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Reminiscences of John Burt, prison warder at H.M. Prison Wormwood Scrubs. Includes newspaper cuttings relating to the prison, 1890-1936.

Records of the City of London Coroner's Court, 1300-1995, including coroner's accounts; inquests; depositions; inquisitions; fire inquests; fire brigade daily fire reports and police reports sent to the City Coroner to inform him about City of London Fires under the provisions of the London Fire Inquests Act, 1888, and prison inquests for Bridewell, Newgate, Fleet and Ludgate Prisons and Whitecross Street, Poultry, Giltspur Street and Southwark (Borough) Compters.

Records relating to City of London Prisons, comprising calendar of prisoners in Wood Street Compter and Poultry Compter, 1747; and affidavit concerning the removal of a prisoner from Wood Street Compter to the King's Bench Prison, 1691.

Collection of printed items relating to various subjects, including Westminster, Newgate and Newgate criminals, and the Old Bailey.

Records of the Corporation of London, 1067-2004, including records of the Court of Aldermen (COL/CA) and committees of the Court of Aldermen including Administration of Justice Committee, (COL/CA/AJA), Finance Committee (COL/CA/FNA), Gaol Committee (COL/CA/GAC), General Purposes Committee (COL/CA/GPA), Livery Cloth Committee (COL/CA/LCA), Magistracy Committee (COL/CA/MGA), Prisons Committee (COL/CA/PCA), Police Committee (COL/CA/PLA), Privileges Committee (COL/CA/PVA), Parliamentary Committee (COL/CA/PYA), Whole Committee (COL/CA/WCA) and various other committees (COL/CA/MIN).

Records of the Court of Common Council (COL/CC) and committees of the Court of Common Council including Affairs of the Corporation Committee (COL/CC/ACC), Administration of Justice Committee (COL/CC/AJC), Airport Committee (COL/CC/APC), Assessment (City Of London Union) Committee (COL/CC/ASC), Accounts Committee (COL/CC/AUC), Blackfriars Bridge (Building) Committee (COL/CC/BBB), Blackfriars Bridge (Repairing) Committee (COL/CC/BBR), Bunhill Fields Committee (COL/CC/BFC), Bridge House Committee (COL/CC/BHC), Bridge House Trust Committee (COL/CC/BHT), Billingsgate and Leadenhall Markets Committee (COL/CC/BLM), Barbican Arts Centre Joint Working Party (Arts Centre) (COL/CC/BRA), Barbican Centre Committee (COL/CC/BRC), Barbican Development Committee (COL/CC/BRD), Barbican Residential Committee (COL/CC/BRR), Barbican Contracts Working Party (COL/CC/BRW), Coal, Corn and Finance Committee (COL/CC/CCF), Coal and Corn Committee (COL/CC/CCN), Coal, Corn and Rates Finance Committee (COL/CC/CCR), Civil Defence Committee (COL/CC/CDC), Civil Defence (Emergency) Committee (COL/CC/CDE), Central Markets Committee (COL/CC/CEM), City of London (Arizona) Corporation (COL/CC/CLA), City Lands and Bridge House Estates Committee (COL/CC/CLBH), City Lands Committee (COL/CC/CLC), City of London Education Committee (COL/CC/CLE), Board of Governors, City of London Freemen's School (COL/CC/CLF), City of London Freemen's (Orphans) School (COL/CC/CLFO), Board of Governors, City of London School for Girls (COL/CC/CLG), Board Of Governors, City of London School (COL/CC/CLS), City Of London School Building Committee (COL/CC/CLSB), City Of London School For Girls Committee (COL/CC/CLSG), City Of London Schools Committee (COL/CC/CLSS), Computer Sub-Committee (COL/CC/CMB), Computer Steering Group Committee (COL/CC/CMG), County Purposes Committee (COL/CC/CPC), Enquiries into the Constitution of the Corporation (COL/CC/CPR), Court Of Requests Committee (COL/CC/CRC), Central Criminal Court (Extension) Co mmittee (COL/CC/CRE), Central Criminal Court: Newson Smith Committee (COL/CC/CRN), Consolidated Committee (COL/CC/CTC), Cattle Markets Committee (COL/CC/CTM), Elementary Education Committee (COL/CC/EEC), Epping Forest And Open Spaces Committee (COL/CC/EFC), Emanuel Hospital Committee (COL/CC/EHC), Establishment Committee (COL/CC/ESC), Freedom Applications Committee (COL/CC/FAC), Food Control Committee (COL/CC/FCC), Freedom Committee (19th Century) (COL/CC/FDC), Finance Committee (COL/CC/FNC), Gaol Expenses and Finance Committee (COL/CC/FNG), Special Finance/Select Finance or Finance Committee (COL/CC/FNS), Fish Supply Committee (COL/CC/FSC), Guildhall Improvement Committee (COL/CC/GHI), Guildhall Yard East Building Committee (COL/CC/GHY), General Purposes Committee (COL/CC/GPC), Gresham Committee (City Side) (COL/CC/GRC), Joint Gresham Committee (COL/CC/GRJ), Gas/Gas And Water Committee (COL/CC/GWC), Guildhall Yard East Committee (COL/CC/GYE), City Of London Board Of Health (COL/CC/HEB), Health Committee (COL/CC/HEC), Housing Committee (COL/CC/HGC), Hampstead Heath Management Committee (COL/CC/HHM), Highgate Wood Joint Consultative Committee (COL/CC/HWJ), Improvements Committee (Corporation) (COL/CC/IMP), Improvements And Town Planning Committee (C.S/Phd) (COL/CC/ITP), Joint Advisory Committee (COL/CC/JTA), Joint Bridge House Estates and Improvements Committee (COL/CC/JTB), Joint Committee (COL/CC/JTC), Joint (P.H.D) Committee (COL/CC/JTP), Joint Bridge House Estates and Special Committee (COL/CC/JTS), Joint Bridge House Estates and Thames Navigation and Port of London Committee (COL/CC/JTT), Litter Act Committee (COL/CC/LAC), London Bridge Approaches Committee (COL/CC/LBA), London Bridge Committee (COL/CC/LBC), London Bridge Improvements Committee (COL/CC/LBI), Local Centres Examinations Board Executive Committee (COL/CC/LCE), Local Food Control Committee (COL/CC/LFC), Local Government and Taxation Committee (COL/CC/LGT), Libraries, Guildhall Art Gallery and Arch ives Committee (COL/CC/LIB), Law Bills Committee (COL/CC/LLC), Library And Museum Committee (COL/CC/LMC), Law, [Parliamentary] and City Courts Committee (COL/CC/LPC), Lunatic Asylum Committee (COL/CC/LUC), Music and Drama Committee (COL/CC/MDC), Metage on Grain Committee (COL/CC/MGC), Committees (COL/CC/MIN), Museum of London Board of Governors (COL/CC/MLB), Midsummer Prize (later Prize) Committee (COL/CC/MPC), Markets Improvement Committee (COL/CC/MRI), Joint Markets Advisory Committee (COL/CC/MRJ), Markets Committee (COL/CC/MRK), Militia Committee (COL/CC/MTC), Mayoralty 800th Anniversary Committee (COL/CC/MYA), Mayoralty Visits Committee (COL/CC/MYC), Officers and Clerks Committee (COL/CC/OCC), Officers and Clerks Committee, 1815-1834 (COL/CC/OCL), Public Health Committee (COL/CC/PBC), Prisons Committee (COL/CC/PCC), Port Health and Environmental Services Committee (COL/CC/PHE), Port and City of London Health and Social Services Committee (COL/CC/PHS), Police Committee (COL/CC/PLC), Port of London Health Committee (COL/CC/PLH), Port of London Committee (COL/CC/PNC), Policy and Resources Committee (COL/CC/PRC), Planning and Transportation Committee (COL/CC/PTC), Planning and Transportation Committee: Trees, Gardens And Open Spaces Sub-Committee (COL/CC/PTCG), Planning And Transportation Committee: Traffic Management And Road Safety Sub-Committee (COL/CC/PTCT), Privileges Committee (COL/CC/PVC), Parliamentary Committee (COL/CC/PYC), Rates Finance Committee (COL/CC/RFC), Revenue And Officers Committee (COL/CC/ROC), Special Bridge Or Subway Committee (COL/CC/SBC), Special (City Of London Court) Committee (COL/CC/SCC), City Of London School Committee (COL/CC/SCH), Secondaries And Sheriffs' Courts Committee (COL/CC/SDC), Special (Emergency) Committee (COL/CC/SEC), Special Finance Committee (COL/CC/SFC), Special (Guildhall Reconstruction) Committee (COL/CC/SGC), Select General Purposes (Porters) Committee (COL/CC/SGP), Special Housing Committee (COL/CC/SHC), Select And Special Committees (COL/CC/SIC), Special (Labour) Committee (COL/CC/SLC), Special Markets Committee (COL/CC/SMC), Special Committee (COL/CC/SPC), Spitalfields Market Committee (COL/CC/SPM), Special Police Committee (COL/CC/SPO), Special Inquiry Committee (COL/CC/SQC), Special Revenue Committee (COL/CC/SRC), Social Services Committee (COL/CC/SSC), Staff Committee (COL/CC/STF), Special Tithes Committee (COL/CC/STH), Streets Committee (COL/CC/STS), Special (War Damage Act) Committee (COL/CC/SWC), Tithe Committee (COL/CC/TIC), Thames Navigation Committee (COL/CC/TNC), Valuation Committee (COL/CC/VAC), Works Advisory Committee (COL/CC/WAC), Whole Court Committee (COL/CC/WCC), Whole Court (P.H.D.) Committee (COL/CC/WCD), Welfare Committee (COL/CC/WEC), West Ham Park: Committee Of Managers Of West Ham Park (COL/CC/WHP), Watch And Police Committee (COL/CC/WPC), Watch And Police: Day Police Committee (COL/CC/WPD) and Watch And Police: Special Day Police And Nightly Watch Committee (COL/CC/WPS).

Records of the Comptroller and City Solicitor (COL/CCS) including Comptroller's papers (COL/CCS/CO), Plans (COL/CCS/PL) and Solicitor's papers (COL/CCS/SO).

Records of the Chamberlain's Department including Apprenticeship (COL/CHD/AP), Bridge House Estates (COL/CHD/BH), Chamber Accounts (COL/CHD/CM), Chamberlain (COL/CHD/CP), Chamberlain's Court (COL/CHD/CR), City's Cash (COL/CHD/CT), Duties and Metage (COL/CHD/DM), Freedom (COL/CHD/FR), Institutions and Courts (COL/CHD/IC), Improvements (COL/CHD/IM), Loans and Assessments (COL/CHD/LA), Military and Naval (COL/CHD/MN), Pensions (COL/CHD/PN), Poor and other Relief (COL/CHD/PR), Rents and Rentals (COL/CHD/RN), Rates (COL/CHD/RT) and Trust and other Funds (COL/CHD/TF).

Records of Mansion House including Administration (COL/MH/AD), Lord Mayor (COL/MH/LM), Lord Mayor's Household (COL/MH/LMH) and The Mansion House (COL/MH/MSH).

Records of the Planning Department including Architect (COL/PLD/AR), Plans (COL/PLD/PL) and Town Planning (COL/PLD/TP).

Records of the Remembrancer's Department including Ceremonials (COL/RMD/CE), Parliamentary (COL/RMD/PA) and Remembrancer's Papers COL/RMD/RM.

Other records including administrative records (COL/AD); Brokers (COL/BR), charters (COL/CH), Common Hall (COL/CN), Common Hall: Livery Consultative Committee (COL/CN/LCN), Common Hall: Livery Committee (COL/CN/LVC), Livery Companies (COL/CP), Custumals (COL/CS), Community Services Department: Housing (COL/CSD/HO), Community Services Department: Social Services (COL/CSD/SS), Charities (COL/CT), Environmental Services Department (COL/ESD), Libraries and Art Galleries: Administration (COL/LBD/AD), Guildhall Art Gallery (COL/LBD/AG), Guildhall Library (COL/LBD/GHL), Officers (COL/OF), Public Health Department: Administration (COL/PHD/AD), Public Health Department: Plans (COL/PHD/PL), Plans (COL/PL), Recognizances (COL/RG), Surveyor's Department: Administration (COL/SVD/AD), Surveyor's Department: Plans (COL/SVD/PL), Town Clerks Department: Administration (COL/TCD/AD), Town Clerks Department: Civil Defence (COL/TCD/CD), Registration COL/TCD/RG, Technical Services Department: Plans (COL/TSD/PL), Sheriffs (COL/SF) and Wards (COL/WD).

Also records arranged in Subject Series: Individuals (COL/SD), Subjects (COL/SJ) and Places (COL/SP).

The records in the CLRO are thought to be one of the finest and most complete municipal archives in Europe. However, researchers may notice some substantial gaps and these merit an explanation. The majority of the records of the Freedom of the City prior to 1681 and the City's Cash accounts prior to 1632 were either destroyed in the Great Fire in 1666 or in another fire in the Chamber (the finance department of the Corporation) in 1786. Similarly, it is thought that a fire at the Sessions House in the Old Bailey in 1877 destroyed the early Sessions minutes and files, as well as the bulk of the supporting papers. The paucity of surviving Sheriffs' Court records for the medieval period is thought to be because these records were considered to be the personal property of a Sheriff, who might be called upon to produce records in order to account for his actions during his time in office long after his Shrievalty had ended. Similarly, it is thought the records of coroner's inquests have not survived in any quantity before 1788 because inquests were not held in a court building until relatively recently, and so the records of inquests were considered part of the personal papers of office holders rather than administrative records.

Calendar of gaol delivery for the Middlesex House of Correction, known as Cold Bath Fields Prison, 1832.

Collection of documents relating to courts and legal proceedings in London, including notes on jurisdiction and procedures; historical notes; reports on cases; briefs, case notes and proceedings; correspondence and financial accounts for various courts including the Court of Star Chamber, the Court of Exchequer, the Court of Chancery, the Court of King's Bench and Queen's Bench, and legal institutions such as Furnival's Inn, the King's Bench Prison, the Old Bailey and Marshalsea Prison.

Records of the Quarter Sessions for London and Middlesex, including certificate of conviction; examination book of vagabonds apprehended in the City of London; Newgate gaol calendars; and petition for victualling licence.

List of prisoners in Lehrstrasse Prison involved in the 20 July 1944 bomb plot against Adolf Hitler, including arrival and release date, the latter annotated with destination. Those who were transported to the Plötzensee Prison were probably executed.

Records of Giltspur Street Compter, 1785-1850, including administrative papers, rules and regulations, warrants for arrests and papers relating to the rebuilding of the compter, 1785-1794.

Papers of Rudolf Hess, 1939-1985, comprise copies of correspondence and papers regarding the imprisonment of Rudolf Hess at Spandau Prison.

Records of HM Young Offender Institute, Feltham. This collection contains records of administration (1910-1951); indexes and registers of prisoners (1923-1975); records of staff (1935-1970); medical records (1939-1973); chaplain's journals (1947-1980); printed material (1934-1964); and an artefact from 1985.

Records relating to Holloway Prison, 1869-2009, including administrative, medical, staff records, records of the chaplain, records relating to prisoners' employment. Prisoners' records include registers of prisoners and some files on individual prisoners (Edith Thompson and Styllou Christofi, both executed at Holloway, Helen Kroger, Cynthia Payne and Caroline Richardson). Related documentation includes photographs of the prison and staff, registers relating to predecessor prisons and printed material.

Papers, 1843-1886, collected by the solicitors in the course of their work, comprising sales particulars of Marshalsea Prison including the Admiralty Prison, Southwark; notice of share issue and prospectus for the South London Tramways Company and notice of share issue with application form for construction of underground line from City to Newington Butts for the City of London Southwark Subway Company.

Records of Ludgate Prison, 1637-1815, including petitions, lists of prisoners, committee papers, writs, orders for payment and bills.

Statistics relating to crime, licensing and prisons, generated by various courts in Middlesex, 1891-1966. Also some Chairman's notebooks.

Records of the Middlesex Quarter Sessions relating to local administration, 1590-1930. The number of series in MA reveals the wide scope of county administration dealt with at the sessions. A lot of the records date from the nineteenth century when there was an increase in central attempts at the regulation of many aspects of everyday life. MA/W deals with silk weavers' wage rates; MA/MW covers the work of Inspectors of Weights and Measures; MA/RS are reports from county committees and officers; MA/MS deal with military carriage rates; MA/S is concerned with the building and maintenance of the county's sessions houses; MA/MD covers the work of Inspectors of Animal Diseases; MA/C covers the work of the sessions' committees; MA/G is concerned with the building and maintenance of the county's prisons; MA/GS, likewise for Feltham Industrial School; MA/DCP are plans of county properties; MA/D and MA/DC contain deeds and contracts for county properties; MA/B are Bridge Committee papers; MA/A is concerned with the building and maintenance of the county's lunatic asylums; and MA/MN deals with military and naval recruitment in the county.

Records of the Middlesex Victoria Fund, a charity for the aid of discharged prisoners, including minutes; rules of the fund; reports of the Trustees; papers relating to grants to individuals and organisations; correspondence; and financial records.

Records of Newgate Prison, 1423-1983, including lists of prisoners; committee minutes and reports; receipt books for prisoners' goods; lists of keepers; orders for payment; petitions; rules, orders and regulations; papers relating to the treatment of prisoners; visiting justices minute books; papers relating to maintenance and rebuilding and publications regarding the history of the prison.

Records of the prison Supervisors comprising: "Act of Parliament to explain and amend the Laws relating to the Transportation, Imprisonment, and other Punishment, of certain offenders, authorising building of two penitentiaries", 1779; order by King appointing John Howard, George Whatley and Dr John Fothergill Supervisors of the penitentiaries to be erected under above Act, 1779; minutes of meetings of the Supervisors to discuss possible sites near London and a plan for the male penitentiary, 1779; draft letter from George Whatley to John Howard, acknowledging receipt of letter, overestimate of savings expected from convicts' labour, and difficulties ahead, 1780; memorial by Supervisors recommending site between Grays Inn Road and Bagnigge Wells Road read out at meeting with Lord Chancellor, Speaker, Judges and Lord Mayor, 1780; proposal by John Howard and John Fothergill for a new site for the Penitentiary near the White Conduit, marked on a map now missing, 1780.

Records of Poultry Compter, 1669-1876, including charge books; commitment books; warrants for arrest; lists of prisoners; papers relating to the office of clerksitter; orders and payments relating to rebuilding work; administrative papers including proceedings and minutes.

Records relating to the London prison system, 1487-1975. Prisons mentioned include the Houses of Correction at Westminster and Cold Bath Fields, the Debtor's Prison, Newgate, Ludgate, King's Bench, Fleet, Marshalsea, Clerkenwell, Bridewell, Holloway, Whitecross Street, Middlesex and Wandsworth as well as various Compters.

The records include accounts and financial papers; statutes and bills relating to gaols and prisons; Acts of the Court of Common Council and the Court of Aldermen; contracts; indentures; various committee minutes and papers, including reports of the Gaol Committee; petitions; regulations; papers relating to prisoner health; reports of the Commissioners of Prisons; papers relating to Compters, particularly the Committee for the rebuilding of Poultry and Wood Street compters, 1783-89 and papers relating to prison charities. Also a PhD thesis by Wayne Joseph Sheehan entitled The London Prison System 1666-1795, submitted to the University of Maryland in 1975.

Records of the Royal Hospitals of Bridewell and Bethlem. About three-quarters of the records are solely of Bridewell Royal Hospital and have been catalogued as Bridewell Royal Hospital; the other quarter are joint records of the Royal Hospitals of Bridewell and Bethlem and have been catalogued under that name. A few records are essentially of Bridewell but have some Bethlem subject content. The joint records are largely constitutional, court, accounts and joint estate records, with some clerk's correspondence relating to both hospitals.

The archive has been catalogued in one block, regardless of whether individual records are of Bridewell Royal Hospital only or of Bridewell and Bethlem jointly. The archive includes Constitutional records; Minutes; Legal papers; Accounts; Clerk's papers; Prison records; Apprenticeship records; School records; Legacies; Estates records; Bridewell Chapel records; Bridewell Precinct records; and officers' private papers.

There is a general 30 year closure period. Pupil records have a 100 year closure period.

Papers of Beatrice Serota, 1953-2002, relate to her work in London local government, as a Minister of State, member of the House of Lords and of a number of advisory bodies and committees, including the Advisory Council on the Penal System and the Commission on Local Administration. Includes correspondence, reports, publications, notes, speeches and other papers.

Records of the Society for the Relief of Persons Confined for Small Debts, including minutes; extracts of proceedings; Acts of Parliament; papers concerning J C Neild; financial accounts including legacy books, income books, general expenditure books, annual accounts and auditor's reports; papers regarding the disposal of surplus funds; bequests; press cuttings; correspondence; and histories of the Society.

The minutes contain reports of visits of inspection as well as names and numbers of prisoners assisted. A number of the papers relate to the destruction of the book containing the minutes and accounts of the Society 4 Mar 1818 to 5 Apr 1826 by John Camden Neild, treasurer 1814-1827.

Records of Southwark Compter, also known as Borough Compter, 1608-1842, including lists of prisoners, charge books, warrants for arrest, accounts of deliveries of bread and meat and various administrative papers. Also papers relating to the revived magistracy in Southwark, 1814, when it was decided that one of the Aldermen who had passed the chair would sit daily for justiciary business, receiving an annual salary and assisted by a clerk, until c 1840.

A typescript autobiographical account of an unidentified Austrian Jew's experience of imprisonment during the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

Papers relating to the camps Stalag VIII B Lamsdorf and Teschen Camp, 1942-1944, including statistics on inmates; deaths/discharges; executions; health statistics; organisational changes. Also other documents including weapons handling procedure; reports on escapes; arrest warrants; POW statements and correspondence with the Swiss legation in Germany.

Records of HM Prison, Wandsworth. The records relate to prison administration, the prisoners, and, to a much a lesser extent, the prison staff. The earliest records are a minute and letter book, 1847-1850, and a letter book, 1848-1852, of the Committee for building a new prison in Surrey (ACC/3444/AD/01/001-002).

With regard to records relating to prisoners, the main series is the nominal registers (ACC/3444/PR/01), giving details of the name, age, trade, education, and religion of the prisoner, the date of committal, details of the offence and sentence and the date of discharge. These are in chronological order and run from 1879 to 1956, with several volumes produced each year. Unfortunately, there are only a few indexes to these registers. Those that survive run from 1940 to 1956 only (ACC/3444/PR/02).

The other important series giving details about individual prisoners are the registers of executions, 1892-1961 (ACC/3444/PR/03), and files on condemned prisoners, 1933-1954 (ACC/3444/PR/04).

Also of interest is a series of glass plates of prison officers and prisoners from 1920 to the 1930s.

PLEASE NOTE: In accordance with Home Office regulations, the entire collection is subject to a 30 year closure period, with the exception of some particularly sensitive series, which are subject to longer closure periods. These are all marked on the catalogue.

Papers of the Westminster Quarter Sessions of the Peace relating to administration, 1713-1883. Records relate to the House of Correction, Tothill Fields (also known as Westminster Bridewell and the Westminster House of Correction), including reports, letter book and minute books of the Visiting Justices; papers relating to the Governor of the House of Correction and other staff, including bonds, financial accounts and petitions; bills for maintenance and repair works; inventories; reports; returns of the number of prisoners; lists of prisoners; regulations; warrants and orders; correspondence and plans of the building.

Also minute book of the Committee of Accounts for City and Liberty of Westminster, 1839-1844.

Note on the Quarter Sessions records: Although Westminster has fewer surviving records than Middlesex, the City's sessions would have produced similar records to those of the County, but they would have been smaller in quantity, and have included less administrative material. Also, as with all Quarter Sessions records, "seeing that the Custos Rotulorum was a private gentleman or nobleman and the Clerk of the Peace an attorney with a private practice it is likely that many county records were (if not lost or destroyed) handed down to their families or their professional successors" and many may still remain to be found in private hands (Emmison and Gray, County Records, 1987). Those records that have survived are often difficult to read or understand because of the handwriting, use of Latin (until 1733), or legal jargon and abbreviations; although standardised legal formats were used and printed pro formas introduced by the nineteenth century.

For the Middlesex and Westminster records there may also be confusion over the records' arrangement resulting from the attempts at classification by previous generations of archivists which have left many records split up into unnatural groupings. Originally they would not have been sorted into any cohesive arrangement. These were records that were "kept for administrative convenience rather than as sources for future generations" (G. Jones, Quarter Sessions records in the Leicestershire Record Office).

Because of this overlapping between many classes of record, any study of the Westminster records should include consultation of those for Middlesex. There was in any case a lot of co-operation between the two courts during the period covered by the records. Judicial (Gaol Delivery Sessions for example) and administrative functions were shared, as were court personnel (including justices). Westminster prisoners could elect to be tried at the Middlesex sessions, as these were held more frequently than their own.

The sessions records are a very useful source for family history, studying trends in law and order, and the life of the City and its inhabitants over a relatively long period of time. The capital was an area with high levels of crime, the natural place for riot and conspiracy, and attracted a wide variety of people from the whole country and abroad. The main record of proceedings at the sessions will be found in the sessions rolls (MJ/SR and the uncatalogued WJ/SR - index in WJ/CB); the (partially uncatalogued) sessions books (WJ/SB, MJ/SB); and the (partially uncatalogued) sessions papers (WJ/SP, MJ/SP). City administrative work is in the records of the County Day sessions (WJ/O), and for one particular type, in the records of the street surveyors (WJ/SS). Records of judicial procedure are in the records of court fines (WJ/E), writs to summon juries (WJ/W), and the trial process (WJ/Y); Lists of prisoners made at various times during the trial process are in WJ/CC and WJ/CP.

Records of Whitecross Street Prison, 1812-1876, including financial accounts, papers relating to the construction of the prison, lists of prisoners, committee minutes and rules and regulations.

Records of Wood Street Compter, later Giltspur Street Compter, 1667-1829, including lists of prisoners; ducie books recording prisoner transfers; care of sick prisoners and apothecaries bills, accounts and other administrative papers.

Records of HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs consisting of nominal registers of prisoners 1917-1967, are arranged chronologically within three groups, namely, youth registers, adult registers and Borstal training registers. Indexes have been deposited for each group. In addition a number of unidentified pages of photographs were deposited with the registers.