The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913
A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.
To search the Proceedings use the boxes on the right or go to the Search Pages.
What's New? (January 2010)
Forty new Ordinary's Accounts, primarily from between 1676 and 1690 and 1740 and 1760, have been added, and a number of corrections have been made. For more information, see What's New.
London Lives, 1690-1800 Conference
A conference to mark the completion of the Plebeian Lives and the Making of Modern London project will take place on 5-6 July 2010 at the University of Hertfordshire. Proposals for papers are invited before 28 February.
British Crime Historians Symposium
The second British Crime Historians Symposium will take place on 2-3 September 2010 at the University of Sheffield. Proposals for papers are invited before 28 February.
Ordinary's Accounts
The website now includes the texts of all known surviving Ordinary of Newgate's Accounts. These richly detailed narratives of the lives and deaths of convicts executed at Tyburn were published between 1676 and 1772. They have been linked to the relevant trials and can be searched either together with the Proceedings, or separately on the Ordinary's Accounts search page. There is also an Ordinary's Accounts by Date search page to facilitate browsing.
Historical Background
For information about the Old Bailey Proceedings, see About the Proceedings.
For further information see Crime, Justice and Punishment, London and its Hinterlands, Community Histories, Gender in the Proceedings, and the History of the Old Bailey Courthouse.
About this Project
A collaboration between the Open University, and the Universities of Hertfordshire and Sheffield, this project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Big Lottery Fund. Project Directors are Clive Emsley, Tim Hitchcock, and Robert Shoemaker. It is published by HRI Online Publications, and technical services were provided by the Higher Education Digitisation Service and HRI Digital at the Humanities Research Institute. See About this Project.
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On this day in... 1726
John Thomson was accused of the murder of his wife following a disagreement about him spending the night with another woman in Gravel lane. read more