Victorian Mugshots Gallery

William Douglas

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• A black sheep in the family?
• For those wishing to view prison and police albums it is best to phone local archives and libraries ahead of a visit. The archives listed below, which can be accessed online, all house mugshot albums. These may be possible to view by appointment. The National Archives at Kew hold records from across the country. The local depositories are just that. However, with the expansion of the railways in Victorian times, lawbreakers were far more mobile and an offender with previous convictions in Kent for example, might conceivably appear in a northern mugshot album.

Some records, like those of William Douglas, are fairly detailed listing the date and place of conviction, the crime and punishment. Evidently, the six strokes received did not deter him from a life of crime.

If stumbling across a relation, who maybe stole a cheese or knocked off a Bobby's helmet, it is a good idea to make a note of the date of conviction and look up the court reports in local newspapers for more details of the cases. Sometimes these are just one or two lines, but, for more serious offences, a description of the accused and intriguing details of the crimes, including threats to judges and arresting officers alike, make for compulsive reading.

Happy hunting, great-uncle Albert may be out there waiting to be discovered!