Crime, Prisons & Punishment 1770-1934 [Find My Past]

Records include:
Admiralty: registers of convicts in prison hulks (TNA ref: ADM6)
Central Criminal Court: after-trial calendars of prisoners (TNA ref: CRIM9)
Home Office: calendar of prisoners (TNA ref: HO140)
Home Office: criminal petitions (TNA ref: HO17)
Metropolitan Police: Criminal Record Office: habitual criminals' registers and miscellaneous papers (TNA ref: MEPO6)
Home Office and Prison Commission: prison records (TNA ref: PCOM2)
[Note FMP are publishing this collection in three phases. Currently, records include the period 1817-1931. Records for the whole period, 1770-1934, will be published in the coming months.]

Sterry events have been searched and found as follows. [With much thanks to David Sterry]

Name Bela Sterry
Date of Trial 21 Mar 1890          
Trial Year 1890
Location of Trial Town Hall Wolverhampton
Sentence Imprisonment for one year in HM Prison Stafford
Crime  Common Assault
Previous History        
20 June 1882 deserter at Wolverhampton barracks
14 Jan 1888 drunk at Sheerness
12 Jan 1888 assault at Sheerness
12 Jan 1888 damaging police uniform at Sheerness
27 Mar 1888 breaking out of barracks at Sheerness
18 Oct 1888 insubordination – discharged from navy

Name Bert Sterry
Date of Trial 28 Jul 1928    
Trial Year 1928
Location of Trial  Guildhall Shrewsbury
Sentence  Order of the Court Recognizances Estreated
Crime Attempt to defraud three people of £25 each

Name Thomas Adams
Date of Trial 6 May 1889
Trial Year 1889
Location of Trial WandsworthPolice Court
Sentence 9 months Wandsworth Prison
Crime Common Assault
Previous History 21 Oct 1886 stealing boots as Thomas Adams
12 Jul 1887 stealing spectacles as William Sterry
17 Apr 1888 stealing bag of money as William Sterry
14 Sep 1888 stealing timber as William Sterry
[At time of trial in 1889 Thomas is described as an 18 year old labourer. All offences were committed in London.]

Criminal Registers 1791-1892 [Ancestry]

Criminal registers list all people indicted for criminal offences and state whether they were found guilty or not. Middlesex (including the City of London) is covered by HO 26 from 1791 to 1849, after which it is included with the other counties in HO 27, covering 1805 to 1892. HO 26 and HO 27 are searchable by name on Ancestry.

The early registers give details such as

• a physical description
• place of birth
• place of committal
• the crime
• where and when tried
• the sentence

The most important piece of information these registers give is the date and place of the trial. You can then search for the trial documents among the appropriate court records. See the in-depth research guide Assizes: key to series for English criminal trials 1559-1971.

Finding records of prisoners can be difficult because records were not created nationally, except for a short period during the nineteenth century. Prison records are not held in a central location; you might find them at The National Archives, in prisons or in local record offices. Prison records created after 1878 are more likely to be found locally than at The National Archives. Researchers should also be aware that prisoners were often moved between prisons and were also incarcerated in any prison where there were spaces, rather than in a prison near the offender's home or where the offence was committed.

[Source: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/criminals-18th-20th-centuries.htm]

Sterry events have been searched on Ancestry and are included below. A subsequent record of Jane Sterry below, who was tried in 1847 and transported for 7 years, also appears in the Australian Convict Transportation registers for ships arriving between 1791 and 1868 and New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849 on Ancestry.

Name:  Johanna Sterry
Age: 50
Estimated birth year: abt 1765
Date of Trial: 15 May 1815
Location of Trial: Old Bailey, London
Sentence: Imprisonment 2 years
Crime:   Larceny

Name:  Mary Sterry
Age: 25
Estimated birth year: abt 1790
Date of Trial: 15 May 1815
Trial Year: 1815
Location of Trial: Old Bailey, London
Sentence: Transportation 7 years
Crime:   Larceny

Name:  Jerry Sterry
Age: 31
Estimated birth year: abt 1805
Date of Trial: 29 Mar 1836
Trial Year: 1836
Location of Trial: County Assizes, Gloucestershire
Sentence: Not guilty
Crime:   Receiving stolen goods

Name:  George Sterry
Age: 18
Estimated birth year: abt 1824
Date of Trial: 15 Jul 1842
Trial Year: 1842
Location of Trial: Birmingham Boro Sessions
Sentence: Imprisonment 12 months
Crime: Larceny

Name:  Charles Sterry
Date of Trial: Epiphany  Session 1830
Trial Year: 1830
Location of Trial: Gloucestershire
Sentence: Imprisonment 1 week
Crime:   Larceny

Name:  Edward Sterry
Age: 17
Estimated birth year: abt 1831
Date of Trial: 7 Jan 1848
Trial Year: 1848
Location of Trial: Birmingham Boro Sessions, Warwickshire
Sentence: Not guilty
Crime:   Larceny

Name:  Charles Sterry
Date of Trial: 30 Jun 1835
Trial Year: 1835
Location of Trial: County Sessions, Gloucestershire
Crime: Riot
Sentenc e: Guilty, discharged on sureties to appear etc

Name:  Jarvis Sterry
Date of Trial: 30 Jun 1835
Trial Year: 1835
Location of Trial: County Sessions, Gloucestershire, England
Crime:   Riot
Sentence: Guilty, discharged on sureties to appear etc

Name:  Jane Sterry
Date of Trial: 8 Jan 1847
Trial Year: 1847
Location of Trial: Birmingham Boro Sessions, Warwickshire
Sentence: Transportation 7 years
Crime:   Larceny from the person
[Note Jane Sterry was transported to Tasmania as the following records show. She married Thomas Vincent, also a convict, at Hobart on 8 Apr 1850. No children have been located.]

Name: Jane Sterry
Vessel: Cadet
Convicted Date: 8 Jan 1847
Where Convicted: Birmingham Boro’ Quarter Sessions
Term: 7 years
Voyage Date: 4 Sep 1847
Colony: Van Dieman's Land
Place of Conviction: Warwick, Warwickshire

Tasmania Convict Musters, 1806-1849
Name: Jane Sterry
Arrival Date: 1848
Ship: Cadet 1st
Place of Trail: Birmingham
Province: Tasmania
No: 780]

Name:  Susan Sterry
Date of Trial: 16 Oct 1850
Trial Year: 1850
Location of Trial: General Quarter Sessions, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire
Sentence: Not guilty
Crime:   Charged with larceny

Name:  John Sterry
Date of Trial: 17 Mar 1851
Trial Year: 1851
Location of Trial: General Quarter Sessions, Beccles, Suffolk
Sentence: Imprisonment 14 days
Crime: Larceny

Name:  Charles Sterry
Date of Trial: 20 Oct 1856
Trial Year: 1856
Location of Trial: General Quarter Sessions, Birmingham, Warwickshire
Sentence: Imprisonment 3 months
Crime:   Larceny by servant

Name:  William Sterry
Date of Trial: 8 Jan 1863
Trial Year: 1863
Location of Trial: Epiphany Sessions, Cambridgeshire
Sentence: Imprisonment 6 months
Crime:   Larceny [before convicted of felony]

Name:  Joseph Sterry
Date of Trial: 13 Dec 1865
Trial Year: 1865
Location of Trial: Winter Gaol Delivery, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Sentence: Penal Servitude 5 years
Crime:   Arson Stacks

Name:  Martin Sterry
Date of Trial: 7 Jan 1876
Trial Year: 1876
Location of Trial: General Quarter Sessions, Ipswich, Suffolk
Sentence: Imprisonment 6 cal. months hard labour
Crime:   Larceny after a former conviction for felony

Name:  Thomas Sterry
Date of Trial:      4 Apr 1876
Trial Year: 1876
Location of Trial: Easter Quarter Sessions, City of Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Sentence: Acquitted
Crime:   Larceny

Name:  Walter Sterry
Date of Trial: 15 Apr 1879
Trial Year: 1879
Location of Trial: Quarter Sessions, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Sentence: Acquittal
Crime:   Lamb stealing

Name:  Frederick Sterry
Date of Trial: 15 Oct 1883
Trial Year: 1883
Location of Trial: General Quarter Sessions, Town Hall, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Sentence: Imprisonment 3 cal months
Crime:   Simple larceny after a previous conviction for felony

Name:  William Sterry
Date of Trial:      30 Jun 1887
Trial Year:            1887
Location of Trial: Midsummer General Quarter Sessions, Guildhall, Worcester, Worcestershire,
Sentence: Imprisonment – 12 calendar months hard labour
Crime:   Larceny simple

Name:  Sarah Sterry
Date of Trial: 9 Jan 1891
Trial Year: 1891
Location of Trial: Epiphany Quarter Sessions, Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Sentence: Not guilty
Crime:   Feloniously receiving boots