Into the stocks you go! Crime and punishment in Calderdale

not for the faint hearted!

 

 

This pamphlet box blog is about one of the least full, but most interesting (to this author anyway), boxes we have. There isn’t much in it, but fans of “The Gallows Pole” would find much to entertain them within.

 

This box has a mixture of booklets and handbills describing various criminal enterprises in Calderdale in times past. The Turvin coiners and King David Hartley are present, as well as a “Gentleman’s Magazine” from 1812 which featured a short article about the Halifax gaol and the gibbet. Note that the curse of the gibbet followed at least one man halfway across the country.

 

 

“Punishments in the Olden Time” is the highlight of this box. It contains illustrations and descriptions of various medieval, Tudor and Stuart punishments for basic infractions like drunkenness in public and scolding. There is also descriptions of different styles of gibbet found throughout the country. Best (?) of all there is a poster-sized illustrated pull-out of twenty different methods of punishment. Forget your Christmas Annual, Match of the Day and Rupert won’t be featuring anything as odd as this.

 

Other interesting articles include a book about the Halifax Slasher, a crime which spawned a mass hysteria and a number of copycat, self-inflicted crimes that terrified the town in late 1839/early 1939. There are also a few probation and juvenile delinquency reports from 1949 and 1978. These would make good companions with the contents of our other box of local police force annual reports.

 

 

Just because this box has very little in the way of contents doesn’t mean it should be passed over by anyone with an interest in historical crime and punishment. Ask a member of Information Services staff if you would like to see it.

Note from Katie in Local Studies:  We also have a large collection of handbills some of which relate to this subject. ” Resolution against the Cragg Vale coiners” (1760),  “Last dying words and confession of Thomas and Richard Boys” (1767) and “Coiners committed to York Castle” (1769) are some of the fairly self explanatory titles.  Just ask for the list of handbill in local studies at Central Library.