Radical historians may not be the primary target readership for
this book, but its potential usefulness is not as limited as the title and
sub-title might suggest and many of us will be able to find something of relevance to our concerns – which will
often involve people who have found themselves up against the law – within its
pages. And this can be a fruitful area of research generally, since, as the author points
out, “the agents of the state and church take notice of those who break the
state’s rules.” Examples are given of how the rules have changed, with some
types of behaviour no longer bringing condemnation while others – including
riots – are constant targets of the law enforcers.
Chapters deal with Criminal Courts in England and other parts of
Britain, Punishment, Police Records, newspapers, books and other sources,
followed by two case studies, of a murderer and a victim, and include a lot more
than these headings indicate. Deliberate transgression for the sake of an
ideology or principle – political crime – is something of an also-ran in the
story but crops up at several points, with reference to a selected few
variants: Jacobites, Jacobins, Chartists, Luddites, Communists, Fascists, “more
modern forms of terrorism” and Suffragettes are mentioned. Only the first of
these (about which Dr Oates has written elsewhere) rate an index entry. (In
fact the index is rather patchy, with some subjects and names omitted, e.g. Robert
Farquhar of “Peter Culter” [Peterculter], Aberdeen, whose unsuccessful petition
for clemency gets a two-page spread.) “Riots” will take the reader to half a
dozen pages, however.
Throughout the information is presented not as mere lists and not uncritically but with discussion of its scope, limitations, accessibility and context. Frequent extracts and quotations help to put flesh on the archival bones and bring out the human interest of the material, and there are a number of interesting illustrations. A certain bias may be observed towards the author's own location and research interests, not a serious fault since he shows how his methods can be applied elsewhere. England is not taken to mean Britain, other parts especially Scotland receiving a share of attention, if perhaps not quite an equal one: although repeated mention is made of suicide having been a crime until 1961, the fact that this was not the case in Scotland is unstated.
There is less to be discovered about victims although still perhaps more than can usually be known about "ordinary" people. What there is may
serve to correct impressions conveyed by prejudice and stereotyping, (for
example by examining witness statements of evidence - sometimes not presented in
court - about young women, contrasted with media assumptions about them). Such is always a valid endeavour, as is the aim, evident throughout, of arriving at as complete
and accurate an account as possible of any given event.
Of particular relevance to some radical historians' recent
concerns (see below) are the pointers to information on prisons (including
deaths therein), courts martial, mental health, and young offenders'
institutions. Even corporal punishment in schools comes under scrutiny, with
the strong suggestion that the punishment - "this heinous behaviour"
- was the real crime there. Guidance is provided as to which file series in the
National Archives deal with what: MEPO for the Met (including Special Branch
although this is not said), KV for MI5 surveillance of individuals and so on. The
sources considered are by and large official or mainstream, so that there is
room for more publicising of archives generated by perceived subversive
organisations themselves, specialist library holdings, and websites which have
made out-of-print publications available again. Next time "Tracing Your Subversive Ancestors"?
The internet is not favoured by the author as a primary research
tool in any case, which may partly explain the slightly puzzling absence of any
reference to the Digital Panopticon project* – although that is admittedly a “work in
progress”. Contact details and a bibliography however are provided with
websites where applicable, rounding off a very worthwhile publication,
professionally presented and accessible to amateur and “feral” historians as
well as the ancestor or antecedent hunters.
*The Digital Panopticon: The Global Impact of London
Punishments, 1780-1925. See also
 |
| A "great riot" at Newcastle in 1740 as reported by the Gentleman's Magazine (p.125 of the book) |
... and more...
On (women's) prisons, especially Holloway, see past tense blog-post for 28 May 2017: https://pasttenseblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/28/yesterday-and-2004-in-holloway-prison-history-from-pauline-campbell-to-sisters-uncut/
ReplyDelete