Guide to the Records of the Corporation of London Record Office (as filmed by the AJCP)
M580, M1363-M1367
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: 2018
Collection Summary
- Title
- Records of Corporation of London Record Office (as filmed by the AJCP)
- Date Range
- 1756 - 1840
- Collection Number
- M580, M1363-M1367
- Extent
- 17 items
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Australian Joint Copying Project
- Sponsor
- The Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) online portal was created with the assistance of the Australian Public Service Modernisation Fund, 2017-2020. The National Library of Australia gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the other foundation AJCP partners, the State Library of New South Wales and The National Archives of the UK, and all other organisations which supported the work of the AJCP, the world's most extensive collaborative copying project, operating from 1948 to 1997.
Introduction
Scope and Contents
The material filmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project includes: index of prisoners, vol. 2 January 1756-December 1792; session minute book December 1783-January 1785; Gaol Delivery, Oyer and Terminer Fair Entry Books vol. 1 -11 covering February 1785-October 1834; Transportation account July 1829-December 1840 detailing record payments for the drawing up of legal papers, transportation bills and Indexes to persons indicted.
Conditions Governing Access
Available for access.
Conditions Governing Use
Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the London Metropolitan Archives. For more information contact London Metropolitan Archives Enquiry service [https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/london-metropolitan-archives/visitor-information/Pages/enquiry-service.aspx].
Preferred Citation
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the London Metropolitan Archives and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the London Metropolitan Archives and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: Western Australasian Trade Section Minute Book. 22 April 1895- 12 October 1904, London Metropolitan Archives. MS 16512 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-798920226).
Archival History
Filmed at Guildhall, London, as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project, 1964, 1981 (AJCP Reel: M580, M1363-M1367). Original microfilm digitised as part of the NLA AJCP Online Delivery Project, 2017-2020.
Existence and Location of Originals
London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, England. For further information see London Metropolitan Archives (https://search.lma.gov.uk/).
Existence and Location of Copies
The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn333774] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.
Finding Aid Note
This finding aid is a revised online version of the original finding aid prepared by the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP), published by the National Library of Australia in 2018. The original AJCP finding aids were unpublished typescripts or photocopies available from libraries that held copies of the original microfilm.
Dates used in this finding aid refer to the date range of the records selected for filming rather than to the date range of the Series or Files.
In 2005 the Corporation of London Record Office merged with the London Metropolitan Archives, which is located at 40 Northampton Road, Clerkenwell. The gaol delivery and oyer and terminer minute books (1785-1834) are now held at CLA/047/LJ/05.
Subjects
Australia: transportation to; Great Britain: laws; London, England; Old Bailey;
Bibliography
Originally cited in Australian Joint Copying Project Handbook. Part 8: Miscellaneous (M) Series. Third Edition, published 1998. Entry 114, p. 41.
Biographical / Historical
The Sessions House of the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of the City of London stood on the street named Old Bailey, next to the medieval Newgate Gaol. The original courthouse was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 and was rebuilt in 1674 and again in 1774. From 1674 to 1834 the Old Bailey was the criminal court for both the City of London and the County of Middlesex.
The Old Bailey sessions generally took place eight times a year. The court met at the same time as the sessions of the peace, which were held in the Guildhall. The sessions of the peace dealt with minor offences (misdemeanours), while the Old Bailey sessions dealt with felonies such as murder, burglary, larceny and forgery. The grand jury would assemble at the Guildhall and then move to the Old Bailey when the sessions began. The recorder and the clerical staff of the two courts were identical or very similar. The jurors usually served through the entire session.
Criminal jurisdiction was exercised by virtue of three commissions which were issued regularly: the commission of the peace, the commission of the gaol delivery at Newgate, and the commissions of oyer and terminer for London and Middlesex. The commission of gaol delivery required the justices to try all the prisoners held in Newgate Gaol. The commission of oyer and terminer authorised the justices to hear treason and felony cases. In 1834, following the establishment of the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey, the scope of the Gaol Delivery Sessions was widened. It dealt with capital and other serious offences arising in the City of London, Middlesex and parts of Essex, kent and Surrey. Before 1785 the sessions minute books covered both the sessions of the peace and the general sessions of gaol delivery. From 1785 to 1834 there was a separate series of minute books for sessions of gaol delivery and oyer and terminer.
Item Descriptions
Series. Sessions Files, 1756 - 1792
3 itemsArranged chronologically within each letter of the alphabet, the indexes give the full name of the person, the date of the indictment, and the offence (eg grand larceny, forcible entry, assault, highway robbery) and in some cases the sentence (eg fined, transported, not guilty).
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP reels M580; M1363.
Series. Sessions Minute Books, 1793 - 1834
12 itemsGaol Delivery, Oyer and Terminer Fair Entry Books. The books record hearings of the General Sessions of Gaol Delivery at the Old Bailey, together with General Sessions of Oyer and Terminer which were held at the same time. It gives the dates of the sessions and adjournments, the names of the justices and jurors, and lists the prisoners with summaries of their alleged offences and their sentences.
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP reels M580; M1363-M1367.
Sessions Minute Book, December 1783 - January 1785 (File)
The book records hearings of both the Quarter Sessions of the Peace at the Guildhall and the General Sessions of Gaol Delivery at the Old Bailey. It gives the dates of the sessions and adjournments, the names of the justices, recorders and jurors, and lists the prisoners with summaries of their alleged offences and their sentences. Many of the prisoners were sentenced to transportation.
Series. Transportation Accounts, 1829 - 1840
1 itemArchival History
Originally filmed on AJCP reel M580.
Transportation Account, July 1829 - December 1840 (File)
Arranged by ship, the account records payments for drawing up contracts and bonds, attending the execution of contracts, attendance at the Home office, messengers and postage. The principal charge was for perusing and arranging documents transmitted by the Home Office relating to convicts sentenced to transportation and preparing lists of transported convicts.
Series 327.11. Miscellaneous Manuscripts, 1785 - 1791
1 itemFilmed selectively.
Archival History
Originally filmed on AJCP reel M1363.
Keeper of Newgate Transportation Bills, 1785 - 1791 (File)
Bills of Richard Akerman, Keeper of Newgate relating to convicts sentenced to transportation at the London Sessions of Gaol Delivery and Oyer and Terminer.
Warrant to pay bills, receipted 31 March 1791.
Recipients of bills
- Several named hulks, 1785-89 (210 names)
- Duncan Campbell, overseer, for hard labour on the Thames, 1786-89 (138 names)
- James Bradley, overseer, 1789 (81 names)