[ Victorian assizes on the Oxford Circuit, 1891-1899. ] Nine printed Calendars of Prisoners, for trial at seven Assizes and three Quarter Sessions, at Gloucester, Hereford, Stafford and Worcester. With annotations by the future Sir Richard Harington.

Nine 4to calendars of prisoners at six assizes and three quarter sessions at the following locations on the Oxford Circuit between 1891 and 1899: Gloucester (1), Hereford (1), Stafford (2), Worcester (5). Each of the nine is stapled and unbound. ONE: County of Hereford, Autumn Assizes, December 1891, [8]pp. TWO: County of Worcester and City of Worcester, and County of the same City, Winter Assizes, February 1895, [2] + 9pp. THREE: County of Stafford, Winter Assizes, March 1895, [2] + 13pp. FOUR: County of Stafford, Autumn Assizes, November 1895, [2] + 21pp. FIVE: County of Gloucester and County of the City of Gloucester, Assizes and General Gaol Delivery, February 1896, 13pp. SIX: County of Worcester, Michaelmas Quarter Sessions, October 1896, [2] + 19pp. SEVEN: Worcestershire and City of Worcester and County of the same City, Autumn Assizes, November 1896, [2] + 9pp. EIGHT: County of Worcester, Michaelmas Quarter Sessions, October 1897, [2] + 15pp. NINE: County of Worcester, Easter Quarter Sessions, April 1899, [2] + 9pp. The various sessions heard before justices: R. H. Amphlett (3), Sir G. Bruce, J. W. W. Bund (3), Sir L. W. Cave (2), Sir J. C. Day (1), C. J. Darling (1), Sir W. Grantham (3). Gloucester catalogue printed by John Bellows; Hereford catalogue by S. Adams; Stafford catalogues by Wright & Roberts; Worcester catalogues by Deighton and Co. The collection in fair overall condition, aged and worn with rusted staples, but with Four heavily creased and worn with damaged cover. Each calendars is divided into columns, for name of prisoner, age, trade, 'Degree of Instruction', details of committing magistrate, date of warrant, date of receipt into custody, details of 'Offence as charged in the Commitment'. Seven of the items (all but One and Six) carry Harington's ownership signature at the head of the cover. Eight of the items (all but One) carry annotations by Harington. While the annotations to Five to Nine are light, Three and Four are extensively annotated by Harington by filling in details in blank columns giving the date of the trial, name of the judge, verdict, previous convictions and sentence. Item Two is more lightly annotated in the same way, and Four carries only a handful of such annotations. The calendars provide a striking insight into provincial social history. To give a few examples from Four, the printed text states that 'Maud Lena Micklewright' was charged with having 'On 24th August, 1895, at Mucclestone, then being delivered of a male child, unlawfully by a secret disposition of the dead body of the child, endeavouring to conceal the birth thereof.' Harington notes that the trial occurred before Justice Cave on 2 December 1895, and that Micklewright 'confesses', the sentence of the court being 'Her father bound over in his own recog[nisance]s in £20 to bring her up for Judg[men]t.' In the following entry, William Hill, a miner, was charged with 'On 31st May, 1895, at Bilston, being in the dwelling-house of Thomas Millward, feloniously stealing therein two pairs of stockings, one guernsey, two waistcoats, one muffler, one cotton shirt, fourpence half-penny in coppers, and one pocket book, of Thomas Millward, and burglariously breaking out of the said dwelling-house.' Harington notes that the trial was heard on the same day before the same judge, that Hill was found guilty having previously been convicted of 'felony | Stafford Sessions | 1888', and that the sentence was '3 yrs p[enal]. s[ervitude].' Also in Four, 'William Tompkinson the younger' was charged with, 'On the 16th July, 1895, at Cobridge, committing the offence of personation, within the meaning of the Corrupt Practices Acts 1854 to 1883, in respect of a Parliamentary Election for the Parliamentary Borough of Hanley, in that he applied for a ballot paper in the name of another person.' Harington notes that the case was heard before Cave on 2 December 1895, that Tompkinson confessed, and that he was 'Bound over in own recog[nisance]s in £20 to come up for judg[men]t. if called on.' Item Three includes the case of John William Burgin, a postman, charged with, 'On the 25th December, 1894, at Rowley Regis, being a person employed by the Post Office, secreting a post letter, the property of Her Majesty's Postmaster General, containing a post office order for the payment of one pound.' Harington notes that the case was heard on 7 March 1894, before Justice Grantham, Burgin 'Confesses neglect of duty while drunk' and is 'fined £10 for neglect of duty'. (Postal fraud appears to have been something of a problem: in the same volume one George Ernest Jones, a 'Telegraph Messenger', was charged under two similar counts, and was sentenced to nine months penal servitude.) Harington was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. Called to the Bar in 1886, he practised on the Oxford Circuit before taking up an appointment as a Puisne Judge in the High Court of Justice at Fort William in Bengal in 1899. He returned to England in 1913, and was appointed High Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1918, having succeeded to his father's title in 1911. No other copies of any of the nine items traced either on OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC. Surviving material on assizes is held by the National Archives. From the Harington family papers.