Prison records

[Jacquie]

Hi

Can someone tell me if it is possible to get hold of prison records.

Thanks Jacquie.

[jaq]

i have the  HO 27  volume 19-CRIMINAL REGISTER INDEXES for Essex.

The Home Office recorded persons charged with indictable offences between the years of 1805 and 1892 in the series of registers now held as Class HO 27 at the Public Record Office.
Now, for the first time, the people recorded in these volumes are being indexed county.
Is this the era you want?

jaq

 see   http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Stuart_Tamblin

[Jacquie]

Hi Jaq

Thank you for your information.

The information I want was for a prisoner that was in Parkhurst Prison at the time of the 1901 census.  
I think he is my Great great grandfather, the name, age and place of birth are right.  Although it states he is single,  he left his wife so he could have just said he was single.  
All I want to know is if his date of birth was recorded and if it match the date I have on the birth certificate then I would know if he is the right person and if it is it would be good to know why he was in prison.

Thank you Jacquie.

[Chris in 1066Land]

Hi Jaquie

I had an ancestor that I found the death certifcate for in 1852.
It said:

Death Certificate
George Swarbrooks, 28yrs, Convict Prisoner No 3467, Dartmoor
Prison, Lidford, notified by M A Vallack, County Coroner,
Torrington, Devon on 29th September 1856. (Ref HO8-129)

So I contacted Dartmoor Prison by letter telling them of this death certificate and asking for further details - they wrote back and said unfortunately there records were destroyed in the riots of 1932, but one of their officers was a local historian and he told me George was buried in Princetown - just his initials GS showing where he is buried.  He advised me to get in touch with the PRO for details of his trial / sentence, etc.

Trial - Ref HO27/106
Actual charge was 'Stealing from a Dwelling House £5.00 or
more"- also charged with him were DAVID GRANGER alias
PYEMAN,(same charge but "not before convicted of felony"-
sentence was 6 months) and ELIZABETH COOPER alias GARRATTY (same
charge but aquitted)

Offence committed was stealing £20 from a Dwelling House,
convicted at Stafford on 29th June 1853
Sentenced to 7yrs Hard Labour - awaiting transportation.
Had previous conviction of a felony - More information in the
listings of the Courts.

So, going back to your question - try contacting Parkhurst Prison and asking if they have archives, if so, how do you access them - or can they give you any details where to go next.

Chris in 1066Land

[Jacquie]

Hello Chris,

I did contact Parkhurst prison on  27th April 2003 asking if it was possible to obtain the records of prisoners.  
I got a reply saying that they do not have individual records of all prisoners that have been at Parkhurst but if I sent him the details he would gladly search what records they had.  
So I sent off the details and have never heard back so I presume that they did not have any record of the person I was looking for.  

Maybe I should try them again.

It is not really important that I find out if this person was my Great great Grandfather I just thought it would be interesting to see if it was him.  

Thank you.

Jacquie.

[jaq]

you can go to 1901 online  http://www.census.pro.gov.uk/
and select the "Institution search" option.
type in Parkhurst Prison and it comes up with Carisbrooke Isle Of Wight .
from then on you have to pay for the image
I dont know if it gives a list of names? i didnt go further, but it is an option you might want to consider just to see if the details match up.

jaq

Chris what an interesting reply, skeletons in cupboards

[Jacquie]

Thank you Jaq,

That's  were I got the information from.  I have the print out from the 1901 census.  It was sent to me by a cousin, I sent him some money and he looked up all the names that I gave him.  The person in the prison matched the name, age and place of birth.  All I want from the prison records is a date of birth and if it matches the one on the birth certificate I have then, I would know it was him.  
I will keep trying.

Thany you anyway, and yes Chris' story was very interesting.

Jacquie.