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Glamorgan Archives
Calendars of Prisoners
Reference code(s): GB 0214 Q/S/C
Held at:
Title: Calendars of Prisoners
Short title: Calendars of Prisoners
Dates of creation: 1850-1971
Level of description: Series
Extent and medium: 0.9 cubic metres (14 vols and 5 bundles)
Name of creator(s): Governor of the County Gaol (at Cardiff and Swansea)
CONTEXT
Administrative and biographical history: Calendars of prisoners are lists of indicted persons being held in the County Gaols and Houses of Correction for Glamorgan (at Cardiff and Swansea), who were due for trial in the Quarter Sessions and Assizes. They were compiled by the governor or keeper of the institution, and forwarded for use during the court's proceedings. They were submitted to the Clerk of the Peace as specified by the Act of 1835.
CONTENT
Scope and content: Calendars for each Quarter Sessions (and adjournments) and Court of Assize, 1850-1971, bound in chronological order, printed in a set format that has been subject to a number of alterations through time (1854, 1917 and 1922), listing the prisoner's name (and aliases used), age, trade and offence, the court's verdict and sentence, and the names of the Chairman, Vice- Chairman, High Sheriff, Under Sheriff, Clerk of the Peace and Governors of the Gaols (between 1854 and 1917, the name and address of the committing magistrate was also included; some calendars from 1921 onwards are signed by the Governors of the gaols and the Clerk of the Peace; costs for detaining the prisoner, have also been written alongside each name until 1890; from 1850 to 1917, there are entries concerning the degree of literacy of each prisoner; prisoners with previous convictions are indicated from 1853 to 1872, whereupon a summary of the past convictions is also provided; additional details included on the calendars are: the date that the sentence commenced or the date that the prisoner was received into custody, the date the sentence expires (until 1854) and the date of the warrant [from 1854], the date and, from 1917, the court where the trial took place, the prisoner's plea (from 1922 onwards)); almost all of the collection are post-session calendars, which include the sentence of the court. Amongst the most recent bundles there are pre-sessions calendars, some of which have the sentence appended in manuscript and some are left blank. There are seven calendars for the Merthyr Tydfil Borough Quarter Sessions, for the period 1949 to 1954, with gaps.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/script: English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements: Good condition, except volumes QSC 6-8, which have damaged covers.
System of arrangement: Arranged in chronological order.
Conditions governing access: Some of these records are closed for 100 years. Written permission is required before closed records can be consulted. Researchers should complete the relevant form on permission to access closed records or apply for a member of staff to undertake the search.
Conditions governing reproduction: Normal Glamorgan Record Office conditions apply
Finding aids: A hard copy of the catalogue is available at the Glamorgan Records Office.
Detailed catalogue
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information: All records which meet the collection policy of the Glamorgan Record Office have been retained.
Accruals: Accruals are not expected.
Archival history: Quarter Session Records were transferred by the Clerk of the Peace to the Glamorgan Record Office from the time of its opening in 1939, and on many subsequent occasions.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related units of description: Related units of description at the Glamorgan Record Office: Q, Records of the Glamorgan Court of Quarter Session. Other records held in the Glamorgan Record Office: DX 162/1, Calendar of Prisoners at Quarter Sessions held at Cardiff, 1794; CLMS 5.131, Great Sessions calendar, Aug. 1823, Assizes July 1872 and Quarter Sessions, Easter 1840-Epiphany 1867; CLMS 3.168, Cardiff Quarter Sessions Calendar of Prisoners, 1890, with newspaper cuttings concerning the session; CLDeeds II B43, Glamorgan Quarter Sessions Calendar of Prisoners, Epiphany, 1844; and Epiphany, 1851 (D XDG 8); and DCON 291/10, Calendars of Prisoners tried in Quarter Sessions at Glamorgan, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil and Swansea, 1922-1925.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note: Title supplied from contents of fonds.
Archivist's note: Compiled by Hayden Burns for the ANW project. The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Glamorgan Record Office, Catalogue of records for Glamorgan Quarter Sessions; Riden, Philip, Records Sources for Local History, (London, 1987); Moir, Esther, The Justice of the Peace, (Harmondsworth, 1979); Stephens, W.B., Sources for English Local History, (Cambridge, 1981).
Rules or conventions: This description follows ANW guidelines based on ISAD(G) second edition, AACR2, and LCSH
Date(s) of description: October 2003
INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Court records | Wales | Glamorgan
Criminal courts | Wales | Glamorgan
Prisons | Wales | Glamorgan | Records and correspondence
Personal names
Corporate names
Great Britain | Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Glamorgan)
