England Quarter Session Records

England England Court Records

Quarter Session records started to be kept as early as the 13th century but most from the 16th century. These records dealt with the everyday man. Court was held four times a year. Anyone with a grievance could complain, no matter their social status. A rich variety of records exist, but not for all places and times. Among the records are:


 * Lists of names of justices present, bailiffs and high constables of Hundreds, and jurymen.
 * Writs to the sheriff, to summon juries, officers, defendants and others.
 * Presentments and returns on a variety of matters (some with signatures).
 * Indictments (formal accusations), usually in legal Latin language.
 * Bonds (a monetary fee) to ensure defendants and witnesses appear at the trial and that they are orderly.
 * Lists of prisoners, usually stating the offense and sometimes the sentence.
 * Complaints, Certificates and Testimonials concerning a variety of matters.
 * Licenses granted to persons for a variety of occupations, such as a alehouse keeper.
 * Removal Orders for Paupers. They were "removed" from their current location to their home parish.
 * Reports of Inspectors of Weights and Measures.
 * Certificates of dissenters' meeting-houses.

Quarter Session Procedures
These courts had judges (magistrates) and dispensed summary justice (that is, without juries). Higher level courts had juries and tried indictable offences (Martin 1994).


 * A summary offence is one that can only be tried summarily, that it before magistrates. Most minor offences are summary, and in 1855 summary jurisdiction for criminal offences became possible.


 * A summary conviction is a conviction in magistrates court.


 * An indictable offence is a serious one that may be tried by jury in a higher court than petty sessions.


 * An indictment is a formal document accusing one or more persons of a specified indictable offence or offences.

County Administration

 * Appointments, salaries, fees, allowances, dismissals etc. of county officials.
 * Coroners reports and accounts.
 * County gaols and convict transportation.
 * Elections and voters’ lists.
 * Enclosure of land and deed, awards and agreements about land.
 * Licensing of various trades, non-conformist meeting houses, lunatic asylums, societies, charities, savings banks, printing presses, boats and barges etc., any of which may have been hived off to local licensing courts.
 * Militia recruitment training and billeting, also volunteers and navy recruitment and militia storehouses.
 * Regulating wages, rates for carriage and prices of staple goods, with establishment of positions such as the inspectors of weights and measures
 * Roads, bridges, and turnpike trusts.
 * Taxation, for example hearth tax, poor rates and land tax assessments.
 * Various oaths for conformity and allegiance.

In 1888 the county councils took the administrative load off the Quarter Sessions but the latter retained their licensing functions.

Judicial cases
By the 17th century many of the semi-secular cases formerly heard in church court went to the county Quarter Sessions. These included the huge amount of business generated by the Poor Laws. Records include:


 * Zillions of settlements, removals, vagrancy papers and poor apprenticeships records of which may not survive in individual parish chests.
 * Bastardy orders and dealing with delinquent fathers.
 * Offences against licensing laws and by-laws.
 * Non-payment of tithes and taxes.
 * Coroners’ reports and inquests.
 * A wide variety of other crimes. Until 1820 the Quarter Sessions dealt with about 200 felonies, the most common are listed below.

Chart: Crimes Treated as Felonies

An index is available for Sussex Quarter Sessions criminal convictions 1810-1854 on. I found five Jupps and the index gives surname, first name, residence, occupation, age, place of offence, victim, court, date, case number, document reference, plea, committing magistrate, offence, sentence and any comments.

Cases were referred from local petty and borough sessions, where they existed, and the Quarter Sessions heard disputes and claims regarding everything from apprenticeships and soldiers’ pensions to public nuisances. Many types of cases were routed to the new police courts during the 19th century but Quarter Session continued to sit as criminal courts for non-capital offences until 1971. Almost anything can be found in Quarter Sessions since they encompass most human failings. However, capital offences such as murder and treason usually went to the Assizes, and divorce, international relations, probate, and shipwrecks at sea went to special courts.

Court Procedure
Court procedure, and associated records, consist of:


 * Jury lists for each session.


 * Indictment, accusation or presentment of a complaint—which could be from the constables, overseers or any private person.


 * Jury decides whether there was enough evidence for a case (a true bill) or not (no true bill).


 * Examination of the accused and witnesses by two JPs, their statements being recorded as depositions.


 * If the accused pleaded guilty then he could be sentenced immediately. If he pleaded not guilty then he would go to gaol unless he could find two bondsmen to give a financial recognizance (typically £20-40, about a year’s wages for a labourer). The names and residences of the bondsmen, who were often fathers or brothers can be important clues to the accused’s family and provenance. The court also required recognizances from the prosecutors and witnesses to appear and pursue the case. These people were paid their expenses, and those who brought criminals to justice by hanging received a coveted Tyburn ticket. This exempted them from future parish duties and was a saleable item (but only once) -see an actual example in Cole (2001d).


 * The verdict of the court and the sentence given if found guilty.

The general records of Quarter Sessions include:


 * Sessions Minute Books which are the summaries of the events of each session, which lead to -


 * Sessions Rolls which include the evidence presented for each case which is where the real gems are. They are often grouped together for each case with a leather string punched right through the middle of the pieces of parchment or paper!


 * Order Booksinclude the court’s decisions on every item of court business, see Hunt for a description.

Separate records frequently exist for specific types of administration or cases such as indictment rolls, fines, or recognizances.

McLaughlin (Quarter Sesssions: Your Ancestor and the Law. Varneys Press, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, 1995) has a worthwhile and amusing introduction to Quarter Session records, and Brown speaks about the history of Quarter Sessions with examples from Surrey. Barlow’s (Passion, Violence and Petty Squabbles: Hampshire Quarter Sessions 1778-1786. Family Tree Magazine. Part I in Vol 20 #10, page 24-26; Part 2 in Vol 20 #11, page 20-22; Part 3 in Vol 20 #12, page 60-62; Part 4 in Vol 21 #1, page 77-79) fascinating series of articles on the Hampshire Quarter Sessions 1778-1786 is a thoughtful assessment of the court process and the times with good examples.

Cameron’s (The Middlesex Quarter Sessions. Genealogists’ Magazine Vol 10 #1, page 1-7) article on the Middlesex Quarter Sessions dates from 1947 but still contains some useful historical data. Ratcliffe (An Introduction to Quarter Sessions Records. Metropolitan (London and North Middlesex Family History Society) Vol 19 #3, page 146-149) and Chapman (Quarter Session Records. Practical Family History #11 page 7, 1998) have historical introductions. Gibson (Quarter Sessions Records for Family Historians. Federation of Family History Societies, 1995) provides a county-by-county listing of the material of most use to family historians, although it must be noted that he concentrates on pre-1850 records and later material is plentiful as well. County record offices were primarily set up to house and preserve these session records so they usually have them well catalogued.

Nominal indexes do exist for whole sessions but these may only refer to the main names such as the plaintiffs and defendants. Some examples include:


 * Surrey Quarter Sessions papers 1700-1799 nominal index on, place index on 6036506(3).


 * West Kent Quarter Sessions order papers 1758-1804 (this is a model of what can be done co-operatively online).


 * Shropshire Quarter Sessions (including the petty sessions) 1831-1920 index is on CD available from the county society, and on the Discovering Shropshire’s History website . Powell has used it to good advantage.


 * Hertfordshire Quarter Sessions 1833-1843 by Le Hardy (1957).


 * East Sussex Quarter Sessions 1810-1854 by the Friends of the East Sussex Record Office.

Location of Records
Records are housed in county or council offices in England. Few have been indexed but they are usually arranged by date. Some are on film in the Family History Library. Search for your county of interest in the FamilySearch Catalog for:

ENGLAND - [NAME OF COUNTY] - COURT RECORDS.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

England, Kent, Quarter Sessions and Court Files (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Sessions Cases
A selection of examples of matters dealt with at Petty, Borough and Quarter sessions follow.

Apprentices
There are approvals from magistrates for binding poor apprentices, as well as cases regarding misbehaviour or and mistreatment of all apprentices.

Bastardy
Petty Sessions records and/or Justices Minute Books are the usual place to find a child support or maintenance order request known as an application of the mother after the birth of a bastard, probably within a year of the birth. It gives the name of the reputed father, his occupation and address, and may have been taken out even if the couple married just before the birth or afterwards (Cole 1998b).

If there were no petty sessions for the area try the quarter sessions. Cole (Questions and Answers (Petty Sessions). Family Tree Magazine Vol 17 #10, page 21) has a lot of experience with petty sessions records and reports that if an illegitimate child was residing in the workhouse then the Board of Guardians’ relieving officer usually brought a case against the reputed father, as many fathers reneged on their maintenance payments. They were formerly required until the child was 7 (and thus able to work!) and by the 19th century age 13. Bastardy complaints can be found up to the late 20th century.

Constables
All kinds of disturbances of the peace would be brought to the sessions by the constables, assault and drunkenness being of-course common. A fascinating police series of descriptions and photographs of post-1902 habitual drunkards is described by Wood (2004). Any riotous, violent or indecent behaviour in any place of worship could be brought before a JP from 1860.

Malefactors would be confined in the village lock-up, and punishments meted out in the stocks or pillory, whilst stray animals were impounded, i.e. kept in the village pound or pinfold; Tate (The Parish Chest. Phillimore, Chichester, West Sussex.) has illustrations of surviving examples of each of these.

Nash (Naked Fury in Regency Frome. The Greenwood Tree (Somerset and Dorset Family History Society) Vol 28 #2, page 39) describes the journal of a constable in Frome, Somerset 1813-1818, Price’s (The Wigginton [Oxfordshire] Constables’ Book 1691-1836. Banbury Historical Society Volume 11. [Reviewed in Genealogists’ Magazine Vol 17 #5, page 248-249]) transcription of a constable’s book gives a good idea of his duties and Bennett (Constables’ Accounts #26 in Short Guides to Records edited by Kathryn M. Thompson. Historical Association. has a useful guide to constables accounts.

Later records can be listed under Police Occurrence Books, for example the series for Maldon, Essex on film 1703002 which are the daily reports of the police constables and contain the minutiae of everyday life in the town.

Coroners' Inquests
The office of coroner (from crowner since they represented the crown) began in 1194 and they originally had several responsibilities including confiscating the property of outlaws (those who had failed to show up in court), investigation of crimes, shipwrecks and treasure trove.

This was gradually restricted to the single duty of investigating the circumstances of sudden, unnatural or suspicious deaths. The sole qualification until 1926 was that the coroner be a landholder. Since that time he or she has to be a barrister, solicitor or qualified medical practitioner, and may have deputies.

The coroner worked with a jury of from 12-24 good and lawful men, although numbers were reduced to 7-11 in 1926. Fees were paid but coroners were not given salaries until 1860. The inquests were held at any suitable local building, often a local inn. The parish beadle summoned witnesses who would include the local doctor, friends, neighbours and any relevant officials such as nurses or prison officers.

Hopwood (The Coroners Courts. Family and Local History Handbook 5th edition page 36-39) describes the court process in detail with many examples and illustrations, Gandy (Looking Through Their Eyes: Coroners’ Inquests. Practical Family History #46 page 7) has a number of examples of cases, Cole and Rogers (Coroners’ Inquest Records. #46 in Short Guides to Records edited by Kathryn M. Thompson. Historical Association. has useful background, and Harvey (HARVEY, Roger. 2003. Date of Death in Genealogical Miscellany by WOOD, Tom. Family Tree magazine Vol 19 #4, page 17) discusses the subject of decomposition of the body from the coroner’s point of view.

The record from the coroner’s court lists the names of the jurors as well as the verdict. The coroner’s bill (or voucher) for his expenses may be more informative, often including the name of the deceased, the date and place of inquest, cause of death and verdict. In York in 1831-1834 the records were named coroners’ inquisitions (film 1545354) and the one for John Epworth is signed by 14 jurymen, with their verdict:

The coroner’s bill states:

Many coroners’ records have been destroyed with most surviving ones from 1750 being at county archives, often with the Quarter Sessions records, and there is a 75-year (formerly 100 years) closure period. Harrison (Did She Fall or Was She Pushed? Genealogists’ Magazine Vol 20 #8, page 280-281) and Beech (Coroners’ Records. Genealogists’ Magazine Vol 20 #9, page 618) both provide refreshing insight into obtaining coroners’ records. Gibson and Rogers have provided a finding aid which has an excellent introduction. Local newspapers are often more available and frequently give more detail since witness statements usually no longer exist, although there are many at the City of London Record Office (Clippingdale). Records of inquests handed to the assize justices, those for the Palatinates of Chester and Lancaster, and those for prisoners who died in Kings Bench Prison (mostly debtors) or the Millbank Penitentiary are at TNA. There are some indexes, for example for Sussex 1485-1688 by Hunnisett (Sussex Coroners’ Inquests 1485-1558. Sussex Record Society).

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.

Parish Officers
Appointments of parish officials, as well as scrutiny of their reports and their accounts fell to the county clerk and magistrates.

All adult males took their turn as unpaid parish officers, and were reimbursed for expenses. An important advantage to holding such an office for a year was that it conferred the right of settlement in the parish, and the holder could not be evicted later if he fell on hard times.

Joseph Chapman - shopkeeper Richard Dale - carpenter *Edward Hammond - yeoman 

Roads and Bridges
Sessions records contain matters relating to the creation and maintenance of the main roads and bridges.

Settlements and Removals
Perhaps half of the business conducted at every Quarter Sessions consisted of deciding appeals against removal orders (Cole 2001c), and each gives so much family history which cannot be obtained elsewhere.

Besides the overall indexes to Quarter Sessions materials there are separate published indexes to the Quarter Session settlement and removal cases in many counties, for example for Somerset 1607-1700 by Webb (An Index to Somerset Settlement and Removal Cases in Quarter Sessions 1607-1700. Somerset and Dorset Family, History Society)

Some of the cases which the justices had to scratch their heads about in 1784 in Bromley, Kent are given below.

Chart: Petty Sessions Settlement Exams Bromley, Kent 3rd May 1784

Taxation
Records of the collection of taxes for many purposes were kept by the county clerk, and cases heard for those unwilling or unable to pay.

Theft
The cut-off point between petty and grand larceny was 1/- so many goods were valued at slightly under a shilling, say 10d so they could be dealt with in Quarter Sessions rather than be sent up to the Assizes. Barlow (2004 part 2) quotes a blatant case making the crime fit the sessions in 1782 in Hampshire where a total value of 10d was placed on 22 silver buttons, one black coarse gown, one pair of stays, one apron, a check shirt, two black silk handkerchiefs and 10 lbs of tallow!

Occasionally quarter and borough sessions would pass a sentence of death, an example is shown below.

Chart: Calendar of Crimes and Sentences Faversham Borough Sessions and Gaol Delivery 1824