c.1700 - 1900 Flashcards
1
Q
growth of highway robbery
A
- handguns
- ex-soldiers turned to robbery
- horses became cheaper
- no police force
- could sell loot
- coaches would have to slow down on certain roads
- people travelled in their own coaches
2
Q
decline in highway robbery
A
- people carried less money on them
- JP’s didn’t license taverns frequented by highway men
- the open land around london was built on
- stagecoaches
- mounted patrols + rewards
3
Q
poaching
A
- 1671 game act - landowners with over £100 of land could hunt anywhere
- 1723 black act - made hunting deer, hare and rabbits illegal, would arrest anyone with a blackened face (all direct results of the waltham blacks in 1721)
4
Q
reasons for poaching
A
- 1671 act only benefitted the rich
- poor people poached because of low wages and hunted on their own land
5
Q
reasons against poaching
A
- poachers were violent towards gamekeepers
- black market created and people were poaching for money and not just food
- rich people poached for entertainment
- organised gangs
6
Q
smuggling
A
- 1748 - duke of richmond tried to stop smuggling but failed to control it (103 men wanted for smuggling)
- it was good for low-paid labourers (they could maker 6/7x as much by smuggling)
- smuggled tea/cloths/alcohols
7
Q
difficulties controlling smuggling
A
- considered a social crime because people wanted to avoid duties and pay lower prices
- well armed smuggling gangs (hawkhurst gang 1748/9 - used violence and murdered 2 customs officers)
- wealthy people took part
- networks of traders
- very few customs officers
8
Q
tolpuddle martyrs
A
- government were scared after french revolution, anxious about grand national consolidated trade union
- TM’s were low paid labourers asking for higher wages, formed a secret union led by george loveless
- union was broken up by owner and government used a navy rule saying you couldn’t swear illegal oaths to arrest them in 1834
- sentenced to 7 years transportation in australia which caused an outcry and 250k people signed a petition against it
- government pardoned them but they had to wait 2 years before going home
9
Q
industrial revolution
A
- railways built, cheap and ordinary people could use them
- increase in wealth, government collected higher tax in order to introduce reform
- higher population led to more concentrated towns and cities
- harvests were less likely to cause starvation + food imported from other countries
- less unemployment due to more work in towns and cities
- theory of evolution and belief that there was a criminal gene
- voting rights, gov improved housing and healthcare to win votes
- improved literacy rates and 95% of people could read and write by 1900, all children had to go to school by 1880
- public began to accept government interference in their lives after resisting it by 19th century
10
Q
abolition of the bloody code
A
1789 - last woman burned
1820 - last beheading
1868 - last public execution
- juries were unwilling to convict people because punishments and crimes were not proportional
- public executions became cheap entertainment and were out of control
- people believed punishments were too strict so other methods were introduces
11
Q
transportation
A
- criminals were sent to australia from the 1770s to work camps until they got a ticket of leave, if not then they got sentenced to death
- ended in 1857
12
Q
reasons for transportation
A
- juries were more likely to sentence people to transportation
- successful removal of criminals
- established control over australia
- reform + deterrence
13
Q
reasons against transportation
A
- described as a holiday
- some prisoners chose to stay
- australians were upset
- gold discovered in australia
- crime increased
- expensive
- wages in australia were higher
14
Q
old prison systems
A
- all prisoners housed together, created a school of crime
- unpaid prison wardens charged prisoners fees
- local charities paid for poor prisoners
- spread of illness and they had to pay to see a doctor
15
Q
reforms to the old prison system
A
- separated by gender/experience
- healthy food
- attended chapel
- wardens paid
- magistrates visited
- john howard - healthier accommodations, separation, diet, prison guards
- elizabeth fry - prayer groups, schools, useful work
