Glamorgan, Wales, Calendar of Prisoners, 1850-1920

General collection information

This collection contains lists of prisoners held while awaiting trial between 1850 and 1920 at gaols and houses of correction in Cardiff and Swansea, Wales. Trial sessions were held quarterly each year.

Using the collection

Records in the collection may include the following information:

• Person’s name
• Any known aliases
• Birthdate
• Age
• Date of trial
• Place of trial
• Occupation
• Criminal charge
• Sentence

These records may contain extra notations that can tell you more about your ancestor. To see if more information is available, check the original image of the record.

Records from between 1850 and 1917 included information about education level. You may see the following abbreviations:

• ‘N’ was written for those who couldn’t read or write.
• ‘R’ was written for those who only read.
• ‘IMP’ was written for those who could read and write imperfectly.
• ‘WELL’ was written for those who could read or write well.
• ‘SUP’ was written for those who had received a superior education.

After 1906, you may find the above system replaced by a 1 (illiterate) to 10 (well-educated) scale.

Sometimes an asterisk (*) may be found next to someone’s name. An asterisk indicates they’d been held on previous charges. Previous charges may also be listed in either the charge or sentence.

Collection in context

The court of assizes and court of quarter sessions were the primary court sessions held in England and Wales for more than 500 years. Minor cases could be seen in petty courts, but most cases (civil and criminal) were seen in the court of quarter sessions held on Epiphany, Easter, Midsummer, and Michaelmas. Local justices of the peace would preside over the quarter courts at the county seat. The more serious cases from the quarter courts would then be passed to the court of assizes, which was overseen by travelling justices. In 1972 the assizes and quarter sessions were nationally replaced by the Crown Court system.

Bibliography

Glamorgan Archives. “Glamorgan Court of Quarter Sessions.” Last Modified 2021. http://calmview.cardiff.gov.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=Q%2FS%2FC.

UK Parliament. “The Assizes.” Last Modified 1 September 2021. https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/laworder/court/overview/assizes/.

Cheshire Archives. “Quarter Sessions.” Last Modified 16 April 2019. https://www.cheshirearchives.org.uk/what-we-hold/quarter-sessions.aspx.