Collection GB 0074 ACC/2186 - QUEEN'S BENCH COURT/ LONDON AND MIDDLESEX DEBTORS' PRISON

0.01 linear metres

GB 0074 ACC/2186 1838-1848 Collection 0.01 linear metres Court of Queen's Bench

Originally Middlesex prisoners were kept in either of the City of London's gaols - Newgate or the Bridewell (near Blackfriars). In 1615-1616 a Middlesex Bridewell (also known as the Clerkenwell House of Correction) was built on a site between the present Corporation Row and Sans Walk (demolished in 1804). On the same site, adjacent and to the south of it, a House of Detention (for prisoners awaiting trial) was built in the late seventeenth century to ease the overcrowding in Newgate. This 'New Prison' was rebuilt in 1818, incorporating the site of the old Bridewell; and again in 1845; before being closed in 1877 and demolished in 1890, the Hugh Myddleton School being built on the site. A new Middlesex House of Correction had been built in 1794 in Coldbath Fields (on the present site of Mount Pleasant Post Office), and which was also closed in 1877, and demolished in 1889. Although debtors were one of the largest categories of prisoner, a separate gaol for them was not built in London until the beginning of the nineteenth century (in Whitecross Street); prior to this they were kept in Newgate.

The Court of King's Bench (or Queen's Bench, depending on the monarch) was founded circa 1200 to hear common pleas, although it came to specialise in pleas of special interest and concern to the king, such as those which involved his own property interests, or breach of his peace, or an error of judgment by another royal court. By 1675 the King's Bench was the highest court of common law in England and Wales, with jurisdiction over both civil and criminal actions. Civil business was conducted on the 'Plea Side' and criminal business on the 'Crown Side'. It was absorbed into the High Court in 1875 (source of information: The National Archives Research Guides "Legal Records Information 34" and "Legal Records Information 36").

Deposited in October 1985.

Legal records, comprising certificate of custody in the debtor's prison for London and Middlesex, 1838, and order for payment issued by the Court of Queen's Bench, 1848.

Two documents in chronological order.

Available for general access.

Copyright to these records rests with the Corporation of London.

English

Fit

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

November 2009 to February 2010 Penal institutions Information sources Records and correspondence Records (documents) Court records Court papers Penal sanctions Debtors prisons Courts Court of Queen's Bench Administration of justice Legal procedure Legal history Law Prisons Legal systems Court of King's Bench x Court of Queen's Bench Middlesex England UK Western Europe Europe

Deposited in October 1985.

Legal records, comprising certificate of custody in the debtor's prison for London and Middlesex, 1838, and order for payment issued by the Court of Queen's Bench, 1848.

Two documents in chronological order.

Available for general access.

Copyright to these records rests with the Corporation of London.

• anglais

• latin

English

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

• anglais