The Old Bailey

The Old Bailey Online proceedings of court cases from 1674 to 1913. This is a great resource for family history research. I have found it particularly useful as three of the convicts in my family were tried at this court before being transported to Australia.

A brief history of the Old Bailey courthouse can be found on the Old Bailey Online website.

The Central Criminal Court is also known as the Old Bailey or the Justice House as it has been located on a street named Old Bailey since 1673. The street follows the path of the fortified wall of the old city of London, This wall was known as a bailey.

Portico of the Old Bailey (2011)

The inscription above the pillars reads Defend the Children of the Poor. Punish the Wrongdoer.

The building has been remodelled and rebuilt many times but the basic design of the court rooms remain the same.

In 1666 the courthouse was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. When it was rebuilt in 1673 one side of the building was left without a wall in an attempt to prevent the prisoners infecting other people with gaol fever (typhus) in the court.

In 1773 the wall was enclosed  to limit the effects of weather and probably also to deter spectators.

In 1774 the building was rebuilt by George Dance, the same person who was responsible for the rebuilding of Newgate Prison. In this rebuild a wall was built around the prison to prevent communication between the prisoners and the public. The passage between the Old Bailey and Newgate was enclosed by brick walls. A detailed description of this court room is provided in the Old Bailey history page. Damage caused by the Gordon Riots in 1780 was soon repaired though much of the furniture was destroyed.

View inside the court room c1809 - London Lives 1690-1800

This was the court room in which Mary, Uriah and Richard would have been tried. The court room and its furnishings were lavish, a sharp contrast to the accommodation for the prisoners in the basement when waiting to be escorted to the court. When the prisoner was in the dock a mirror was positioned reflecting daylight on to the face of the accused. There was limited seating for spectators in the court for those prepared to pay to watch the proceedings. It must have been a daunting experience for the prisoners in the dock as to most of them this would have been an alien environment which was very different from the cells in which they had been kept before the trial and to which many would return.

A second court room was built in 1824 followed by two additional court rooms over the next twenty years.

In 1877 there was a fire in the building forcing the City of London to start making plans to replace the courthouse. The decision was made to demolish the courthouse and the prison in order to build a new courthouse on the site. The new courthouse was opened in 1907. This building was damaged during bombing raids in 1941 requiring rebuilding. An extension was added in 1972.

London Lives 1690-1800 also has a detailed article about the Old Bailey Proceedings
This website also has articles on the courts,
the criminal trial in the eighteenth century,
and punishment in Criminal Justice section of the website.

Old Bailey Online also has a section on Crime, Justice and Punishment with a variety of useful articles.

Newgate Prison

Three of my ancestors, Uriah Moses (1780-1847), Richard Holland (1783-1867) and Mary Bateman (1773-1829) spent time in Newgate Prison in London before being transported to Australia.

When we visited London in 2011 we explored the area where Newgate Prison once stood. The prison buildings were closed in 1902 and demolished to enable the rebuilding of the new Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey).

Part of Google map showing Newgate Street- Old Bailey

Corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey,  former site of  Newgate Prison

Newgate Prison is where the convicts waited to be tried at the Old Bailey and were then kept, often for months or in some cases years, before being taken to the ship that would carry them from England to Australia.

Mary was arrested on 19 April 1788 and tried at the Old Bailey 7 May 1788. She then returned to Newgate until 12 March 1789 when 108 female prisoners were transferred to the transport ship, Lady Juliana.

Uriah waited in Newgate from 8 December 1787 until his trial on 10 January 1788. He then returned to Newgate until 14 February 1799 when he was removed to a prison hulk, Lion, in Portsmouth.

Richard was arrested on 24 May 1806 and was tried at the Old Bailey on 2 July 1806. On 2 January 1807 he was transferred to the prison hulk, Captivity, at Portsmouth.

 Newgate Prison building was situated on corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey. The original prison was built in the Newgate, the fifth gate built into the wall around London. The prison was rebuilt and extended many times from the end of the twelfth century.

Old Newgate - Wikimedia Commons

In 1666 the prison was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. It was rebuilt and extended in 1672 but the conditions for the prisoners remained appalling. The water supply to the prison was poor, there was inadequate ventilation and there were frequent outbreaks of disease within the prison. New prisoners were put in chains where the weight of the chains depended on what the prisoner could pay the jail keeper. The conditions in which the prisoners lived depended on what they could pay for bedding and food.

Between 1770 and 1778 a new, larger prison designed by George Dance the Younger was built. However, during the Gordon Riots in June 1780, the rioters stoned and set fire to the new prison allowing prisoners to escape. The prison was rebuilt between 1780 and 1783.

Newgate Prison end of nineteenth century - Historic Prisons

The new prison was therefore only a few years old when Uriah was imprisoned there in December 1787 and Mary in April 1788.

During the later years of the 1770s there was a movement to improve conditions in prisons. John Howard (1726-1790) worked for prison reform. He visited prisons throughout England and was not impressed with the conditions. In 1774 he gave evidence to a select committee in the House of Commons before the Gaol Act was passed. The Act was to abolish the payment of fees by prisoners to jailers as well as improve sanitary conditions in jails.

Conditions within English prisons improved but were still not good. Although Newgate Prison was designed to look impressive on the outside conditions inside were basic as prisons were still designed primarily as a detriment to crime.  It was not long before Newgate Prison once again became overcrowded.

The new prison was divided into sections and had three exercise yards. Common prisoners were housed in a different area from those who could afford to pay for better food and conditions. Female convicts were housed in a separate area.

Plan of Newgate Prison - Wikimedia Commons

Within the prison was the chapel. There was also a passage that led to the courtroom where prisoners were tried at the Old Bailey. Another passage led to the place of execution. There was also a burial ground for executed prisoners. The prison structure was altered again in the 1850s.

Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) worked to improve conditions for female prisoners.

During the nineteenth century authors such as Charles Dickens wrote about conditions at Newgate as well as including descriptions of the prison in some of their books.

A quick search in Google provides a number of sites providing information about Newgate Prison. A sample appears below.

Wikipedia article on Newgate Prison

There is also a short article in Wikipedia on the Newgate.

Last Mile Tours - Newgate Prison

While many of the prisoners were in the prison awaiting trial, others were waiting to be executed. Many prisoners were hanged at Newgate.

Images of Newgate Prison in the 1890s.

Historic UK has an article on Newgate Prison including images of part of the remaining wall.

Knowledge of London includes a photo of the only part of a prison wall that remains. The wall can be viewed in Amen Court at the back of the current Old Bailey building. 

London Lives 1690-1800 has an article about prisons including Newgate Prison.

British History online includes pages from the book, Old and New London (volume 2 published in 1878) about Newgate Prison.

The State Library of Victoria also has a number of titles on Newgate Prison which I will check.
The English Bastille: a history of Newgate Gaol and prison conditions in Britain. 1188-1902 by Anthony Babington 1971.
The gaol: the story of Newgate - London's most notorious prison by Kelly Grovier 2008.
Newgate: London's prototype of hell by Stephen Halliday 2006.
The Old Bailey and Newgate by Charles Gordon 1902.

The London Journal: a review of Metropolitan Society Past & Present vol. 9 (1) 1983 has an article 'Reconstruction of London's Prisons 1770-1799 an aspect of growth of Georgian London.This is also available in the State Library of Victoria.

52 Ancestors #10 Richard Holland

Richard Holland was born in England on 8 May 1783. He may have been born at Holborn in Middlesex but that is supposition at this point. A Richard Holland was baptised at St Andrews, Holborn, on 13 July 1783. If this is the right Richard Holland his parents were Cornelius and Elizabeth Holland and he had three brothers, Cornelius, Henry and Thomas, and a sister, Mary.

What we do know about Richard was that on 24 May 1806 he was arrested for stealing a promissory note valued at £10, a promissory note valued at £5, a yard of canvas valued at 1 shilling and 20 yards of woollen cloth valued at £10 from the back of a truck belonging to John Burr in Holborn.

Apparently John Royce was driving a cart loaded with goods to be delivered. He stopped at the White Hart and William Baker got off the cart to deliver a parcel. John Royce drove the cart to make another delivery at 10 Red Lion Street and discovered that the parcel was missing. Turning back he saw that Mr Speering had apprehended Richard. Mr Speering told the court that he had seen the cart pass his premises and that a man was following the cart and removed a parcel. Mr Speering took Richard to the watch-house and then called the constable.

At his trial at the Old Bailey 2 July 1806 Richard said nothing in his defence. He found guilty and was sentenced to seven years transportation.

Richard was 23 when he was arrested. At the trial Mr Speering said that Richard did not resist when he was apprehended and that he appeared to be in distress. He said that he had never done anything like that before. From the conversation we also learn that Richard had a wife and a new baby. One can only speculate why Richard might commit what appears to be a senseless crime - stealing an article from a cart in daylight when there is every likelihood of being caught. Perhaps he wanted a new start. Not knowing what employment he had and the conditions in which he lived it is not possible to tell. We do know that he had had some education as unlike many of the convicts he was able to sign his name.

On 2 January 1807 many of the convicts were transferred from Newgate Gaol to the hulk, Captivity, at Portsmouth. The chaplain who performed services aboard the hulks described how the convicts were treated while waiting to leave for Australia. Those who were healthy worked on the dock-yards during the day for which they received a dock allowance of one biscuit, a pint of small beer and a half-penny worth of tobacco a day. The convicts wore a uniform, each being issued with a jacket, waistcoat, breeches and handkerchief once a year plus stockings and coarse linen shirt four times a year. They had clean linen once a week and shaved twice a week. The provisions were considered adequate and although vegetables were scarce, on days when they had meat it was boiled with cabbage. The convicts were then transferred to the convict ship, Duke of Portland, which left England on 19 February 1807.

One hundred and ninety-two male convicts were transported on the Duke of Portland and three died during the five month voyage. The ship arrived at Port Jackson on 27 July 1807.

The next that we hear of Richard Holland was when he married Mary Roberts, the eldest daughter of William Roberts and Kezia Brown, at St Matthews Anglican Church, Windsor. As Richard was already married when he was arrested he had to wait seven years before he could marry again.

On 16 January 1816 Richard received a grant of land, probably in the Windsor area. In subsequent musters his residence is given as Windsor or Cornwallis which is near Windsor. His occupation is listed at different times as land holder, shop keeper, baker and butcher. The 1828 census of New South Wales lists Richard as a farmer at Cornwallis holding 30 acres of land which is cleared and cultivated plus 18 head of cattle. It would appear that he also had a shop in Windsor which at different times had been a bakery or a butchers shop.

Richard and Mary had nine children - William (1813-1897), Richard (1815-1881), John (1817-1897), Sarah (1820-1891), Thomas (1822-1824), Thomas (1825-1913), Henry (1828-1828), Henry Edward (1830-1906) and Ann Maria (1836-1905). Two of the boys, Thomas and Henry died as infants.

Mary Holland died in Windsor on 22 July 1863 aged 70. Richard Holland died on 10 May 1867 aged 84.

Richard Holland was my great (x3) grandfather.

Notes from mc2 - Richard Holland

RICHARD HOLLAND arrived in Sydney on the Duke of Portland on 27th July 1807. According to the crime registers on the 22nd June 1806 Richard had stolen a parcel out of a cart. He was tried at the Old Bailey in September 1806 and sentenced to seven years transportation.

Richard was born in England on 8 May 1783 and died at Windsor, New South Wales on 10 May 1867.

Richard Holland married MARY ROBERTS (daughter of William Roberts and Kezia Brown) on 18 October 1813 at St Matthews Church, Windsor. This was a second marriage for Richard as he had been married in England.

Mary Roberts was born in Sydney on 15 June 1793 and died on 24 July 1863.

Richard farmed land at Cornwallis and also possibly owned land in Windsor where he had a shop - initially a bakers and later a butchers shop.

The children of Richard and Mary were:

• William 1813 - 1897
• Richard 1815 - 1881
• John 1817 - 1897
• Sarah 1820 - 1891
• Thomas 1822 - 1824
• Thomas 1825 - 1913
• Henry 1828 - 1828
• Henry 1830 - 1906
• Ann 1836 - 1905

SARAH HOLLAND married WILLIAM PENDERGAST

Nile - 1801 Duke of Portland - 1807 Speke - 1808

Jane Williams was born in 1776. She had been tried in Gloucester on 12 January 1801.

Nile - ship - 322 ton - built 1799

96 female convicts - 0 deaths

The Nile sailed from Spithead on 26 June 1801

Sailed via Rio de Janeiro

Arrived at Port Jackson on 14 December 1801

Trip took 176 days

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Richard Holland was born in England on 8 May 1783. According to the crime registers on the 24 May 1806 Richard had stolen a parcel out of a cart. He was tried at the Old Bailey on 2 July 1806 and was sentenced to seven years transportation.

Duke of Portland - ship - 523 ton - built 1790

189 male convicts - 0 deaths

Arrived at Port Jackson on 27 July 1807

____________________________________________

Susannah Alderson (in some records Hannah) was tried at York (East Riding) on the 7th April 1807 for perjury and received a sentence of seven years transportation. Susannah was born in Yorkshire in 1788 - her place of origin was recorded as Gilmanby NR during the trail hearing.

Speke - ship - 473 ton - built 1790

99 female convicts - 1 death

The Speke sailed from Falmouth on 8 May 1808

Sailed via Rio de Janeiro and Cape of Good Hope

Arrived at Port Jackson on 16 November 1808

Trip took 182 days

• Bateson, Charles: The convict ships 1797-1868. Sydney, Library of Australian history, 2004 (originally published 1950)