England Examples of Quarter Sessions Cases (National Institute)

Sessions Cases
A selection of examples of matters dealt with at Petty, Borough and Quarter sessions follow.

Apprentices
There are approvals from magistrates for binding poor apprentices, as well as cases regarding misbehaviour or and mistreatment of all apprentices.

Bastardy
Petty Sessions records and/or Justices Minute Books are the usual place to find a child support or maintenance order request known as an application of the mother after the birth of a bastard, probably within a year of the birth. It gives the name of the reputed father, his occupation and address, and may have been taken out even if the couple married just before the birth or afterwards (Cole 1998b).

If there were no petty sessions for the area try the quarter sessions. Cole (Questions and Answers (Petty Sessions). Family Tree Magazine Vol 17 #10, page 21) has a lot of experience with petty sessions records and reports that if an illegitimate child was residing in the workhouse then the Board of Guardians’ relieving officer usually brought a case against the reputed father, as many fathers reneged on their maintenance payments. They were formerly required until the child was 7 (and thus able to work!) and by the 19th century age 13. Bastardy complaints can be found up to the late 20th century.

Constables
All kinds of disturbances of the peace would be brought to the sessions by the constables, assault and drunkenness being of-course common. A fascinating police series of descriptions and photographs of post-1902 habitual drunkards is described by Wood (2004). Any riotous, violent or indecent behaviour in any place of worship could be brought before a JP from 1860.

Malefactors would be confined in the village lock-up, and punishments meted out in the stocks or pillory, whilst stray animals were impounded, i.e. kept in the village pound or pinfold; Tate (The Parish Chest. Phillimore, Chichester, West Sussex.) has illustrations of surviving examples of each of these.

Nash (Naked Fury in Regency Frome. The Greenwood Tree (Somerset and Dorset Family History Society) Vol 28 #2, page 39) describes the journal of a constable in Frome, Somerset 1813-1818, Price’s (The Wigginton [Oxfordshire] Constables’ Book 1691-1836. Banbury Historical Society Volume 11. [Reviewed in Genealogists’ Magazine Vol 17 #5, page 248-249]) transcription of a constable’s book gives a good idea of his duties and Bennett (Constables’ Accounts #26 in Short Guides to Records edited by Kathryn M. Thompson. Historical Association. has a useful guide to constables accounts.

Later records can be listed under Police Occurrence Books, for example the series for Maldon, Essex on film 1703002 which are the daily reports of the police constables and contain the minutiae of everyday life in the town.

Coroners' Inquests
The office of coroner (from crowner since they represented the crown) began in 1194 and they originally had several responsibilities including confiscating the property of outlaws (those who had failed to show up in court), investigation of crimes, shipwrecks and treasure trove.

This was gradually restricted to the single duty of investigating the circumstances of sudden, unnatural or suspicious deaths. The sole qualification until 1926 was that the coroner be a landholder. Since that time he or she has to be a barrister, solicitor or qualified medical practitioner, and may have deputies.

The coroner worked with a jury of from 12-24 good and lawful men, although numbers were reduced to 7-11 in 1926. Fees were paid but coroners were not given salaries until 1860. The inquests were held at any suitable local building, often a local inn. The parish beadle summoned witnesses who would include the local doctor, friends, neighbours and any relevant officials such as nurses or prison officers.

Hopwood (The Coroners Courts. Family and Local History Handbook 5th edition page 36-39) describes the court process in detail with many examples and illustrations, Gandy (Looking Through Their Eyes: Coroners’ Inquests. Practical Family History #46 page 7) has a number of examples of cases, Cole and Rogers (Coroners’ Inquest Records. #46 in Short Guides to Records edited by Kathryn M. Thompson. Historical Association. has useful background, and Harvey (HARVEY, Roger. 2003. Date of Death in Genealogical Miscellany by WOOD, Tom. Family Tree magazine Vol 19 #4, page 17) discusses the subject of decomposition of the body from the coroner’s point of view.

The record from the coroner’s court lists the names of the jurors as well as the verdict. The coroner’s bill (or voucher) for his expenses may be more informative, often including the name of the deceased, the date and place of inquest, cause of death and verdict. In York in 1831-1834 the records were named coroners’ inquisitions (film 1545354) and the one for John Epworth is signed by 14 jurymen, with their verdict:

The coroner’s bill states:

Many coroners’ records have been destroyed with most surviving ones from 1750 being at county archives, often with the Quarter Sessions records, and there is a 75-year (formerly 100 years) closure period. Harrison (Did She Fall or Was She Pushed? Genealogists’ Magazine Vol 20 #8, page 280-281) and Beech (Coroners’ Records. Genealogists’ Magazine Vol 20 #9, page 618) both provide refreshing insight into obtaining coroners’ records. Gibson and Rogers have provided a finding aid which has an excellent introduction. Local newspapers are often more available and frequently give more detail since witness statements usually no longer exist, although there are many at the City of London Record Office (Clippingdale). Records of inquests handed to the assize justices, those for the Palatinates of Chester and Lancaster, and those for prisoners who died in Kings Bench Prison (mostly debtors) or the Millbank Penitentiary are at TNA. There are some indexes, for example for Sussex 1485-1688 by Hunnisett (Sussex Coroners’ Inquests 1485-1558. Sussex Record Society).

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