National relevant sources

• National newspapers detailed crime and police investigations, although journalistic quality was not always high.
• Records of crime and police investigations can be useful for telling us about crimes committed and arrests made, although they can be misleading, as they depend on the police officer involved having made an arrest or a report.
• The Old Bailey was the Central Criminal Court in London, and kept records of trials. These can give useful records of what crimes were being committed, and also contain witness statements given during the trial.
• Police memoirs are a useful source of information. For example, James Bent and Richard Jervis were two Lancashire policemen who wrote accounts of their careers, and provide a detailed picture of police work in north-west England in the late 19th century. They show that violence between police and locals was common
• Punch cartoons were published in a popular satirical magazine, and tell us about attitudes to the government and other current affairs.