Victorian Punishments
Victorian Punishments
Yeovilians who found themselves in Ilchester Gaol
You didn't have to commit a serious crime in order to do serious time in early Victorian times. The list below, from the Registers of Ilchester Gaol, shows the 62 Yeovilians who found themselves in Ilchester Gaol, both males and females, in the relatively brief period between 3 October 1843 and 5 September 1844.
The sentences range from 14 days hard labour for a 10-year old accused of larceny, to six months hard labour for a 70-year old man accused of vagrancy. Three young women each received a sentence of two months hard labour for "R & V" - this was 'Rogue and Vagabond', the offence was part of the Vagrancy Act 1824 (for details see Documentation)
If the sentence reads 'Sent to Sessions' or 'Sent to Assizes', then that person was being held in gaol until their court appearance.
| Date | Name | Age | Crime | Sentence |
| 1843-Oct-03 | Henry Fudge | 21 | Stealing brass | Sent to Sessions |
| 1843-Oct-04 | John Maidment | 35 | Want of Sureties | 6 months |
| 1843-Oct-23 | Thomas Bailey | 16 | Bastardy | Sent to County Assizes |
| 1843-Nov-03 | Eliza Tatchell | 20 | Vagrancy | 1 month hard labour |
| 1843-Nov-03 | Jane Lodge | 18 | Vagrancy | 1 month hard labour |
| 1843-Dec-01 | William Marsh | 65 | Stealing 2lbs of twine | Sent to Sessions |
| 1843-Dec-01 | George Browne | 25 | House breaking | Sent to Sessions |
| 1843-Dec-01 | Samuel Dunford | 18 | House breaking | Sent to Sessions |
| 1843-Dec-01 | Abraham Brooks | 25 | House breaking | Sent to Sessions |
| 1843-Dec-02 | Robert Symon | 36 | Stealing turnips | 1 month hard labour |
| 1843-Dec-02 | James Bull | 16 | Stealing apples | 21 days hard labour |
| 1843-Dec-02 | Reuben Bull | 18 | Stealing apples | 1 month hard labour |
| 1843-Dec-02 | Joseph Gully | 17 | Stealing apples | 1 month hard labour |
| 1843-Dec-02 | William Pemberton | 20 | Stealing apples | 1 month hard labour |
| 1843-Dec-05 | William Gillard | 70 | Vagrancy | 6 months hard labour |
| 1843-Dec-07 | Henry Bailey | 23 | Vagrancy | 1 month hard labour or pay 10s 6d |
| 1843-Dec-07 | Edward Hooper | 21 | Vagrancy | 2 month hard labour or pay 14s 6d |
| 1843-Dec-07 | Alfred Appleby | 20 | Assault | 21 days hard labour |
| 1843-Dec-07 | John Goring | 30 | Stealing apples | 21 days hard labour |
| 1843-Dec-10 | Ann Maria Bailey | 22 | Vagrancy | 14 days hard labour |
| 1843-Dec-10 | Caroline Deman | 20 | Vagrancy | 1 month or pay £1 6s 6d |
| 1843-Dec-16 | Daniel Trott | 16 | Vagrancy | 3 calendar months |
| 1843-Dec-16 | George Genge | 16 | Vagrancy | 3 calendar months |
| 1843-Dec-16 | William Burns | 16 | Vagrancy | 3 calendar months |
| 1843-Dec-18 | George Hewlett | 17 | Assault | 1 month or pay 17s 6d |
| 1844-Jan-11 | Henry Pring | Vagrancy | 1 month hard labour | |
| 1844-Jan-11 | Jonas Allwell | Vagrancy | 1 month hard labour | |
| 1844-Jan-11 | John Gray | Vagrancy | 1 month hard labour | |
| 1844-Apr-02 | William Fletcher | 28 | Assault | 6 weeks or pay £2 6s 6d |
| 1844-Apr-04 | Esau Wetherall | 26 | Stealing money | Sent to County Assizes |
| 1844-Apr-04 | Henry Mills | 23 | Stealing money | Sent to County Assizes |
| 1844-Apr-08 | John Hewlett | 16 | Assault | 6 weeks or pay £2 6s 6d |
| 1844-Apr-08 | Henry Silvester | 15 | Assault | 1 month or pay £1 6s 6d |
| 1844-Apr-08 | William Townefield | 17 | Assault | 1 month or pay £1 6s 6d |
| 1844-Apr-08 | Samul Beator | 18 | Assault | 1 month or pay £1 6s 6d |
| 1844-Apr-11 | George Martin | 46 | Vagrancy | 3 months |
| 1844-Apr-12 | James Pirrell | 20 | Vagrancy | 1 month hard labour |
| 1844-Apr-17 | James Knight | 16 | Disorderly apprentice | 2 months hard labour |
| 1844-Apr-28 | Maria Tavener | 27 | R & V | 2 months hard labour |
| 1844-Apr-28 | Susan Grimes | 17 | R & V | 2 months hard labour |
| 1844-Apr-28 | Faith Rossiter | 21 | R & V | 2 months hard labour |
| 1844-May-11 | Robert Tucker | 35 | Stealing of Bricks | Sent to Sessions |
| 1844-May-11 | William Hill | 21 | Disorderly servant | 1 month hard labour |
| 1844-May-20 | John Adams | 23 | Stealing cider | Sent to Sessions |
| 1844-May-20 | Solomon Lamb | 34 | Stealing cider | Sent to Sessions |
| 1844-Jun-20 | George Hall | 50 | Vagrancy | 1 month hard labour |
| 1844-Jun-20 | William Crocker | 44 | Assault | 2 months |
| 1844-Jun-20 | Charles Cole | 25 | Stealing cyder | Sent to Sessions |
| 1844-Jun-26 | Charles Penny | 21 | Stealing potatoes | Sent to Sessions |
| 1844-Jun-26 | Harrison Sheller | 18 | Stealing pease | 1 month hard labour |
| 1844-Jul-30 | Elizabeth Mudford | 39 | Breaking windows of Union House | 2 weeks hard labour |
| 1844-Aug-08 | Frederick Hambridge | 10 | Larceny | 14 days hard labour |
| 1844-Aug-08 | Frederick Harvey | 14 | Larceny | 14 days hard labour |
| 1844-Aug-14 | Alfred Garrett | 12 | Disorderly apprentice | 1 month hard labour |
| 1844-Aug-21 | Sarah Gregory | 44 | Vagrancy | 1 month hard labour |
| 1844-Aug-29 | Isaac Stagg | 15 | Stealing apples | 21 days hard labour |
| 1844-Aug-29 | Joel Garrett | 19 | Game Laws | 21 days hard labour |
| 1844-Aug-29 | Richard Pullen | 18 | Game Laws | 21 days hard labour |
| 1844-Aug-29 | James Hamblyn | 33 | Larceny | 2 months |
| 1844-Sep-04 | John Chant | 24 | Stealing apples | 1 month hard labour |
| 1844-Sep-05 | Mary Dodge | 58 | Stealing beans | 6 weeks hard labour |
From my
collection
A contemporary sketch of Ilchester Gaol.
Just a few years earlier - an etching by Thomas Dolby, dated 1818, entitled “A Peep into Ilchester Bastile”. It depicts a jailer holding a scourge and keys standing by the door, scowling at an emaciated man, heavily shackled to the floor and lying on the frame of a bedstead. A man in a striped prison suit is bent double because his ankles and wrists are chained to the floor. A woman sits with her legs confined in stocks.
Genuine 'mugshots' of Victorian criminals (albeit not Yeovilians).
documentation
Being classed as a 'Rogue and Vagabond' included a wide range of misdemeanors including the following. To quote the Vagrancy Act 1824 -
"Every Person pretending or professing to tell Fortunes, or using any subtle Craft, Means, or Device, by Palmistry or otherwise, to deceive and impose on any of His Majesty's Subjects ; every Person wandering abroad and lodging in any Barn or Outhouse, or in any deserted or unoccupied Building, or in the open Air, or under a Tent, or in any Cart or Waggon, not having any visible Means of Subsistence, and not giving a good Account of himself or herself; every Person wilfully exposing to- view, in any Street, Road, Highway, or public Place, any obscene Print, Picture, or other indecent Exhibition ; every Person wilfully, openly, lewdly, and obscenely exposing his Person in any Street, Road, or public Highway, or in the View thereof, or in any Place of public Resort, with Intent to insult any Female ; every Person wandering abroad, and endeavouring by the Exposure of Wounds or Deformities to obtain or gather Alms ; every Person going about as a Gatherer or Collector of Alms, or endeavouring to procure charitable Contributions of any Nature or Kind, under any false or fraudulent Pretence ; every Person running away, and leaving his Wife or his or her Child or Children chargeable, or whereby she or they or any of them shall become chargeable to any Parish, Township, or Place ; every Person playing or betting in any Street, Road, Highway, or other open and public Place, at or with any Table or Instrument of gaming, at any Game or pretended Game of Chance; every Person having in his or her Custody or Possession any Picklock Key, Crow, Jack, Bit, or other Implement, with Intent feloniously to break into any Dwelling House, Warehouse, Coach-house, Stable, or Outbuilding, or being armed with any Gun, Pistol, Hanger, Cutlass, Bludgeon, or other offensive Weapon, or having upon him or her any Instrument, with Intent to commit any felonious Act; every Person being found in or upon any Dwelling House, Warehouse, Coach-house, Stable, or Outhouse, or in any inclosed Yard, Garden, or Area, for any unlawful Purpose; every suspected Person or reputed Thief, frequenting any River, Canal, or navigable Stream, Dock, or Basin, or any Quay, Wharf, or Warehouse near or adjoining thereto, or any Street, Highway, or Avenue leading thereto, or any Place of public Resort or any Avenue leading thereto, or any Street, Highway, or Place adjacent, with Intent to commit Felony; and every Person apprehended as an idle and disorderly Person, and violently resisting any Constable or other Peace Officer so apprehending him or her, and being subsequently convicted of the Offence for which he or she shall have been so apprehended, shall be deemed a Rogue and Vagabond, within the true Intent and Meaning of this Act; and it shall be lawful for any Justice of the Peace to commit such Offender (being thereof convicted before him by the Confession of such Offender, or by the Evidence on Oath of One or more credible Witness or Witnesses,) to the House of Correction, there to be kept to Hard Labour for any Time not exceeding Three Calendar Months; and every such Picklock Key, Crow, Jack, Bit, and other Implement, and every such Gun, Pistol, Hanger, Cutlass, Bludgeon, or other offensive Weapon, and every such Instrument as aforesaid, shall, by the Conviction of the Offender, become forfeited to the King's Majesty."
