h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

When the internet first started I was amazed by all the research information which suddenly became available. You could read newspapers, look up film databases, research your family history, all sorts of things - for free.

Some of these resources are still available (imdb film database for example) but others have disappeared, usually because they need to be run on a commercial basis. The Times newspaper charges a subscription. The UK census database is pay-per-search.

And so it's good to learn of new free research databases from time to time. I wrote a journal a while ago about the British Library Sound Archive: F131941?thread=8302735 which has an amazing collection of recordings of, among other things, different types of rain.

Today's new research site is the Old Bailey - London's central criminal court. You can now search full text details of the proceedings of nearly 200,000 trials between 1674 and 1913.

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/

Want to know if there's a black sheep in your family? Type your surname in the search box

I found a couple of thieves with my name, unfortunately.


Let me know what you find

Being descended from a lon long line of either very law-abiding people, or, perhaps, from really good criminals who don't get caught my surname had no results! well.,, its a fairly unusual surname in the UK (only actual relatives of me, however far-removed, share the name as far as I can tell)

Oh, mine had a fair number of results. Not surprising. On my dad's mother's side, I'm descended from this nation's first domestic terrorists.

However, on what was supposed to be the *law-abiding* side, I found quite a few entries. However, they were mostly from the 18th Century. Since my lot scarpered out of Belfast in 1682, those were cousins. They probably ended up in Oz.

I note with pleasure that Mary, a woman of my surname, was acquitted of stealing a silver tankard in 1683. My Aunt Mary would be amused, no doubt.

This is a fun find, Icy! Good for hours of distraction, once I've got my work done.

I would have expected a few hits, but only got three mentions - one a witness, one a policeman and one a victim of violent crime. So I must come from a law-abiding family.

Of course there are many ways to spell most Irish surnames, since they were transliterated by the English from Irish. There could be gangs of master criminals with surname spelled slightly differently.

I started researching my family back in January this year. Working with a nephew we tracked down some fascinating stuff. One line of ancestry from my mothers paternal grandfather lead to a fascinating family grouping who immigrated to England in the 1850's from Poland/Germany. One member of the family married a gentleman who was later charged with his brother in law with receiving stolen property. His daughter ended up in a convent for young women in moral danger. All fascinating stuff until further research proved that we had wandered down the wrong East End alleyway and they were not at all related.

We do have a London police constable from the Victorian age. And a couple of train drivers....but it's not the same.

No family tree is complete without a horse thief or two hanging on a branch.

Quite a few results when I put in my Mother's maiden surname... No idea if they're related though... including a murderer, some theifs, some victums of thiefs, and also one justice

Rather disappointingly, I got no results at all from my Mum's Maiden name, my Maiden name or my married name.

My oldest children on the other hand...

Via my maiden name, 1698:

"John Edmonds, alias Great Jack , of the Parish of Staines , Middlesex, was Indicted for Robbing Edward Billingsly Esq ; on the Highway, the 13th of September , and taking from him one Princes Mettle hilted Sword value 40 s. a Saddle, two Keys and 30 s. in Money : But there not being sufficient Evidence to convict him, he was acquitted ..."

Great Jack the Highwayman! Now that's classy.

Cool. I always knew you were a rakish character.

Icy, I just linked to this journal on Facebook.

Most of the people with my surname were staid, served on juries or became clergy. I like to think that it was Great Jack who felt the heat and headed for America, bringing his surname here.

Deb

I can't trust this computer right now, but I already know that I'm 5th cousin to Frank and Jesse James, which means I'm related to lots of other outlaws from the same time period

Some of us have in-laws, and some outlaws.

I got some results for my Mum's maiden name. They were a witness in a murder trial, which looked like a fight outside a pub in the early 1800s. The defendant was found guilty of manslaughter, and transported. But as my family have steered clear of London, I doubt it was anybody actually related to me. The branch I can say confidently were in London and were related to me (because everybody with that surname is, quite closely, for a given value of closely) didn't make an appearance. How disappointing.

Fascinating stuff though.

Just found this while looking up the wife's family (a far more fruitful search):

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?ref=s17160517-1

After all the punishments were given out (death, burnt in the hand, whipt, etc), ... "Mary Abbott and Priscilla Spencer pleaded their Bellies, and a Jury of Matrons being impanell'd, Mary Abbott was found quick with Child, the other not."

So, if you're ever up before the beak at the Old Bailey, try pleading your belly.

Er, this only works for women, you knwo that?

Beer bellies don't count...

I hesitated about entering my maiden name, as I share it with someone so notorious we learned about him in history at school.

But I did in the end and found that people of that name have stolen the following items:

...pocketpicking, 29th February 1836....indicted for stealing, on the 4th of March, 1 coat, value 1l.; 1 handkerchief, value 1s. 6d.; 1 hat cover, value 1s.; the goods of William Heath, ...

!!!(A HANDKERCHIEF for one and six??)

.... Theft > simple larceny, 21st October 1844.. indicted for stealing 2 loaves of bread, value 6d., the goods of John Thomas Hidden; to which he pleaded GUILTY. Aged 14.... Theft > theft from a specified place, 3rd January 1853

..... stealing 280 lbs. figs, 60 drums, and 1 box, value 5l. 2s.; the goods of Thomas Wilkinson and another, on a wharf adjacent to the river Thames.

(60 ???? - he must have had a big wheelbarrow!!!)

.....Royal Offences > coining offences, 11th June 1855.

(Forgery - a right royal offence!!)

..... to burglariously breaking and entering the dwelling house of William Bell, and stealing ten coats, eight waistcoats, and ....

"burglariously" - lovely word!!!

That's a great list.

Handkerchiefs used to be expensive, I gather. Dickens went on about people running a sort of handkerchief 'chop shop'. They'd remove the embroidered initials...