| Introduction
This multimedia set of resources looks at crime and punishment in 19th Century England. It provides an extensive collection of materials and provides an insight into aspects of the social history of the 19th Century. From 1983-86 a group of teachers in Bedfordshire worked with a subset of the statistics for Bedford Gaol that were collated by Robert Evans Roberts who was the governor of the Gaol between 1855 and 1886. They produced a database a of 1333 records giving details of some of the prisoners, their crimes and punishment 1801 and 1877. The database was original held in 9 files and interrogated using the Quest program. They also supplemented the database with printed materials and microfiche records. With the development of Web technology, it has been possible to make that database searchable via the Internet, but also to extend the original pack with photographs, video dramatisations of the crimes and trials, extended studies and additional materials. In addition, explanatory notes have been added to the original database entries to make them more easily understood. Robert Evans Roberts was innovatory in his use of photography to record prisoners. Included here are all the photographs from the prison register for the years 1859 to 1877, linked to the original database where possible. Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service has produced a further database for the 19000+ prisoners that were held in detention Bedford over the period 1801-1877. This provides an even more detailed and richer resource than the subset database used with multimedia links and photographs. Querying both databases will give the best results. This resource contains examples of how it might be used to support History in the National Curriculum with students at Key Stages 2,3,4. All information has been obtained from original or contemporary sources and checked for accuracy. Where modern or secondary sources have been used, these are indicated. We hope that you find this set of resources useful. We are sure that you will find it interesting! |
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