QUARTER SESSIONS

Various aspects of local administration and justice were dealt with by the Quarter Sessions Justices and records of these exist in the County Record Offices. Some Records are also held by the Public Record Office.

Important people in the area were appointed County Justices and met four times a year to deal with criminal offences such as theft, assault, riot, poaching and even murder.

Calendars of prisoners also exist in some local libraries and it should be remembered that the information in these not only refers to the people in Court for Criminal offences, the defendants, but also the names of the people who have suffered the offence. There is an interesting period when convicts were sent to Virginia in the 18th Century and Australia later. During the Commonwealth some others were sent to the West Indies.

It is worth checking to see if other Quarter Sessions records have been published by the Family History Societies and County Record Offices.

Quarter Sessions records to look for include (18th-19th Century):

Constabulary Pay lists and Crime Returns.
Lists of Deputy Coroners.
Enrolments of deeds and wills and of papists' estates.
Gamekeepers' Deputation Game Certificates.
Hair Powder Tax Certificates.
Woolwinders' Oaths.
Declarations of allegiance by Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters,
declarations against transubstantiation etc.,
Lists giving names of pauper lunatics in parishes.
Relief of the poor - paupers and removals of Irish and Scottish poor.
Calendars of prisoners with sentences.
Depositions in criminal cases.
Indictment books giving names of offenders, offences and dates of conviction.
Insolvent debtors, lists of prisoners and papers relating to their release.
Victuallers' Recognizances.
Lists of Properties and occupiers of land in various parishes in the county with lists
of amounts assessed.
Flax Bounty records.
Freemasons' Lodges - annual return of members.
Return of persons using weights and measures.
Registration of boats, barges and other vessels used on navigable rivers.
Court Registers of Courts of Petty Session.
Coroners' reports.
Not all of these records will exist or necessarily survive for your County of Research.
The FFHS have published the useful Quarter Sessions Records for Family Historians, a select list ed. by Jeremy Gibson.

This page is compiled by Timothy J. Owston of York, England.

Please contact me with any comments or information.
You can Email me at:
owston.tj@virgin.net
My home page is at:Home Page