Law and Order in St Neots
Local historian
Charles Tebbutt has published extensive research into St Neots’ history. What
follows has largely been gleaned from chapters in his book.
Parish
Constables
Until the early-19th
century the churchwardens appointed Parish Constables to impose law and
order. Constables were private citizens,
elected every year at the parish vestry meeting. If there were
incidents that parish constables could not cope with, they could call on any
able-bodied person to help.
history.powys.org.uk/.../ constable.shtml
They had a whistle
and everyone was expected to chase the person until they caught them (Hue
and Cry). It was an offence not to help!
If there was
serious trouble like a riot then the army was called in.
Anyone
who was unruly, e.g. drunk and disorderly, was arrested was kept in the
local ‘Lockup’ on the
The ‘Lockup’ was unused after the Police
Station cells were built in 1850. These cells can be seen today inside St Neots
Museum.
www.brooksby.org/ family/stoke-golding.html
Stocks and Whipping Posts
For minor offences
people were put in the stocks. These were
wooden frames into which your feet and head were locked.
www.loyno.edu/ ~MidAges/jenmon.html
tanukihouse.com/ 2003a/feb-stocks.jpg
Sometimes they
were sentenced to be whipped or flogged at a whipping post. This had been practiced since at least the Middle
Ages. There were stocks in the northeast corner of churchyard of St Mary’s, St
Neots, near the north churchyard gate of St Mary’s Eynesbury and a set outside
St Mary’s church in Eaton Socon.
Men,
women and even children used to be tied to a post and whipped by the parish churchwarden.
They got paid to do it. In the St Neots’
churchwardens’ accounts it refers to ‘whipping a boy 4d.’ in 1686. In 1701 ‘whipping a man 4d.’ In 1710 ww.convictcreations.com/
ulture/poppy.htm
www.sandefjordsrussen.com/ ‘whipping two boys 8d. and in 1712
‘whipping a boy 6d.’
Another word for
whip was to flog. The last two men to be flogged
were Billing of St Neots and Hunt of Eaton Socon. The last man to be put in the
stocks was Jeremy Tupp of Toseland in 1824.
Justices of the Peace
Government laws
were enforced by the local squire and the vicar. These included
administering the Poor Laws – collecting rates to look after those in
need. They were appointed Justices of the Peace and had great powers in
the district and county. They met every three months at Quarter Sessions.
Reforms
Some people
thought the punishments were too severe and tried to get their Member of
Parliament to change (reform) the laws. Changing the criminal justice
system took many years.
In 1808
Parliament reduced the penalty for pick-pocketing from hanging to transportation
for life. It was still a hangable
offence for stealing 5s. (£0.25) from a shop.
In 1815 the death penalty
could be imposed for 220 offences. It was up to the conscience of the judge
and the jury to decide. Capital
punishment was done at Huntingdon
Gaol.
www3.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/
leisure/archives/p...
Following the
ending of the war with
In 1820 the
J.P.s were Ousley Rowley, the Lord of the Manor and Rev. Palmer,
the vicar of Eynesbury. The Court House was at Church House,
In 1829 a
full-time, professional Police Force was set up in
In 1832 the
crimes of house-breaking, sheep stealing and forgery stopped
being capital offences.
Town Commissioners
In 1819 the
newly appointed Town Commissioners appointed night watchmen to look after
property in the town and arrest troublemakers. They were provided them with arms,
ammunition, weapons and clothing. They also built watch-houses
and watch-boxes at various points in the town centre.
The night
watchmen’s hut was an old barn on the corner of the High Street and
Each man carried a
staff, handcuffs and keys to the Lockup at
In 1850
these watchmen (known as ‘Greatcoats’,) were appointed as Special Constables
instead.
The first
Huntingdonshire \Police Force was formed in about 1848.
The St Neots
stocks were dismantled in 1850.
When the first newspapers
began to be published in the 1850s they reported local crimes.
Charles Sibley was the head parish constable in St Neots
before the Police Force was established in 1856. A Police
Station, Court House and prison cells were built on
One of the first
duties of the police constables was to deal with a large in-migration of
railway ‘navvies’ - labourers who
were building the new railway line. One time, twenty navvies were caught poaching
on the Croxton estate. They were tried, found guilty and sent by
wagon to Huntingdon Jail. However, a gang of their friends set out to rescue
them but the police sent the wagon via Eltisley and foiled their plan.
In 1864 an
11-year old and 8½-year old were sent
to jail for 21 days for stealing a muff, shawl and other oddments.
In the 1870s the first county councils took over from the Quarter Sessions the role of administering justice with county law courts. Local J.P.s dealt harshly with local crime.
In 1870
three boys aged 14, 15 and 16 were given six week’s hard labour for
stealing sweets from Wildman’s shop in St Mary’s Street, Eynesbury.
In 1873 the
Huntingdonshire Farmers’ Defence Force was advertised in the newspaper.
It offered to defend farmers when agricultural labourers went on strike for
higher wages.
In 1875 a
13-year old girl from Yelling was sent to a reformatory (school where students were taught to reform
- behave properly) for five years after a month in jail for
stealing two oranges, 43 marbles, eight thimbles, a length of ribbon and a
piece of cake from a shop.
There must have
been some stealing from people’s gardens and allotments as in 1880 the Eynesbury
Garden Protection Society was formed. They
paid a halfpenny a week subscription and held an annual dinner. One member put
up a notice saying: ‘God helps those who help themselves, but God help those
that I catch helping themselves from my garden.’
In 1888 a
man was sent to prison for stealing two turnips. He claimed that was all he had
to eat for Sunday dinner.
In 1897 a
man was fined 20s. (£1.00) for disorderly conduct. As he didn’t pay the fine he was sent to
Cambridge Jail to be put on the treadmill.
In 1898 the local police were issued with bicycles.
Source: Tebbutt,
C.F. (1978), St Neots – The History of a