Crime, Courts and Community in Mid-Victorian Montgomeryshire Rachael Jones Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. Aberystwyth University Department of Law and Criminology 2015 ii For my parents Who never let me down iii Declarations This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed Date 25 September 2014 Statement 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged in footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed Date 10 September 2014 Statement 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed Date 10 September 2014 iv I state that I give consent for my thesis to be deposited in the university‘s Institutional Research Repository 30 September 2014 v Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................viii List of figures ................................................................................................................ ix List of tables ................................................................................................................. xii Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. xiv Summary ...................................................................................................................... xv Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................. 2 Rationale .................................................................................................................... 2 Chronology and Methodology ................................................................................. 12 Chapter 2: Montgomeryshire ................................................................................... 18 The county ............................................................................................................... 18 Occupational nature of the county ........................................................................... 20 Heavy industry ......................................................................................................... 21 Signs of deprivation ................................................................................................. 30 Incomers ................................................................................................................... 35 The middle and upper classes .................................................................................. 40 Outside the borough towns ...................................................................................... 42 Industry and incomers to Berriew ............................................................................ 44 Implications for the Welsh language in the county. ................................................ 46 Religion. ................................................................................................................... 48 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 52 Chapter 3: The legal system ...................................................................................... 53 The courts of Petty and Quarter Sessions ................................................................ 53 The Montgomeryshire Bench in the 1870s .............................................................. 54 Hierarchies ............................................................................................................... 56 The county Bench at Quarter Sessions .................................................................... 58 Attendance at Sessions ............................................................................................. 61 Other county positions. ............................................................................................ 66 Petty Sessions Benches ............................................................................................ 69 Backgrounds of petty justices .................................................................................. 73 The legal system seen on the streets: development of the police force ................... 77 Montgomeryshire Constabulary at the beginning of the 1870s ............................... 78 Levels within the constabulary ................................................................................ 82 The presence of the legal system in the built environment ...................................... 86 Courthouses .............................................................................................................. 89 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 94 vi Chapter 4: Montgomeryshire Constabulary ........................................................... 96 Organisation and work of the county force .............................................................. 97 Policing the county .................................................................................................. 98 Vagrancy and pressure from the higher orders ...................................................... 100 Police activity around town ................................................................................... 110 Police work in rural and urban areas. ..................................................................... 113 Responses from the lower orders ........................................................................... 116 Truncheons, handcuffs and police tactics .............................................................. 118 Invisible policing ................................................................................................... 124 Forensic techniques ................................................................................................ 126 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 129 Chapter 5: Petty Sessions ........................................................................................ 131 The work of the courts ........................................................................................... 132 Drunkenness as a target for police activity ............................................................ 134 Constabulary attitudes towards drunkenness ......................................................... 136 Discretion in the work of the Petty Magistrates ..................................................... 141 Favour shown towards some defendants ............................................................... 147 Consistency of sentencing ...................................................................................... 149 Analysis of fines imposed ...................................................................................... 152 Bind-over orders .................................................................................................... 155 The bind-over order used in cases of domestic assaults ........................................ 157 Consistency when sentencing to imprisonment ..................................................... 161 Locals‘ use of the courts in pursuance of particular causes ................................... 164 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 166 Chapter 6: Quarter Sessions ................................................................................... 168 Did status or income have a bearing on the route to court? ................................... 168 The cases ................................................................................................................ 176 The input of women in prosecutions ...................................................................... 181 Discretion of the wider community: the grand jury ............................................... 183 The petty jury ......................................................................................................... 188 Manipulation of the jury lists ................................................................................. 190 Magistrates‘ discretion ........................................................................................... 195 Offences involving violence .................................................................................. 196 Sentencing .............................................................................................................. 197 The influence of Quarter Sessions on the lower courts ......................................... 202 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 203 Chapter 7: Theft offences ........................................................................................ 205 Background ............................................................................................................ 205 A review of the cases seen in court .......................................................................