[Calendars of Prisoners in Newgate Prison, London and Middlesex, 1814 / Sheriff of Middlesex]

MLMSS 9917

fonds

1814

1005900

0.16 metres of textual material (1 box) - typescript with manuscript annotations

Calendars of prisoners are published lists of prisoners held in county gaols who are to be, or have been tried at assizes and quarter sessions in England and Wales. They were produced at the height of transportation to Australia, during the governorship of Lachlan Macquarie. Most calendars were issued by the sheriff and generally contain the name of the prisoner, their age, details of the crime, the conviction and sentence received.

Newgate Prison was founded during the reign of Henry I in a gatehouse of the city of London. It housed mainly serious criminals and from 1783 replaced Tyburn as the place for public executions. The prison was destroyed and rebuilt twice, once following the Great Fire of London in 1666 and again after the Gordon riots of 1780. Newgate finally closed in 1902.

Reference:
Library correspondence file
Oxford Reference, http://www.oxfordreference.com, (accessed 15 March 2017).

A annotated bound set of eight monthly calendars of prisoners held in Newgate awaiting trial for Criminal Cases in London & Middlesex during 1814, most likely a Gaoler's or Clerk of the Court's copy, dating from January 12, 1814 to November 30, 1814. They contain printed lists of prisoners with their age, their accuser, their alleged crime and the date of committal, with sentences of the prisoners hand written in the margins, probably by a gaoler’s clerk or a clerk of the court for their own records.

Includes many prisoners who received sentences of transportation to Australia. For example:
Case No. 144, eleven years old Gabriel Hugh Franks, found guilty of stealing a silver watch, sentenced to transportation for seven years and arrived in NSW in 1816 on the Fanny.
Case No. 49, James Butcher, 23 and George Harding alias Jelks, 19 accused of ‘burglariously breaking and entering a certain stable, part of the ‘dwelling-house of Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., and stealing therein seven coach glasses, and two cloth box coats.’

Also included in the calendars are sections titled ‘London Prisoners upon Orders’ and ‘Middlesex Prisoners upon Orders.’ These include lists of ‘Respites under Sentence of Transportation for Life’ to Australia.

Out of copyright: Creator died before 1955.
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.

"Newgate Calendar, Jan 12, 1814 to Nov 20, 1814"--spine
"Stokes, Printer, 5 Hind Court, Fleet Street, London"--title page