CRIMINAL ANCESTORS

Criminals, bankrupts and litigants

 Many records of criminal trials, prisoners and people who were transported to Australia and elsewhere survive. Records may be at The National Archives, in local archives, or in overseas archives. Tracing convicts, especially if they were transported, can be easier and yield more information of interest to family historians than looking for information in trial records.

If you can find out the following basic facts your research will be easier:

• on what date and at which court the trial or civil action took place
• the name of the person being tried or of the litigants in a civil action, including variant spellings
• when and where the person was imprisoned (if you are looking for a prisoner)
• the name of the ship and date that it sailed (for transportees)

Criminal trials and convictions

Trial records can be difficult to use and often do not include any detailed information such as transcripts of evidence. The National Archives holds many records of criminal trials, but they are scattered and there is no central name index, so unless you know when and where your ancestor was tried the records can be very difficult to trace. The most informative trial records are often depositions, indictments and case files.

For more information, see advice from The National Archives on: Looking for records of a criminal trial or conviction

Prisoners

Many records of prisoners survive and are held by The National Archives, prisons and local archives. Prison registers created after 1878 are more likely to be found in local archives than at The National Archives. Work on indexing The National Archives' records of prisoners by name, crime, court and locality is ongoing, so it is worth trying an online Catalogue search.

For more information, see advice from The National Archives on: Looking for records of a prisoner

Transportees

The National Archives holds records of criminal trials and convictions, including those of people sentenced to transportation, as well as registers of people held on prison hulks while awaiting transportation, convict voyages, censuses and pardons. Overseas archives, especially in Australia, hold many records of convicts after their arrival, including online digitised documents.

For more information, see advice from The National Archives on: Looking for records of a transportee

Bankrupts and debtors

Few detailed case files for bankruptcy proceedings survive. Records at The National Archives are mostly brief, formal entries in register series that establish bankruptcy but provide little background detail. Many records are not indexed, so you might have to be patient when searching for information about a particular person.

For more information, see advice from The National Archives on: Looking for records of bankrupts and debtors

Civil litigants

The National Archives holds extensive records of civil litigation (family disputes settled in court). Online cataloguing is ongoing, so it’s worth trying a name search in the online Catalogue. Otherwise the records can be difficult to find and understand.

For more information, see advice from The National Archives on: Looking for records of a civil litigant

Digitised records online

• Old Bailey Proceedings Online: records of Old Bailey trials, 1674-1913
• Ancestry.co.uk: criminal registers for England and Wales, 1791-1892
• Census records for England and Wales, 1841-1911. If you find a prison in the census, it will list the names of the prisoners present at the time the census was taken.
• Ancestry.com.au: convict censuses, musters, pardons and tickets of leave
• Archives Office of Tasmania: conduct records, indents, and descriptions
   

AT THE SHOW

Exhibitors to visit include:

• Ancestry.co.uk

You can also go to a workshop on criminal ancestors (Friday 26th).
 

• See the workshop programme for more details.