Law and Order
Today, Law and Order is a front-page issue. We have very
high-profile court cases, which end in what appear to be inconsistent
sentencing, sometimes too harsh, other times too lenient. Until about 50 ago, the death sentence was used in the case of some murders
in the UK, but for many
years now imprisonment for ‘life’ has replaced the death sentence.
In the course of our research into the Chivers family, we
found a reference to one ‘Levi Chivers’ who was apparently buried in the
cemetery at ‘Fisherton Anger’ in Wiltshire. Fortunately this is one of the
parishes where micro-fiche copies of the Parish Registers are available from
the Wiltshire Family
History Society, so we acquired these to see if any other family members
were in that area at the same time. We were very disappointed to find little of
help, but did find Levi Chivers buried on 29 March 1815. In looking at the
fiche, however, we came to the conclusion that ‘Fisherton Anger’ cemetery was
the place where anyone executed in Salisbury Gaol was buried, although there
was no indication of the cause of Levi’s death.
A few weeks later we came across some CD-ROMs
on the Criminal Register Indexes 1805-1816 produced by Family History Indexes. In looking at
these, we found that Levi Chivers had been tried at the Lent Assizes in 1815 for Sheep
Stealing, and upon conviction, had been sentenced to death. We can only assume
the sentence was carried out at Salisbury Gaol.
This sentence
seemed a little harsh to us, but this is about the time of Charles Dickens, and
things were very different then as we know from his books. Looking further into
the Indexes, we found that sheep stealing was not the only ‘Capital’ crime.
Murder (obviously) and cattle-, horse-, and pig stealing, were all met with the
death sentence, as were the following:
George Churcher tried at the Hampshire Lent assizes in 1810. Crime: Burglary. Sentence:
Death – executed.
William Atkins tried at the Hampshire Summer assizes in 1816. Crime: Larceny of
Naval Stores to the value of 20/-. Sentence: Death –
reprieved.
John Barnett tried at the Hampshire Lent assizes in 1810. Crime: Housebreaking.
Sentence: Death.
Mary Beal tried at the Hampshire Lent
assizes in 1810. Crime: Stealing goods privately in a Shop above the
value of 5/-. Sentence: Death.
Guilliome Beury tried at the Hampshire Lent
assizes in 1812. Crime: Uttering a forged Note. Sentence: Death
– executed.
James Cannons tried at the Hampshire Lent
assizes in 1807. Crime: Rape. Sentence: Death.
Thomas Churchill tried at the Hampshire Lent
assizes in 1805. Crime: Cutting & maiming. Sentence: Death
- pardoned to one year
Robert Cole tried at the Wiltshire Lent
assizes in 1810. Crime: Coining. Sentence: Death.
Dennis Collins (alias Thomas Newberry) tried at the Hampshire Summer
assizes in 1812. Crime: Sacrilege. Sentence: Death.
John Darnell tried at the Berkshire Lent
assizes in 1812. Crime: Highway robbery. Sentence: Death.
Our ‘favourite’, if the word can be used in this
context, is:
William Potter tried at the Essex Summer assizes in
1814 Crime: Felony, in cutting down & destroying Fruit Trees.
Sentence: Death - executed
Being sentenced to
Death was not the only option. Offenders could be sentenced to be ‘Transported’
for a given length of time, up to and including ‘Life’. You could be
imprisoned, whipped in public, stood in the Pillory, fined, and any combination
of these. The CD-ROMs are very interesting and a possible
source for finding ‘missing’ ancestors. We look forward to the series being
completed.
Sherriff Family History, the Parish Registers of Modbury, Devon
and other items of Interest
© 2002-6 Paul and Christine Sherriff – Last Updated 11 Apr 2006 17:01
email:Webmaster@sherriff-family.com
Hosted by
