Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The aim of this project was to carry out a systematic investigation and analysis of crimes of violence tried in the courts of the county of Cheshire, in the period 1601-1800. The core of the study is formed by details of homicides prosecuted at the Court of Great Sessions at Chester over this period, with supplementary data dealing with non-homicidal violence, notably from the County Quarter Sessions of Cheshire and the Chester City Sessions. As well as the quantitative results drawn from these samples, analysis of depositions and an account of a murder case in Saighton in 1648, published in the <i>Cheshire Sheaf</i> in 1937, allows the reconstruction of insights into the qualitative and attitudinal aspects of the history of violence. The objectives of the study were: firstly, to add new dimensions to the ongoing debate on the history of violence in England; secondly, to gain insights through the history of violence into the changing social psychology of the early modern English; and, thirdly, to provide a body of material on violence from a past culture which will provide useful points of comparison for studies of violence in modern Britain, as well as providing a body of findings against which current theoretical assumptions about violence might be tested.
Main Topics:
The dataset comprises details of coroners' inquests, where possible accompanied by details of connected criminal indictments, abstracted from the Crown Books and Court Rolls of the Court of Great Sessions of Chester. In addition, details of materials relating to violence have been abstracted from the Cheshire County Quarter Sessions, and from the City of Chester Sessions. <i>Session</i> table contains details of the date and location of each session of the Cheshire Court of Great Sessions, the equivalent of the assizes in other counties, between 1601 and 1800 at which coroners returned inquests. Each session is identified by a unique ID number which provides the link to all the associated records in the database. <i>Justices</i> table contains the names of the justices (assize judges), normally two in number, who presided at each session. <i>Coroner</i> table contains the names of the coroners who returned inquests and their jurisdiction. Note that it was not common for the names of the coroners to be recorded in the Crown Books, the principal source used in the construction of the database. <i>Inquest</i> table contains details of the coroner's inquests, including the location at which the inquest was taken, the verdict and outcome, doumentary references, alphanumeric codes to identify case characteristics, the number of decedents and any accused, and indications of the type of penalty imposed where applicable. The location of the inquest has been grid-referenced wherever possible. <i>Decedent</i> table contains details of the decedent(s) upon whom the inquests were taken. <i>Accused</i> table contains details of any persons charged as a result of a coroner's inquest. Full transcripts of depositions an account of a murder case in Saighton in 1648, published in the <i>Cheshire Sheaf</i> in 1937 are also provided.
No sampling (total universe)
Transcription of existing materials
Compilation or synthesis of existing material
