in the Subject Index. Ask the Search room Officer for further details. You are, even so, advised to check the Subject Index, using code 17, sub-codes 4 and 5, for details of Quarter Sessions and Petty Sessions records which have strayed into other collections. 2. SPECIALIST REPOSITORIES The following repositories and institutions hold major collections relating to the history of law, crime and the criminal justice system. Where a numerical location code is given, this can be used on the register screen to identify lists received from the repository by the NRA and on the Repositories File to check opening hours and other essential information. Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1LR (location code 65) This branch of the PRO holds extensive records of the Central Criminal Court (CRIM), Chancery (C), the King's Bench Court (KB), itinerant justices (JUST), the Supreme Court of Judicature (J) and the King's Bench, Fleet and Marshalsea prisons (PRIS). The PRO also holds some papers of individuals and records, 15th-19th cent, relating to Clement's Inn. A copy of the Current Guide is available to the public in the NRA's search room, though information about public records, other than stray items which have found their way into private hands, will not be found in the indexes of the NRA. Public Record Office, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond TW9 4DU (location code 66) This branch of the PRO holds extensive records of the Home Office (HO), the Lord Chancellor's Office, the Prison Commission, the Reformatory Inspector's Office (also HO) and other areas of government concerned with law and order or the containment and rehabilitation of offenders, including the Metropolitan Police. British Library of Political and Economic Science, 10 Portugal Street, London WC2A 2HD. (location code 97) Holds extensive papers relating to individuals and organisations involved in social and political reform. Among the collections are the papers of Sir Joshua Jebb, Surveyor-General of Convict Prisons (NRA 30238). Canterbury City and Cathedral Archives, The Precincts, Canterbury CT1 2EG (location code 54) Holds papers relating to various church courts of the Canterbury province, including the Consistory Court, the Court of Arches and the Provincial Court. House of Lords Record Office, House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW (location code 61) As the record office of Parliament, this repository holds extensive records relating to the creation and implementation of the law, in addition to the papers of numerous Members of Parliament and political figures, for example, Thomas Wilde, Lord Chancellor, and William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Lord Beaverbrook (NRA 19284). Lambeth Palace Library, London SE1 7JU (location code 109) Collections include much material relating to benefit of clergy and various courts which came under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, such as the Court of Arches (NRA 7188). Contact the Librarian. University College London, Manuscripts Room, The Library, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT (location code 103) Among other individuals, the Library holds the papers of Jeremy Bentham (NRA 20655). Warwick University Modern Records Centre, University Library, Coventry CV4 7AL (location code 152) Holdings include records of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO) (NRA 23021) and the Howard League for Penal Reform (NRA 16356). Gray's Inn Library, South Square, London WC1R 5EU (location code 379) NRA 17004 is an omnibus list summarising some of the library's holdings. These include the papers of a number of judges and legal professionals. An appointment should be made in advance with the Librarian. A nineteenth-century catalogue is available in the NRA search room. Inner Temple Library, Temple, London EC4Y 7DA (location code 796) NRA 35040 is an omnibus list. Holdings include papers relating to the Marshalsea and those of a number of individuals including Robert Bowyer, Clerk of Parliament, John Freeman-Mitford, Lord Chancellor, and Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury. A three volume printed catalogue is available in the NRA search room. Lincoln's Inn Library, Lincoln's Inn, London WC2A 3TN (location code 385) Holdings include papers of numerous members of the judiciary and legal profession, including Sir Matthew Hale, judge, and Alexander Wedderburn, Lord Chancellor. Appointments should be made in advance by contacting the Archivist. 3. POLICE ARCHIVES Ian Bridgeman and Clive Emsley, A Guide to the Archives of the Police Forces of England and Wales (Police History Society, Milton Keynes, 1989) This publication, available from the Police History Society, is an indispensible guide to accruals of police records, 19th-20th cent, which have not been transferred to local record offices or the Public Record Office. A copy is available in the NRA's search room. 4. OTHER USEFUL ADDRESSES A great many repositories are likely to hold material useful for a study of the history of crime and the criminal justice system. Except in instances where records remain at the prisons (for details see D Hawking, Criminal Ancestors), prison records are to be found at the most appropriate local authority record office. Thus records of Oxford Prison are held by Oxfordshire Archives (NRA 27560), while those of Wakefield Prison are held by the West Yorkshire Archive Service, Wakefield Headquarters (NRA 27906). The Home Office, Information and Library Services, 50 Queen Annes Gate, London SW1H 9AT (tel. 071-273 3398) Reference facilities for materials relating to criminology, penology, immigration, policing, criminal law, etc., are available to serious researchers by appointment only. Contact the Information Librarian. The Law Society Library, 50 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1SX . Provides reference facilities for members only, but will answer limited written enquiries. Address enquiries to the Librarian. Metropolitan Police Historical Museum, c/o Room 1334, New Scotland Yard, London SW1H 0BG. Holds a collection of artefacts relating to police officers and police stations. Contact the Curator for further information. Police History Society, Management Support Department, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Headquarters, Hinchbrooke Park, Huntingdon PE18 8NP. Publishes an annual Journal and quarterly newsletters. For more information, contact the Secretary. Radzinowicz Library of Criminology, 7 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DT (tel. 0223 335375) The library of the University's Institute of Criminology. Collections include historical material relating to the criminal law. For reference facilities, apply to the Librarian. National Sound Archive, 29 Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AS. For information about oral history resources, contact the Curator of Oral History. 5. BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS It would be difficult to undertake a study of nineteenth and twentieth century crime or law and order without making reference to the copious material available among printed Parliamentary Papers relating to everything from the efficacy of transportation to the diet of convicts. (Sometimes reference is made in historical monographs to 'Blue Books', which include reports and supporting material printed as Parliamentary Papers). For examples, see Report of the Royal Commission on Reformatory and Industrial Schools, with Minutes of Evidence, P.P. 1884 [C.3876] XLV. 1, 89; and Report of the Departmental Committee on Convict Prisons, P.P. 1895 [C.7702] LVI. 1. Complete sets of nineteenth-century Parliamentary Papers are available at the British Library and the Bodleian Library. Other libraries, particularly those of universities, may hold substantial quantities of these volumes, if not a complete set. 6. SECONDARY SURVEYS AND WORKS OF REFERENCE [Items marked * are available in the search room or from the Searchroom Officer.] *The Law List (Stevens & Sons, London: published annually) *The Scottish Law Directory (William Hodge & Co, Glasgow: published annually) *The Solicitor's Diary and Directory (Waterlow (London) Ltd: published annually) *JH Baker, English Legal Manuscripts in the United States of America: Part I, Medieval and Renaissance (Selden Society, London, 1985). D Bochel, Probation and Aftercare: Its Development in England and Wales (Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, 1976). J Burke, Jowitt's Dictionary of English Law (2 vols: Sweet & Maxwell, London, 1977) RP Dobash, RE Dobash and S Gutteridge, The Imprisonment of Women (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1986). *Edward Foss, A Biographical Dictionary of the Judges of England 1066-1870 (John Murray, London, 1870) *J Gibson (ed), Quarter Sessions Records for Family Historians: A Select List (Federation of Family History Societies, Birmingham, 1992, 3rd edition) *JA Green, English Sheriffs to 1154 (PRO: HMSO, London, 1990) *David T Hawkings, Criminal Ancestors: A Guide to Historical Criminal Records in England and Wales (Alan Sutton, Stroud, 1992). A very good guide to a wide range of records, both printed and manuscript, with useful summaries of records available in the PRO and those still in private hands. *AJ Horwood, A Catalogue of the Ancient Manuscripts Belonging to the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn (Spottiswoode & Co, London, 1869). Stephen Humphries, Hooligans or Rebels? An Oral History of Working Class Youth (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1981). Shows how oral history testimony can be used to good effect. Includes discussion of juvenile delinquency and street crimes. Sean McConville, A History of English Prison Administration, 1750-1877 (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1981). Useful on prison governors and legislative background. Geoffrey Pearson, Hooligan: A History of Respectable Fears (Macmillan, London, 1983). Jill Pellew, The Home Office, 1848-1914 (Heinemann, London, 1982). Sir Leon Radzinowicz, A History of English Criminal Law and its Administration since 1750 (volumes 1-5, Stevens & Sons, 1948-86) including, with Roger Hood, Volume 5: The Emergence of Penal Policy (1986). Probably the most exhaustive history of the criminal justice system of the period written to date. *J.C. Sainty, Office Holders in Modern Britain V: Home Office Officials, 1782-1870 (Institute of Historical Research, London, 1975) *Sir John Sainty, A List of English Law Officers, King's Counsel and Holders of Patents of Precedence (Selden Society, London, 1987) J.A. Sharpe, Crime in Early Modern England, 1550-1750 (Longmans, London, 1984). *Staffordshire County Record Office, Solicitor's Papers in Staffordshire County Record Office (n.d.) *D.H. Thomas, Reformatory and Industrial Schools: An Annotated List of Schools Certified by the Home Office, 1854-1933 (Poly Products, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1986). A fairly useful list arranged by the location of the schools. Not entirely accurate on all factual details. J.J. Tobias, Crime and Police in England, 1700-1900 (St Martin's Press, London, 1979). A bit dated, but very readable. *P White, Quarter Sessions Records in the Hampshire Record Office (Hampshire R.O., 1990). Please note: the NRA is very much dependent on the archivists and researchers who voluntarily contribute to it lists and other forms of information. If you know of any library or archive, group of papers, survey or finding aid of which we appear to be unaware, please do let us know in writing so that this information can be made available to others. Enquiries about any matter relating to manuscript sources can be directed to the Historical Manuscripts Commission, Quality House, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1HP. The public search room is open 9.30 to 5.00, Monday to Friday, and no appointment is necessary. Limited and specific enquiries can be dealt with by post or e-mail (sargent@uk.ac.ulcc.clus1) November 1993 c The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts 1993 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- end of file