England Further Examples of Quarter Sessions Cases - International Institute

Gaols
The records of planning, construction, repairs and provisions for gaols and bridewells name the tradesmen involved and show their bills. Records were also kept of the keepers and other staff.

Licencing and Excise Law Enforcement
There have been acts of parliament regulating the sale of alcoholic beverages since the 1552 Alehouse Act where recognizances (essentially character references) that the retailer would keep an orderly house had to be made before two justices. Clerks of the peace were ordered to keep an annual register of victuallers’ recognizances in 1619, but this doesn’t seem to have been complied with until the Licensing Act of 1753 made it mandatory. The most detailed registers contain the names of the licensees, the parish, the inn sign, the occupation of the victualler, and the names and occupations of those standing surety. These usually cease in 1828 when the issuing of annual licenses commenced. Court sessions held solely for licensing of victuallers or pubs were called brewster sessions.

List of Licensed Victuallers 1836

Details of surviving victuallers’ licences and other records by county are given by Gibson and Hunter (Victuallers’ Licences. Federation of Family History Societies, 1997). In one incomplete series I examined for Abingdon, Berkshire Henry Prince renewed his annual licence each autumn in 1803, 1806, 1807, 1810 for the Plough and 1811 for the New Plough. There are further details about pubs and publicans in the National Institute for Genealogical Studies course English: Occupations Professions and Trades.

A more modern kind of license can be found on film 1703002 containing the Register of Licenses for the sale of petroleum in Maldon, Essex 1891-1895. Among those registered were:

Matrimonial Cases
These are plentiful in petty sessions especially after the married women’s Act of 1895 allowed separation from husband and custody of children (Bird). A couple of rare prior examples from Wiltshire Petty Sessions are described by Cole (Those Whom God Hath Joined Together... Family Tree Magazine Vol 18 #8, page 71-72, 2002). One is for alimony claimed by a deserted wife, the other is a marital separation after assault.

Militia
An Act of Parliament in 1703 for raising recruits for the land forces and marines required that their names be recorded at the quarter sessions. There are lists of militia, volunteers and navy recruits in Quarter Sessions. A useful source for men who suddenly fall off the edge of your family history map. Adrian Webb (Was Your Ancestor Recruited in Somerset? Family Tree Magazine Vol 18 #7, page 54) has described the early system with examples from Somerset, and Gibson and Medlycott (Militia Lists and Musters 1757-1876: A Directory of Holdings in the British Isles. Federation of Family History Societies.) have provided a county-by-county directory of militia lists (of eligible men) and muster rolls (of those who served).

Misdemeanours
A great variety of complaints were brought before petty, borough and quarter sessions, with some examples following:

Nuisances
You’ll never know what your ancestors got up to, or were faced with, until you search the sessions records! Most cases seem to be for leaving dunghills or otherwise obstructing the roads but there are plenty of other nuisances too.

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English: Court Records-Criminal, Civil and Ecclesiastical offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

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