In our fifth and final blog post we look at what makes up the most cases in the Quarter Sessions: theft. Theft of sheep, ducks, waistcoat, shirts, porridge bowls and just about any household item you can think of.
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My name is Natasha Young and I am a Digital Archive Trainee taking part in the 2021 cohort of Bridging the Digital Gap trainees. The traineeship is run by The National Archives and I have been seconded to Gloucestershire Archives to get hands-on archiving experience. I have had the privilege of learning traditional archiving skills from professional archivists and digital preservation experts in an active archive setting. As well as learning whilst working, The National Archives have also set up an online training program that teaches us how to be archivists and how to approach the various considerations for digital archiving and preservation.
Continue readingIn our fourth blog post, we’ll hear from people involved in conflicts.
In 1731, according to Stephen Yearsley, a yeoman of the Leigh, more than twenty people rioted at Leigh turnpike. Turnpikes were put up to charge people the use and upkeep of the roads which angered locals who had, for generations, used it for free. Yearsley states that the rioters destroyed the gate and threatened if he restored it, it ‘would be the worse for those who kept it’. Riots like this happened all over the country in response to the turnpikes, and it clearly shows us people’s needs and priorities. Road access was vital to trade, so it follows when that access was restricted, there was major pushback. This happens today, for example when public footpaths are blocked or shut off.
In this third of our blogs featuring “informations and examinations”, we‘ll focus on the unheard voices of women. Even women who were born into rich families were not always given an education, so their voices remain largely unheard.
Continue readingIn the second blog about Unheard Voices in the Quarter Sessions records we will look closer at how these people identified themselves or, more realistically, how the courts identified them.
Sometimes the trade given is vagrant or vagabond, someone who is wandering and begging for food or work. In other words, they have no fixed employment and this makes them outcasts.
Continue readingThis is the first of five blogs featuring the records of the court of Quarter Sessions and the “unheard voices” they allow us to hear.
Today we are almost deafened by voices, thanks to the internet and of course, social media! But it hasn’t always been like this. Before the mid 19th century, most people didn’t own property, had no vote, and didn’t go to school. This means their lives could leave little or no trace within the written records and so their voices remain silent.
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Gloucestershire Archives 