Category Crime & Punishment

19th Century Working Lives, Australia, Brierley Hill, Crime & Punishment

A Labourer’s Life on 3 Continents

Jonas Bolton was an illiterate labourer born on an area known as the Delph in Brierley Hill in the Black Country at the beginning of the 19th century. He was transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) after stabbing a neighbour in a fight and remarkably returned to his family in England after his sentence was completed. In his 60s, he emigrated with his wife and daughter's family to the United States.

19th Century Working Lives, Blog, Crime & Punishment, Ewens, Sussex, Turner

The Shipley Gang

James Ewens was a member of the Shipley Gang that 'infested' the parishes of Shipley, Horsham and West Grinstead in the years following the Napoleonic Wars. Most of the gang were arrested and seven were sentenced to transportation to Australia.

Crime & Punishment, Groves, Rowley Regis

Illegal Trade, Legal Consequences

Agnes and George Dale were sentenced at the Old Bailey to five and ten years' penal servitude for 'using certain instruments for an unlawful purpose'. They were back street abortionists with an extensive trade. This blog explores Agnes' story, attitudes to abortion in Victorian England and the consequences for her chlldren.

Brierley Hill, Crime & Punishment, Dudley, Old Hill, Quarry Bank

The Castle Around Our Necks

Charged and imprisoned for one month for ‘riot and tumult’, William Haney was a minor player in a huge undocumented event. The election riots of 1874 occurred across the borough of Dudley and Haney's prison sentence revealed an intriguing story of violence, intimidation and hostility as well as contemporary attitudes to the Earl of Dudley and his influence.

Australia, Blog, Crime & Punishment, Dudley, Jeavons

Farewell to Old England Forever

Thomas Jeavons of Dudley was convicted of the crime of stealing stockings at Stafford Assizes in 1821 when he was 20 years old. Sentenced to 7 years' transportation, he arrived in Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land in May 1822.

Crime & Punishment, Hipkiss, Old Hill, Rowley Regis, World War 1

A Swarthy Native from Staffordshire

Joseph Hipkiss was a habitual petty thief from around the age of 15. Working on fairs, he travelled around various towns leading a vagrant lifestyle and serving sentences in various prisons. As his crimes became more severe and violent, he was in prison from 1903-1909 and 1912-1914 just before the outbreak of the First World War.

19th Century Working Lives, Amblecote, Brierley Hill, Coal Mining, Crime & Punishment, Skidmore

Killed in a Coal Pit

My great great grandfather's brother, John Skidmore, was just 13 years old when he was killed with four others in a coal mining accident at Clattershall Colliery, located between Stourbridge and Brierley Hill in the Black Country. How did the accident happen? Was anybody held accountable?

19th Century Working Lives, Crime & Punishment, Nail Making, Quarry Bank, Stevens

Phoebe Stevens (1848 – 1913): A Life

born into an inescapable poverty trap – loss of father – illiterate child labourer – stepfather in prison – teenage pregnancy – loss of 3 infant children in 3 months – stealing coal – loss of first husband in a work accident – a “lunatic” child – assaulted – 3 sons emigrate – grandchildren never seen.

19th Century Working Lives, Coal Mining, Crime & Punishment, Dudley, Jeavons

An Explosive Event

The story of Francis Jeavons, a coal miner in Dudley in the 19th century and his involvement in an act of intimidation during a miners' strike in 1864.

19th Century Working Lives, Coal Mining, Crime & Punishment, Dudley

The Miners’ Strike of 1864

The timeline of a long and bitter strike in Dudley and South Staffordshire in 1864. A reduction in wages resulted in a fight between miners and colliery owners with strong resistance against attempts to break the strike or against those who returned or tried to return to work.