industrial

• poaching

  • 1753 - Waltham Black Act - capital crime to be in a hunting area whilst carrying hunting equipment
  • 1823 - Waltham Black Act repealed under Robert Peel
• witchcraft

  • John Holt - Lord Chief Justice - 1689-1710 - believed in examining evidence and science
  • 1736 - witchcraft act - illegal for someone to claim or pretend to have magic
• Tolpuddle Martyrs

  • 1833 - 6 farmers formed trade union
  • 1834 - arrested for swearing a secret oath and sentenced to 7 years transportation to Australia

  public outcry - 200000 signed a petition - 100000 gathered in copenhagen fields on 21st April 1834 - allowed to return home after 2 years
• • bloody code became less common in 18th century and was eventually abolished in 1861 for all but the most serious crimes
• transportation

  • 1718 - transportation to America became common
  • 1775 - American war of Independence
  • 1776 - no more convicts to America
  • 1787 - sent to Australia
  • 1830s - declined
• last public execution was in 1868
• John Howard - a lawyer - visited prisons to study living conditions - prompted parliament to pass two acts in 1774

  • ended paying jailer's fees
  • improve prison standards


  Elizabeth Fry - help female prisoners - in first half of 19th century she worked to improve conditions in Newgate prison, where women and young children where tightly packed and in awful conditions - successfully campaigned for separation of male and female - intro of female jailers and paid jobs for prisoners
• pentonville prison opened in 1842 - built as a result of the 1839 prisons act that declared separate systems should be used in prisons
• after pentonville, 54 other prisons were built, based on it - but it became clear the system was not working.
• the prisons act of 1865 made life much harsher in prison
• Bow street runners

  • establish in 1749 by John and Harry Fielding
  • thief-takers who patrolled on foot and horseback
  • 1785 - government paid them - before they made money by charging fees
• Met Police

  • 1829 - Home Secretary, Robert Peel, decided to set up the Met Police to oversee law and order
  • 1842 - set up a detective department - later changed to CID in 1878
• Robert Peel became Home Secretary in 1822 and introduced the Gaols Act in 1823 - made sure same standards were in every prison