1871-1873:
Newcastle Criminals
Ann Burns, 18, convicted of stealing a waistcoat, sentenced to 1 month
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George Bell, 24, convicted of stealing a watch, sentenced to 2 months
William Brankston, 43, convicted of the theft of four rabbits, sentenced to 1 month
John Bryan, 29, convicted of stealing lead, sentenced to 4 months
Charles Burns, 19, convicted of false pretences, sentenced to 3 months
Jane Cartner, 22, convicted of stealing a silver watch, sentenced to 6 months
Thomas Dixon, 20, convicted of theft of money, sentenced to 6 months
Mary Catherine Docherty, 14, convicted of stealing iron, sentenced to 7 days hard labour
James Donneley, 16, convicted of stealing some shirts, sentenced to 2 months
John Duffy, 16, convicted of assault and theft, sentenced to 6 months
Jane Farrell, 12, convicted of stealing 2 boots, sentenced to do 10 hard days labour
Catherine Flynn, 34, convicted of stealing money from person, sentenced to 6 months
William Harrison, 51, convicted of obtaining oats by false pretence, sentenced to 12 months
Robert Hardy, 21, convicted of stealing ale, sentenced to 4 months
William Hill, 28, convicted of stealing champagne, sentenced to 6 months
Catherine Kelly, 17, convicted of stealing bed linen, sentenced to 3 months
George Lamb, 17, convicted of stealing money, sentenced to 4 months
Margaret McCann, 24, convicted of stealing money from a person, sentenced to 6 months
Alice Mullholland, 18, convicted of stealing some boots, sentenced to 3 months
Patrick O'Neill, 19, convicted of breaking in to houses, sentenced to 18 months
Mary Patterson, 25, convicted of theft of poultry, sentenced to 6 weeks
John Reed, 15, convicted of stealing money, sentenced to 14 days hard labour and 5 years reformation
James Richley, 30, convicted of stealing trivets, sentenced to 7 days hard labour
John Roman, 64, convicted of stealing some clothes, sentenced to 14 days hard labour
Mary Ann Ross, 34, convicted of theft of money as a prostitute, sentenced to 6 months
William Salmon, 18, convicted of stealing clothes, sentenced to 6 months
James Scullion, 14, convicted of stealing clothes, sentenced to 14 days hard labour
Edward Shevlin, 32, convicted of stealing a coat, sentenced to 6 months
Isabella Smith, 60, convicted of stealing poultry, sentenced to 6 weeks
William Smith, 25, convicted of stealing money and some scales, sentenced to 2 months
Thomas Smith, 32, convicted of defrauded another gentlemen, sentenced to carry 3 months
Henry Leonard Stephenson, 12, convicted of breaking in to houses, sentenced to 2 months
John Storey, 32, convicted of stealing wood, sentenced to 1 month
John Taylor, 26, convicted of stealing a trowel, sentenced to 1 month
Ellen Woodman, 11, convicted of stealing iron, sentenced to 7 days hard labour
Ezekiel Yates, 35, convicted of stealing tobacco, sentenced to 6 months
29 Comments on Newcastle Criminals
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These photos are intriguing.
Regards from Brazil!
What’s striking is the nature of their crimes. The vast majority were clearly impoverished and just seeking to survive.
LMAO, Justin Timberlake in the 5th picture!
lol the similarities are uncanny! Somebody show him this!
So many of these pictures are just heartbreaking. Stealing clothes, jackets, poultry, iron (presumably to sell)…that’s all a far, far different matter than assault and/or stealing money or alcohol.
I ended up trying to guess the age as I scrolled down , some of them look so old before there time, some only in there thirties and looking well older.
Spider, that’s totally what I was thinking!
Lol, Mr Twist – I was doing and thinking the exact same thing! It’s also very eerie and heartbreaking to see kids of only 11 or 12 sentenced to hard labour…
Sylvia , how sad and hard the times were in those days , John Reed, 15 by the look of determination must have gone on to bigger things , I dread to think what became of all in the pictures. Hard times.
William Brankston, 43 does have that Ron Moody look , the actor who played Fagin in Oliver the movie
James Scullion’s flies are undone! =O)
Welcome to the future past.
Amazing to think that William Hill went on to start a chain of betting shops… I guess reformation does work
William Smith looks like 45,instead of 25.
You know what they say, the 1871 Newcastle criminal camera adds 20 years.
very sad stuff. All obviously poor and trying to survive. Old men and children sentenced to hard labor. Terrible.
notice how many of the names are irish and welsh?
When we look at real poverty in those faces we realize that an HD TV and welfare and a rent-subsidized apartment aren’t so bad. Also, even though they are prisoners, we can see the lack of the clothes obsession we have now. Although suffering was greater then, their souls were richer.
This is the world the Republicans would have us go back to.
I agree prufrock, this is a snapshot of where the Conservative/Republican movement would have the majority of us stationed.
Oh for the love of God!
Relax, Mark. It’s just one of the lunatic left having another of his wet dreams.
Is it just me, or do all the kids look younger than they are, yet all the adults look old before their time? Most of the people in their 20s look like they’re in their 30s or 40s, yet some of the kids in their teens look like they should still be in primary school!
I wonder if the kids look so young because there were no growth hormones in their meat
The Newcastle Criminals is a testimony to the hard, hard life these poor convicted people endured.
Missing:The wealthy, whose soldiers stole an empire from the people of the world.
Nicola, I noted the same. I think this is due to lack of nutrition.
“Stealing iron” = looting some structure for scrap iron?
“Stealing champagne”/”ale” = ordering a drink at a bar and being unable to pay??
What about the one who stole wood??? for crying out loud, I know cities were/are vast, stone cold, barren places, but wood?? I guess I just can’t wrap my head around that one. I guess the wood was for warming himself, or cooking food? Or to keep a sick old mother in bed at home warm? Or maybe to sell?
The children had to work in those days, and yet they seem younger and frailer. Must be the lack of propper food. I was shocked at how old the girls over 30 looked. In theory they could’ve had a child a year from 16 onwards… I have never even thought about having a child (too expensive and a load of responsibility and and and ) and I look almost half their age and I’m now 36. Amazing.
Can anybody tell me what hard labour was in those days? Breaking rocks? Oscar Wild had to break rocks didn’t he? How could a judge expect an 11 year old girl to break rocks?… I’m all for having usefull children and making them help out, but this is a tad extreme.
I have loved Retronaut, but today shared the picture of the 12 year old girl sentenced to 10 days hard labor for stealing boots. I don’t think we have to limit our imaginations, or feel bad if we don’t have much of one. I hope so hard that later Jane Ferrel was better treated, saved some from poverty and abuse, though I have my doubts that her world was a good one.