Crime and Punishment - Industrial, c.1700-1900

Question 1

What were the main changes to crime in the period c.1700-1900?

Answer 1

1. HIGHWAY ROBBERY (criminalised)
2. POACHING (considered the “biggest problem” by the 1700s)
3. SMUGGLING (seen as a “big problem” for the government c.1650-1780)
4. THE TOLPUDDLE MARTYRS
5. WITCHCRAFT laws are repealed in 1736

Question 2

When could someone found disguised and armed in a road be punished? What punishment was this?

Answer 2

1722.

The person could be sentenced to capital punishment.

Question 3

Reasons for the rise of highway robbery?

Answer 3

1. There were many open roads with people travelling in personal coaches, leaving them alone and vulnerable.
2. De-mobilised soldiers became highwaymen as they were unable to find work
3. Horses became cheaper to buy and handguns easier to obtain.
4. Highwaymen could hide their loot in taverns
5. There was no police force and local constables wouldn’t follow highwaymen across the country

Question 4

Reasons for the decline of highway robbery?

Answer 4

1. The open land was built on and people travelled in stagecoaches, giving fewer opportunities to find vulnerable people. The roads also became much busier, making it difficult for highwaymen to get away with their crime
2. JPs refused to give licences to taverns who harboured highwaymen
3. Mounted patrols were set up across London to catch highwaymen
4. People no longer carried large amounts of money as the number of banks increased

Question 5

Who were the Bow Street Runners? When were they set up and by who?

Answer 5

The Bow Street Runners were a team of thief-takers who patrolled London.

Set up in 1749 by the Fielding brothers (John and Henry)

Question 6

What was the Hue and Cry Magazine and when was it set up?

Answer 6

A magazine which shared information about criminals and stolen property. Set up in 1772

Question 7

What police force was set up? When? Who was credited with setting it up?

Answer 7

London’s first police force.

1829.

Robert Peel

Question 8

What was the difference between London’s first police force and the Metropolitan Police force? When did this happen?

Answer 8

The Metropolitan Police force was the merged force of the Bow Street Runners and all other policing groups.

This merging of forces occurred in 1839.

Question 9

When did the Met set up the first detective force?

Answer 9

1842

Question 10

When was the Police Act passed? What did it impose?

Answer 10

1856

All areas now had to have a centrally controlled, professional police force that would be inspected by government officials.

Question 11

When was the CID set up? What does this stand for and what was it?

Answer 11

1878.

The Criminal Investigation Dept. This was a force of 200 detectives (800 by 1883) that employed new methods of detection like handwriting and fingerprint evidence.

Question 12

What were the four reasons for the decline of the Bloody Code?

Answer 12

R - Robert Peel. This was the Home Secretary, and was against the use of capital punishment for minor crime. He instead worked on lowering crime rates by introducing an effective police force.

I - It didn’t work: (a) Juries didn’t convict, as they were unwilling to have death on their conscience. They even let some criminals off. (b) It pushed criminals further - if they knew they’d be hanged, they might kill any witnesses

P - Problems with public executions. Many saw them as holidays to party on (some factories even closed on execution days) as opposed to a lesson on how to behave - what the government wanted

E - Enlightenment. People realised that execution wasn’t working as a deterrent of crime

Question 13

Why did poaching happen?

Answer 13

Some claimed they had a natural right to hunt; the laws were unfair. The law said you could only take game if you had land worth £100 per annum - only the rich could hunt

Some of the poor lost the ability to use the common land to keep animals after enclosure happened (when farmers put fences round land to keep sheep). They were therefore driven to hunt in order to feed their familie

Some hunted purely for profit, as a huge profit could be made on the black market as the demand for game grew. Gangs were an example of this

Question 14

How was poaching dealt with?

Answer 14

The 1723 Waltham Black Act made hunting punishable by death. Anyone found armed would be assumed to be poaching and executed.
Possessing dogs or snares that could be used for hunting resulted in a 3 month prison sentence, or a fine

Question 15

Why did smuggling increase?

Answer 15

The government imposed high taxes on foreign goods, in order to promote British produce. However, this just ended up increasing smuggling, as items smuggled and sold on the black market were much cheaper

Question 16

What goods tended to be smuggled?

Answer 16

Tobacco (16th century)

Tea (17th century)

Spirits, wine, silk and lace

Question 17

Who was involved in smuggling?

Answer 17

Farm labourers (they could earn 6 times their normal wage)

Those in an industry where seasonal unemployment was high (e.g. fishermen)

Gangs - e.g. the Hawkhurst gang

Question 18

How was smuggling dealt with?

Answer 18

Whilst the punishment depended on the amount smuggled, capital punishment was often used as a deterrent

Customs officers were on the coast to try and catch smugglers

Eventually overcome when the government reduced import taxes, and used the army to catch smugglers

Question 19

Which courts dealt with local minor crimes (e.g. public drunkenness)?

Answer 19

Manor courts

Question 20

Which trial system was used in this period?

Answer 20

Trial by jury

Question 21

What were Quarter Sessions?

Answer 21

Where Justices of the Peace would meet up four times a year to discuss more serious crime.

Question 22

What were county assizes?

Answer 22

Courts held by royal judges to hear cases of serious crime.

Question 23

What is a magistrate?

Answer 23

A judge who deals with minor offences

Question 24

Who were the Tolpuddle Martyrs? When was their episode?

Answer 24

5 farm labourers from the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset

February 1834

Question 25

Why were the Tolpuddle Martyrs arrested?

Answer 25

For ‘administering an illegal oath’ (an old law made to stop sailors in the Navy from mutinying)

In reality, they were arrested to stop their political activities - they’d formed a trade union to protest against their low wages

Question 26

Why were the Tolpuddle Martyrs a threat to the government?

Answer 26

If the workers were given improved rights, too much power might be put into the hands of workers. Employers were worried that this’d threaten their business and harm their interests

Question 27

How were the Tolpuddle Martyrs punished? How did the public react?

Answer 27

They were sentenced to 7 years’ transportation in Australia

However, after news of their sentence spread quickly, mass protests were organised, and a petition with 200 000 signatures handed to Parliament. They were only pardoned, however, after 4 years

Question 28

Why did the use of transportation decline in this period?

Answer 28

GOLD - gold was discovered on the “Gold Coast” in 1851. People now actually wanted to go there to find their fortune; it was no longer punishment!

AUSTRALIA GREW INTO A UNIFIED COUNTRY - as the nation become more unified and stronger, they realised they neither needed nor wanted Britain to treat it as a dumping grouund

PRISONS - After the 1823 Gaol Act, prisons were run more efficiently, and were used more widely

MONEY - between 1810 and 1812, transportation cost the equivalent of £16 mn

Question 29

Info about prisons?

Answer 29

Before the 18th century, prison was rarely used as a punishment by itself - it was used more as a place for waiting for trial or execution

Many believed that prison was the suitable alternative, after the decline of the Bloody Code

Prisons would help punish criminals and act as a deterrent, whilst rehabilitating criminals. But the conditions were extremely poor (poor quality food, disease was common) and prisoners would have to perform hard labour

Question 30

Info on Elizabeth Fry?

Answer 30

Quaker

Visited Newgate prison in 1813 and was shocked - women and children were living alongside hardened criminals

She encouraged rehabilitation by teaching sewing and Bible classes, as well as organising education

She set up a campaign group for better conditions at Newgate, which led to female wardens being employed to work with women/children

Question 31

Info on Thomas Howard?

Answer 31

Outraged at conditions in the prisons he initially visited, as well as prisoners not being able to pay their release fee to leave once their sentence had been completed

Toured other prisons, and wrote a report in 1777 - ‘The State of Prisons’

He recommends clean, decent food and water, Christian teaching, private cells and wages for gaolers so they can’t take advantage of prisoners

Question 32

1815

Answer 32

Gaolers paid out of taxes

Question 33

1835

Answer 33

Prison inspectors appointed

Question 34

1842

Answer 34

Pentonville is built

+ the Met set up the first detective force

Question 35

1857

Answer 35

End of hulks (prison ships)

Question 36

1864

Answer 36

Penal Servitude Act (prisoners should face the harshest punishment possible. Corporal punishment - beating - is reintroduced).

Question 37

1877

Answer 37

The government took control over all prisons

Question 38

What were the changes to punishment during this period?

Answer 38

The Bloody Code ends (1820s - 1830s)

Transportation begins and ends

Prisons start to be used as punishment (mid 1800s)

Question 39

In terms of policing, what happened in 1869? What did this mean?

Answer 39

The first National Crime Records were set up.

This allowed the police force to communicate quickly an d effectively in order to share information

Question 40

In the early 1800s, what methods of policing were used? Why were they ineffective?

Answer 40

Parish constables - only held the job for a year before someone else was elected. There was therefore no continuation of skills

Watchmen - poorly paid, therefore of ill-discipline and little use

Question 41

Why do we see a police force being set up between 1700 and 1900?

Answer 41

80% of the population now lived in large cities, making it harder for citizens to catch criminals

Due to poverty, there was more petty crime such as pickpocketing

Between 1750 and 1900, the population had increased by 30 million people

There was a general dear that the people of England would riot (food prices and taxation were high after the French wars of 1810)