English Convict Prisons and Criminal Lunatic Asylums records added to TheGenealogist

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

Press Release: New Records Release

Prisoner Records reveal a criminal lunatic who threatened Queen Victoria and was detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure

TheGenealogist is adding to its Court and Criminal Records collection with the release of almost 700,000 entries for prisoners. Sourced from the HO 8 Registers held by The National Archives, these documents contain records from the years 1821 to 1876. This expands our collection to over 1.3 million individuals covering 1801-1876.

These Prison Registers give family history researchers details of ancestors who were imprisoned in a number of convict prisons from Broadmoor to the Warrior Convict Hulk. The records reveal the names of prisoners, offences the prisoner had been convicted for, the date of their trial and where they were tried.

Use the quarterly prison registers to:

● Find ancestors guilty of crimes ranging from theft, highway robbery and libel to murder
● Discover the sentences received
● See the age of a prisoner
● Find out where they were sentenced and to which prison they were sent

Read our article, “A child poisoner and a criminal lunatic detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure”.
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2019/ho-8-historic-prisoner-records-reveal-a-child-poisoner-and-a-criminal-lunatic-detained-at-her-majestys-pleasure-1049/

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

UPDATE: Thanks to Nick for a clarification that although the records are for English Convict Prisons they "do contain some convicts that were convicted in Scotland and sent to an English prison as well. Here is an example of a John Smith convicted of Assault in Glasgow 1874 and in the registers of the Convict Prison in Portsmouth. https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/search/master/?type=person&source=&search_type=person&master_event=Court+%26+Criminal&person_event=&fn=John&phonetic_mode_fn=1&sn=Smith&phonetic_mode_sn=1&kw=HO+8&yr=&range=2&search=Search&page=5#loadwindow_-1085498429.  I was fascinated to find some convicts from Jersey (again a separate legal jurisdiction) serving time in these institutions!"

Chris

My next Scottish Research Online course starts March 11th 2019 - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Details of my genealogical research service are available at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. For my Scottish and Irish themed books, visit https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.