Category: Law and order audio AudioReckless, rash and repentant: Convicts’ petitions for mercy 1819-1858Friday 22 February 2013A look at the pardoning process of the early 19th century, and some stories...AudioThe Will Forgeries: a forgotten sensationFriday 8 February 2013These infamous crimes were headline news when they came to trial at the Old...AudioThe scandalous case of John Vassall: sexuality, spying and the Civil ServiceMonday 17 December 2012Fifty years ago civil servant John Vassall was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment for...AudioThe strange journey of Edward Swarthye, an African in Elizabethan England: from the Spanish Caribbean to rural GloucestershireFriday 7 December 2012In 1597, an African man named ‘Edward Swarthye, alias negro’ appeared before an English...AudioMorbidity and mortality on convict voyages to 19th century AustraliaFriday 30 November 2012Between 1803 and 1853 some 67,000 convicts were transported from England and Ireland to...AudioCoroners’ InquestsThursday 16 August 2012Coroners’ inquests produce a wealth of information for family historians. Ancestors might have been involved...Audio‘An impenetrable tangle or an under-used mine of information?’ The Court of Common Pleas and its records, c1200-1875Friday 3 August 2012The Court of Common Pleas was the busiest court in England for almost all...AudioSedition, transportation and treason: the case of the London Corresponding SocietyWednesday 27 June 2012How did a small group of men discussing democracy in the coffee houses of...AudioWhen sport meets the lawThursday 5 April 2012This talk uses records of the law courts and government departments to describe the...AudioOut of the way of mischiefMonday 5 March 2012From the mid-19th century the Home Office and the Treasury became involved in the...AudioPrison hulksFriday 24 February 2012In 1776 a new act of parliament was introduced to ‘Authorise for a limited...AudioResearching Mr Briggs’ Hat: an account of Britain’s first railway murderFriday 27 January 2012The 1864 murder of Thomas Briggs in his first-class railway carriage is investigated through... « 1 2 3 4 5 »