Victorian crime cases

The reign of Queen Victoria, from 1837 to 1901, was a time of great change within the Criminal Justice System, not just in Cambridgeshire but throughout England and Wales.

During that era police forces were established throughout the nation, as politicians started to realise the benefits of having paid professionals to maintain law and order in their communities. By 1856 every county had at least one police force.

Records indicate that Cambridgeshire’s young police teams and long established courts were kept busy during Victorian times.

Long before the days of DNA sampling, computers and mobile phones, police had to use basic skills to investigate what were sometimes complex criminal cases.

The Courts of Quarter Sessions were courts held by two or more Justices of the Peace to hear criminal cases. Huntingdonshire County and the Liberty of Peterborough had separate Quarter Sessions.

Original records from the Huntingdonshire Quarter Sessions are stored in the Cambridgeshire Archives by Cambridgeshire County Council.

Here are several examples of Victorian crime cases heard by the Huntingdonshire Quarter Sessions. These cases highlight typical incidents dealt with by police and the courts in Victorian times.

Pick-pocket alleged

In 1837 Thomas Barlow was accused of pick-pocketing from the Reverend Richard Lathem on Huntingdon’s Market Hill.

Records include statements made by the victim and Thomas Hearn, a police sergeant based at St Andrews in Cambridge.

Huntingdon horse-napping

William Butler, of Little Stukeley, was accused of stealing a brown gelding from Hartford farmer John Butt in 1840.

John Purser, of Brampton, described seeing the defendant riding the gelding on the way to Luton.

William Caffall, a farmer from Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, said he had bought the horse from Butler and didn't realise it was stolen until he read about it in the Police Gazette.

In court, Mr Caffall said he had known Butler for 12 years and had always considered him “an honest man”.

The court also heard from Henry Richards, a Hartford constable.

Peterborough mugging

In 1842 Fletton builder John Royce said he had been attacked and robbed of over £12 by William Trundler while walking near Peterborough at night.

Peterborough policeman Francis Knowles said he had arrested Trundler for being drunk and disorderly after being called by the defendant’s employer, a local merchant.

Trundler had allegedly tried to bribe the policeman with a guinea in a bid to get him off the charge.

For more examples of local crime cases during the Victorian era, see the Cambridgeshire Archives.

Sources

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