The Types of Criminal Activity in Eighteenth & Nineteenth-Century Britain (Edexcel GCSE History)

The Types of Criminal Activity in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain - Timeline

The Types of Criminal Activity in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain - Summary

Why did Crime Increase in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain?

• Crime in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain increased for a number of reasons:

Government policy

• Laissez-faire

  • The government mostly adopted a policy of non-interference in this period

  • The government did not play a big role in protecting people from crime

  • This was based on the view that the government should not be overly involved in people’s daily lives

Industrialisation

• Travel

  • By the 1840s, the railway was a major form of easy travel 

  • It gradually became cheaper

  • This meant that criminals could move around more easily and avoid capture

• Work

  • Jobs like producing textiles were traditionally done in homes

  • Mechanised production in factories left many jobless

  • Those who did work in factories faced harsh conditions and poor pay

  • Rising unemployment and low wages led to extreme poverty

  • As in the early modern era, some resorted to committing ‘survival crimes’ like petty theft

Urbanisation

•  As in the early modern era, town and city populations continued to increase

  • Many urban areas became overcrowded

  • Areas became exposed to more strangers

  • Communities were no longer tightly knit

• Criminals could more easily avoid being caught

  • Some criminals became ‘professionals’ in dens or gangs

A diagram showing the percentage of the total UK population living in towns in the years 1750 and 1900

Why was Witchcraft no Longer Considered a Crime?

Post-Civil War changes

• After the English Civil War, economic and social changes led to 

  • More prosperity

    • People became less fearful of vagabonds

  • Political stability

    • The government was less concerned with heresy

• As a result, the number of witchcraft prosecutions declined

Scientific advancements

• During the Restoration, Charles II established the Royal Society

• This led to more scientific experiments

  • These explained things that were previously thought to be the work of witches

  • Things like illnesses were now explained with natural rather than supernatural causes

• Many people, especially the educated, stopped believing in magic altogether

Changes to the legal status of witchcraft

• The table below outlines how the legal status of witchcraft changed in this period

A table of the changing legal status of witchcraft

Crimes Against a Person: Highway Robbery

The growth of highway robbery

• Across the 18th and early 19th centuries, highway robbery dramatically increased

• Travellers became very fearful of highwaymen

• The diagram below shows the different reasons for the growth of highway robbery

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A diagram showing the different reasons for the growth of highway robbery

The decline of highway robbery

• The government saw highwaymen as a major disruption to trade

  • This was especially the case on roads around London

• Authorities started to make more efforts to reduce highway robbery

  • In the early 19th century, highway robbery started to decrease

  • It eventually stopped altogether

• The diagram below shows the different reasons for the decline of highway robbery

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A diagram showing the different reasons for the decline of highway robbery

• Once highway robbery was no longer a threat, penny dreadfuls started to romanticise highwaymen

  • Notorious highwaymen like Jack Sheppard and Dick Turpin were now being celebrated as heroes

  • The image below is of a penny dreadful from around 1866-68. It is a highly fictionalised account of the life of Dick Turpin, who was executed in 1739 after being found guilty of horse theft

An image of a penny dreadful from around 1866-68. It is a highly fictionalised account of the life of Dick Turpin, who was executed in 1739 after being found guilty of horse theft

Crimes Against Property: Changes in Poaching and Smuggling

Poaching

• Poaching on the property of wealthy landowners continued

• Poaching laws became harsher after the crimes of the Waltham Blacks, who

  • Hunted the Bishop of Winchester’s deer

  • Stole a shipment of the king’s wine

• The government saw poachers as a threat to wealthy landowners’ property

• Authorities arrested the group and sentenced them to death by hanging

• Laws against poaching were very unpopular with ordinary people

• The illustration below highlights public attitudes to poaching in this period

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An illustration highlighting public attitudes to poaching in this period

• The Waltham Black Act was repealed 100 years after it was passed

• Poaching remained a crime, but it was no longer a capital offence

Smuggling

• Smuggling of goods like tea, cloth, wine and alcohol continued

• High taxes on imported goods led to an increase in smuggling

• The government saw smuggling as a serious crime because it was

  • Disruptive to trade 

  • A drain on tax revenue

    • Around 1.4 tonnes of tea was smuggled into Britain each year, tax-free

• Despite this, authorities struggled to stop smuggling

A diagram outlining different reasons for the difficulties in enforcing the law on smugglers

• Smuggling gangs caused big problems for the government

  • They could be as large as 50-100 well-armed men

  • They fought with customs officers

  • The Hawkhurst Gang was one such example

    • They smuggled goods along the south coast

    • They seized back their confiscated goods

    • The authorities sentenced the leaders to death by hanging

• Smuggling involved many different groups:

  • The smugglers themselves 

    • Made huge profits from smuggling large volumes of goods

• Those who helped smugglers

  • Many locals maintained boats and hid cargo for smuggler gangs

  • In doing so, they could earn twice the average labourer’s day wage

• Those who bought smuggled goods 

  • The public disliked expensive duties

  • They liked that smugglers made luxury goods affordable

  • Some government ministers even bought smuggled wine

• Those who gave smugglers alibis

  • Smuggling gangs sometimes murdered witnesses who gave evidence against them in court

  • Fear of these gangs deterred people from reporting them

  • Many ended up defending smugglers instead

• In the 1840s, the government significantly lowered taxes on imported goods

• This led to a decline in smuggling

Crimes Against Authority: The Tolpuddle Martyrs

Background

• In 1789, the French Revolution took place

  • It caused the British government to 

    • fear the possibility of a British revolution

    • become suspicious of the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union (GNCTU)

    • begin to punish protest very harshly

Events

• The diagram below outlines the key events and figures in the case of the Tolpuddle Martyrs

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A diagram outlining the key events and figures in the case of the Tolpuddle Martyrs

Significance 

• The case of the Tolpuddle Martyrs shows how the government

  • Used the law to criminalise people they saw as a threat

    • Particularly workers who were demanding better pay and conditions

  • Protected the interests of employers and wealthy landowners at the expense of workers

  • Took into account public opinion

    • This is shown by the fact that the government eventually pardoned the martyrs