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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: TheIrishDescendant on Thursday 21 October 21 14:01 BST (UK)
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Good afternoon all I am new to this forum but I am glad I found it. I am researching my great uncle Joseph Conway born 1875 tullamore Ireland.
Now Joseph was a carrear criminal and was imprisoned in every town and city he visited for steeling, assault ect
From records I have found these places he was in
Tullamore,
Wakefield,
Hull,
Barnsley,
Liverpool
Pontefract
He was also in wormwood scrubs.
I believe mug shots was made law in 1870s ? So why can I not find a mug shot of him ? Stupid question I know but the amount of times he was in prison, surely they should be one ? Thank you for taking the time to read
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Not every prisoner was photographed.
The famous Irishman, Oscar Wilde jailed 1895 has no mugshot from his time in prison.
Tony
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Are you using Ancestry only?
Check for Joseph in the England & Wales, Crime, Prisons & Punishment, 1770-1935 collection on Find My Past. That's the collection that tends to have (more) mugshots, if one exists.
I saw one criminal's record on Ancestry from the 1870s. No mugshot.
Found quite a few records for the same criminal on FindMyPast. One record was quite lengthy -- and included a mugshot! Then again, he was pinched for a scandalous crime. So not sure if that necessitated the mugshot.
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Hi and thank you for both of your reply yes I use find my past as I have most of his prison records in there.
It's funny to have so many records and a discription of the man but no actual photo of him.
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Many prison photo collections are held in local/county archives and not available online.
Not every prisoner was photographed.
The famous Irishman, Oscar Wilde jailed 1895 has no mugshot from his time in prison.
On a vist to Berks Archives in Reading they showed a large collection of prisoner photos from Reading Gaol in that period - they said the page with Oscar Wilde on it had sadly "disappeared" many years ago.