Index of Wiltshire Quarter Sessions Calendars

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Introduction

Persons awaiting trial were held in prison until their appearance at the next Quarter Session. Lists or ‘Calendars’ of these prisoners were prepared for the justices at the sessions. Also in these lists were those in prison ‘for a limited time’ for a petty crime but not appearing at the Quarter Sessions. The calendars give varying amounts of detail about individual cases and are sometimes annotated with the decision of the court including the sentence. Calendars from 1728 held in Wiltshire & Swindon Record Office are catalogued separately from other Quarter Session documents.

Transcription and conventions used

The database includes the following fields:-

  • County always WIL
  • Surname
  • Forenames
  • Date
  • Prison
  • Parish
  • Type: either B ‘bad’ - the person is an accused or convict; or G ‘good’ - the person is a victim or witness
  • Age
  • Destination: one of:
    • ASS - sent to Assizes
    • D - sentenced to death
    • D/REP - respited (reprieved) from death
    • HLT - sent for hard labour on the River Thames
    • QS - Quarter Sessions
    • TRL - transported for life
    • TR7, etc - transported for given number of years
    • for a limited time - in prison ‘for a limited time’ for a petty crime but not appearing at the Quarter Sessions
    • upon orders - in prison after conviction at quarter Sessions
  • Notes

Coverage

This database covers the period from 1728 to 1859. It contains 67,406 records about those people who have appeared in court to be tried or sentenced for a crime, those people who are recorded as victims of the crimes and those recorded as witnesses. The database is believed to be nearly complete. Any remaining gaps are being filled as they are discovered.

Checking

This data has been checked.

Grouping

There is no grouping of records in this database.

Abbreviations and Codes

The Chapman County codes have been used. The code for Wiltshire is 'WIL' and that for Somerset is 'SOM'.

Contact details

If you suspect an entry has been mis-transcribed please report the problem to ppv@wiltshirefhs.co.uk, for all other purposes see under ‘How to buy’.

How to buy

The detail in the entry for a particular prisoner can vary considerably. At its briefest it might merely state “John Smith to be held in prison upon orders”. Most contain considerably more, at best “John Colthorpe, 20, Committed by F. Craven, Esq. charged on the oaths of Thomas Cook and William Rogers, on a violent suspicion of having been feloniously concerned with Joseph Standley, Angelo Standley, Richard Cooper, Asail Cooper, and Jesse Cooper, in stealing a pig, the property of Joseph Spirit, of Froxfield. Warrant dated Dec. 20, 1820. To be transported beyond the seas for the term of Seven Years and in the meantime to be confined in the County Gaol”

To buy a photocopy of the page containing the relevant entry write to the Research Co-ordinator, Wiltshire Family History Society, 10 Castle Lane, Devizes, Wilts, SN10 1HJ. Price £1.00 per entry including postage. Please send all details from the index to ensure identification of the entry.

Wiltshire Family History Society provide a general enquiry service at the above address, or email society@wiltsfhs.co.uk or via website www.wiltshirefhs.co.uk .

The Wiltshire FHS has produced many parish register indexes and other publications. These can also be purchased online via GENfair or by mail order from the Society.

Copyright and disclaimer

Copyright in the transcriptions is owned by the Trustees of the Wiltshire Family History Society.

While every care has been taken in the preparation of this database users are advised to view the original calendars (or facsimiles thereof e.g. photocopies) and form their own interpretation.

The Wiltshire Family History Society accepts no liability for any errors or omissions.

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