Published sources

Local newspapers should always be consulted for reports of the Assizes and Quarter Sessions. They do not always give detailed accounts of trials, but some of the more interesting cases are often reported more fully with verbatim reports of testimony. Transcripts of what was said in the courts do not usually survive, so a newspaper account is the only record of evidence, examination and cross examination. It should be stressed that it is only for the more interesting or notorious cases that this much detail will be found. The only exception to this are the records of state trials, usually for high treason, many of which have been published. TB Howell´s A Complete Collection of State Trials and proceedings for high treason (London: Longman et al, 33 vols. 1816-1826) should be consulted. There is also British Trials, 1660-1900 a guide available on microfiche, with full bibliographical listings.

Other printed proceedings survive for the Old Bailey Sessions for London and Middlesex (after November 1834 succeeded by the Central Criminal Court). We have indexed volumes to these in PCOM 1, covering 1801 to 1904, and you can inspect the earlier editions of the proceedings at the Guildhall Library. You can also search indexed transcripts of the Old Bailey proceedings between 1674 and 1834 at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/. The records of the Old Bailey Sessions are held at the Corporation of London Record Office for the City of London and the London Metropolitan Archives for Middlesex to 1834. The records of its replacement, the Central Criminal Court, are held here in The National Archives in the CRIM group of records.