18th and 19th centuries c1700-c1900

• What goods began to be taxed in the 18th century?

  Cloth, wine and spirits
• What gang controlled smuggling on the south coast in the 1730s-40s?

  Hawkhurst Gang
• Who were the leaders of this gang?

  Arthur Gray and Thomas Kingsmill
• What prime minister lowered import duties in the 1780s?

  William Pitt (the Younger)
• Why were large sums in cash often carried on the roads?

  There were few banks where money could be safely left
• What form of travel became more common after roads were improved?

  Stagecoach
• What were highwaymen who worked on foot called?

  Footpads
• What punishment was decreed in 1772 for anyone caught on the roads in disguise and armed?

  Execution
• When was the last reported case of highway robbery?

  1831
• What became more common in the 19th century as a way of keeping the roads safe?

  mounted patrols
• What major event took place in 1789?

  French Revolution
• What effect did this have on the British upper classes?

  Made them fearful of any political activism
• What occupation did the six ‘Tolpuddle Martyrs’ have?

  Farm labourers
• What were they formally arrested for?

  Administering an illegal oath
• What was the real reason they were targeted?

  They had formed a friendly society (early form of trade union)
• What were they sentenced to?

  Seven years’ transportation to Australia
• How many people signed a petition demanding that the sentence be reversed?

  200,000
• What is the role of the Home Secretary?

  Government minister in charge of law and order
• Who was the Home Secretary who refused this petition?

  Lord Melbourne
• What happened four years later?

  The six men were pardoned and returned to a heroes’ welcome
• Why could criminals no longer be transported to the Americas after 1783?

  Britain had lost its American colonies
• When was Australia claimed as a British colony?

  1770
• Roughly how many people were transported to Australia as convicts?

  160,000
• What practical problem in Britain was transportation a response to?

  Lack of room in prisons
• Where were convicts often kept while they waited to be transported?

  In hulks (disused ships)
• How long did the journey to Australia take?

  Three months
• What did free settlers in Australia believe ex-convicts were responsible for?

  High crime rates in some towns
• Why did many in Britain argue that transportation should be discontinued?

  Costly; more space in prisons; Australia now seen as a desirable place to settle
• In what year did both transportation and public executions end?

  1868
• Why were reformers concerned about public executions?

  Inhumane; crowds treated it as a festival; arguably encouraged more crimes
• What should be the main purpose of prison according to 19th-century reformers?

  Rehabilitation
• What did prisoners commonly have to do for eight hours a day as a punishment?

  Walk the treadwheel
• Who campaigned for clean food and water in prisons?

  John Howard
• Who began teaching sewing and Bible classes to prisoners in Newgate?

  Elizabeth Fry
• What crime-fighting team was established by Henry Fielding in 1748?

  Bow Street Runners
• What was the first professional police force, and where was it?

  Metropolitan Police in London
• Why did they wear blue overcoats and top hats?

  So that they would not look like soldiers
• When did the Police Act require all areas of the country to have a police force?

  1856
• Where was the permanent detective branch set up in 1842?

  Scotland Yard
• What new type of evidence was used for the first time to convict a criminal in 1902?

  Fingerprint evidence