18th and 19th century Britain

• Uncertainty of the Reformation passed, last execution for heresy was in 1612
• reason of growth of highway robbery


  stagecoaches introduced with regular staging posts to rest
• Reasons for decline in highway robbery


  JPs refused to license taverns frequented by highwayman. Mounted patrols set up around London
• 1723 Black Act made hunting deer, hare or rabbit a capital crime
• only landowners with land worth over £100 a year could hunt. Less than that and you couldn't even hunt on your own land
• John Lightwood, a Staffordshire labourer killed nearly 80 hares in 1764, selling them for 3 shillings a piece
• In 1792, 2 poachers shot a gameskeeper‘s horse
• Under the bloody code smuggling became punishable by death
• In 1748, Duke of Richmond got rid of 35 smugglers but there were believed to be 20,000
• in 1748, 103 people were wanted as smugglers, over 70% were labourers
• For low-paid labourers smuggling was a quick way to earn 6-7x their daily wage in one night
• Smuggling gangs could be up to 50-100 men
• Estimated that 3 million pounds of tea was smuggled into Britain per year
• Locals who helped smugglers could earn nearly twice the average labourer‘s daily wage
• Who were the Tolpuddle Martyrs?


  George Loveless and 5 others in Dorset in Tolpuddle.
• Name of the union the Martyrs set up

  The friendly society of agricultural labourers, set up in 1833
• Law used to convict the martyrs

  Unlawful Oaths act
• Punishment for the martyrs

  7 years transportation to Australia. On 17 August after a voyage of 111 days they arrived in Sydney harbour and forced to work. Thomas Stanfield, over 50, has to walk over 150 miles to the farm where he worked.
• response to the conviction of the martyrs

  GNCTU broken up. Meeting in London with 25,000 people, petition made to release men was signed by 250,000 people
• did the martyrs have shortened sentences? 


  March 1836, all men granted pardon but only returned home 2 years later. 20 years until the trade union movement could recover
• Why were the martyrs punished harshly?

  French Revolution of 1789. English government felt threatened by the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union (GNCTU)
• changes during the industrial revolution

  by 1840s railways were a popular form of travel. By 1900 95% of people literate due to 1880 law making school compulsory until 13.
• Who were the Fielding Brothers?

  In 1738, Henry and John Fielding (magistrates) took control of Bow Street magistrates’ court. They made their own newspaper called the Hue and Cry. They had a team known as Thief Takers
• Who was Sir Robert Peel?

  Appointed Home Secretary in 1822. Set up police force in 1829 based in Scotland Yard with 3200 men.
• Evolution of the police force

  By 1856 police forces were compulsory in all towns. By 1839, Bow Street Runners joined police forces. By 1884, 39,000 policemen and 200 separate forces. First detectives assigned in 1842
• why was the Bloody Code abolished?


  By 1800s only 10% of those convicted of capital crimes were hung.
• Was transportation a success?


  By 1833, 36 ships and 6779 prisoners were sent to Australia. By 1830s Australia has become an established part of the British empire
• Was transportation a failure?

  By 1830s it lost half a million pounds each year and wages in Australia were higher than in Britain. In 1851 gold was discovered, creating a gold rush. In 1810 the Lord Chief Justice described transportation as ‘no more than a summer’s excursion to a happier and better climate‘. It ended in 1857
• Negatives of the Old Prison System


  Prison hulks were a short term solution introduced in the 1770s when transportation to America stopped. thought to be ‘schools for crime’. Diseases (gaol fever). Overcrowding (275 lived in an area for 150 at Newgate Gaol)
• Positives of the Old Prison System


  Rich prisoners would get a good cell, beer, tobacco and a pet
• Positives of prisons after the first reforms of the Gaol Act 1823


  Prisoners separated. Magistrates made to visit prisons, prisons are government paid
• Negatives of prisons after the first reforms of the Gaol Act 1823


  Only applied in the top 130 prisons and could no longer keep pets
• Positives of the separate system, 1830s to 1860s


  ended ‘schools for crime‘ ideaology
• Negatives of the separate system


  Placing prisoners in solitary confinement resulted in 22 going mad, 26 having nervous breakdowns and 3 committing suicide in 8 years at Pentonville. It was costly
• Negatives of the silent system, 1860s onwards


  ’hardboard beds’ and ‘hard fare’ food. Prisoners expected to turn crank 20 times a minute, 10,000 times a day for 8 hours
• John Howard‘s impact on prison reforms in the 1820s


  Inspected prisons in Bedfordshire. Published a report in 1777 titled: The State of Prisons in England and Wales. He wanted better accommodation and diet, separation and better prison guards
• Elizabeth Fry’s impact on prison reforms in 1820s 


  She was a Quaker, believing there is God in everyone. Visited women in Newgate prison and saw 300 women, some with children, crammed into 3 rooms. She saw 2 women ripping clothes of a dead baby to put on their own. Set up school for children at Newgate.