THE OLD BAILEY - LONDON - ENGLAND

HOME   CUISINE   ENVIRONMENT   INSURANCE  HORSES  LEGENDS   LAW    NEWS   PRODUCE   RIGHTS    SITE INDEX  TRANSPORT   WHISTLEBLOWING

Equality for all

Between 1674 and 1834 the proceedings of the central criminal court in London, the Old Bailey, were published eight times a year. These records detail some 100,000 individual trials, and include approximately 60,000 pages of text. They represent the largest single source of information about non-elite lives and behaviour ever published, and provide a wealth of detail about everyday life, as well as valuable evidence of the circumstances surrounding crimes, the lives of the accused, and their trials. This project is creating a fully digitised and structured version of all surviving published trial accounts between 1674 and 1834 and making them available as a searchable online resource. Users are able to search for entries in specific fields, such as crime, or defendant's occupation, or search the whole text for any text string. It is also be possible to tabulate specific fields, such as sex of defendant by type of crime. Beyond this, information on related documents and sources found in the libraries and archives of London is linked to each trial, creating a trail of information that leads users from the internet to the original manuscript sources for eighteenth-century crime.

The digitisation involves the scanning and double rekeying of the original text. This is performed via the Higher Education Digitisation Service at the University of Hertfordshire. The files thus created are then transferred to the Humanities Research Institute in Sheffield, where they are marked-up, incorporating both structured meta-data detailing specific aspects of each trial and archival references. A series of learning packages have been designed to make the material accessible to students in schools and universities, researchers of family and local history, and users interested in the histories of individual communities, such as the Black, Gay, Irish and Traveller communities (all of which are frequently referred to in the Proceedings). Links to a wide range of other internet sources for all types of users have also been incorporated.

A website, hosted by Sheffield University was launched in March 2003 with 22,000 trials (covering the period from December 1714 to December 1759).

Visit the Old Bailey, the world's most famous courthouse.

RAPE     MURDER     •ROBBERY     •FRAUD     •CORRUPTION

Just contact obinsight@hotmail.com to arrange a time.

THE LAW AS IT STANDS PROTECTS CORRUPT PLANNING OFFICERS AND ALLOWS THEM TO EVADE PROSECUTION FOR WRONGDOING - IF YOU AGREE A CHANGE IN THE LAW IS NECESSARY VOTE FOR IT ON OUR PROPOSED LEGISLATION PAGE

*THAT THE PUBLIC MAY KNOW*

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey London 1674 to 1834

A fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.

Search the Proceedings

Keyword · Name · Place · Crime, Verdict and Punishment · Advanced Search · Browse by Date · Reference Number · Statistics · Search the Associated Records

About the Proceedings

Publishing History of the Proceedings · Associated Records · Advertisements · Notable Trials

Historical Background

Crime, Justice and Punishment · London and its Hinterland · The Old Bailey Courthouse · Community Histories · Gender in the Proceedings · Glossary · Bibliography