The First Fleet entering Port Jackson (26 January 1788, Wikimedia Commons).

Digital Panopticon PhD student Emma Watkins (University of Liverpool) has created an educational resource on transportation for A-Level students.  Throughout 2017, Emma developed this resource by running schools workshops in the north-west of the UK.

The first part of the resource, a set of educational videos on convict transportation, are already available on the Digital Panopticon website.  The second part of the resource, a workshop on convict transportation and how students can use the Digital Panopticon website in the A-level classroom, is now available from Emma’s website:  https://emmadwatkins.wordpress.com/educational-resource/

This resource would be suitable for exploring the EdExcel A-Level paper, ‘Britain: Losing and Gaining an Empire, 1763-1914’ – specifically in relation to the section, ‘The Birth of British Australia, 1788-1829’.

To complement the ‘Criminal Lives, 1780-1925: Punishing Old Bailey Convicts’ exhibition at the London Metropolitan Archives, the AHRC Digital Panopticon team are contributing a free public events programme.  Event information and booking details can be found below.  We hope to see you at the LMA in Spring 2018!

The Art of Crime: Convict Art in association with Ikon, Birmingham

Speakers: Dr Larissa Allwork (The University of Sheffield) and Dr Linzi Stauvers (Ikon, Birmingham).  Talk and Workshop.
13 January, 10.30 am – 12.30 pm
FREE Booking essential
An introduction to the making of LMA’s ‘Criminal Lives’ exhibition and the representation of convicts. Pugin, Rowlandson and Hogarth prints from LMA’s collections will be on show. Art Historian Linzi Stauvers will discuss the life of transported convict artist, Thomas Bock. (Exhibition at Ikon, Birmingham, 6 December 2017 – 11 March 2018).

The IHR British History in the Long 18th Century Seminar: Sparing the noose: the penal outcomes of convicts sentenced to death at the Old Bailey, 1730 to 1868.

Speaker: Professor Bob Shoemaker (The University of Sheffield). Talk.
24 January, 5.15 – 7.30 pm
FREE Booking essential
A significant and increasing proportion of those sentenced to death at the Old Bailey were ‘spared the noose’ and instead transported, imprisoned, or given free pardons. This talk explains how the death penalty was gradually abandoned and discusses how, and on what basis, decisions about alternative penal outcomes were made.

Standing Trial at the 19^th century Old Bailey

Speaker: Professor Tim Hitchcock (the University of Sussex).  Talk.
27 February, 6 – 7.30 pm
FREE Booking essential
We know a tremendous amount about trials held at the Old Bailey in the 19th century. Exploring this knowledge places flesh on dead bones, puts words in dead mouths, and helps us understand that most dramatic moment when a defendant emerged from the cells to a trial that could lead to exile, death or imprisonment.

Victims and Rogues in the Family? FindmyPast Family History Session                               

Speaker: Aoife O Connor (The University of Sheffield and Findmypast). Workshop.
23 March, 2 – 4 pm
FREE Booking essential
Discover the ‘true crime’ story in your family tree. Using examples drawn from biographies of convicts, historical records and newspapers, learn how to tell the story of your ancestor’s brush with the law, with Aoife O Connor of Findmypast and the Digital Panopticon project.

The Newgate Dead

Speaker: Dr Richard Ward (The University of Exeter).  Workshop.
14 April, 2 – 4 pm
FREE Booking essential
This workshop explores the coroner’s inquests on prisoners who died in Newgate, and opens discussion of the conditions in Newgate. Participants will use the Digital Panopticon website to link up the coroner’s inquests with other crime records and reveal more about the biographies of prisoners who died in Newgate.

To book a place at any of these events, please visit the LMA on Eventbrite: 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/london-metropolitan-archives-2913691059

To access the ‘Criminal Lives’ exhibition support materials for schools, click here.  To book a free workshop for a schools group at the LMA contact: ask.lma@cityoflondon.gov.uk 

Between 16th and 21st July 2017, Dr Will Pooley (The University of Bristol), recipient of a British Academy Rising Star Public Engagement Award, convened a conference on ‘Creative Histories’ at the Clifton Pavillion, Bristol Zoo Gardens.  Amidst a highly diverse programme, there were a number of panels on the history of crime, including a paper by Digital Panopticon Research Associate, Dr Lucy Williams (The University of Liverpool) and journalist and crime historian, Nell Derby (The University of Northampton).

Lucy’s paper, ‘Fact or Fiction?: Creating Convict Lives with the Digital Panopticon’ explored the ethical issues of representation associated with the choices that historians make when they narrate the lives of convicts discovered in the Digital Panopticon website.  For example, when using legal and prison records, how do historians mitigate against the potential distortions of placing an individual’s criminal activities at the centre of their life story? To illustrate her point Lucy used the example of nineteenth century convict, Mary Palmer, a single mother who in her state of destitution wounded her three year old daughter.  Mary served a sentence for her crime but managed to re-marry after her imprisonment. Despite the Digital Panopticon’s accumulation of historical records, we are still left with a mystery. Who was Mary Palmer? A victim of the intolerant, patriarchal values of Victorian society or a skilled manipulator, capable of moments of cold, calculated cruelty?

The ‘Creative Histories’ conference also offered a screening and discussion of the Roar Film, Death or Liberty (2015). This film traces the transnational history of diasporic radical politics as well as confronting colonialism’s devastating impact on Australian Aboriginal communities. A dramatised documentary, Death or Liberty, tells the individual life histories of political radicals, rebels and dissenters from England, Ireland, Wales and Canada who were transported to Australia by the British government between 1793 and 1867. It features a soundtrack of eighteenth and nineteenth century radical folk songs performed by Billy Bragg, Mick Thomas and Lisa O’Neill. Based on Monash University academic, Dr Tony Moore’s book of the same name, the film would be of interest to all those who study the complex consequences of British imperialism in Australia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Digital Panopticon teamed up with the London Historians for a transportation themed ‘History in the Pub’ event, on 16 May at The Sir Christopher Hatton, London. We were joined by around 60-70 people for a lovely evening of talks, music and a quiz.

Lucy Williams told the wonderful story of convict Mina Jury

Dr Lucy Williams kicked off the evening with her talk on Mina Jury, a fascinating nineteenth-century convict whose colourful career took her across the globe and back again. Lucy pointed out that if we only look at the records in isolation, Mina might seem a typical convict, like any other. But by joining up the records – as the Digital Panopticon website will be making possible – we uncover a rich, intriguing story.

Matt Brown led a great quiz on London’s lesser-known police forces. I learned that the City of London police force were Tug-of-War Olympic gold champions!

Singer-songwriter Henry Skewes played nineteenth-century transportation ballads

Singer-songwriter Henry Skewes played some original transportation ballads. The powerful lyrics were hard-hitting on the human cost of transportation: ‘I’d rather have drowned in misery than gone to New South Wales’, goes the song ‘Jim Jones at Botany Bay’. (Have a listen at https://soundcloud.com/henryskewes.)

Tim Hitchcock spoke about the women who refused the royal pardon in 1789

Professor Tim Hitchcock rounded off the evening with a talk on a small group of women who, in 1789, made the extraordinary decision to refuse the royal pardon. That means they demanded to be executed rather than face transportation. Tim placed their courageous stand in the context of the militarization of London after the 1780 Gordon riots, and argued that we should understand the more famous political radicalism of the 1790s in light of the previous decade.

Here are some of the things people liked best about the evening:

‘All of it – an excellent evening.’

‘Both speakers were absolutely riveting and held my attention the whole evening.’

‘This has changed the way I will vote in the upcoming election.’

‘Really interesting hearing transportation ballads – difficult to convey oral histories, but song/music is a novel way to introduce it!’ 

‘Very good atmosphere.’

‘Both talks were very interesting and thought-provoking.’

‘It was very interesting to hear the original lyrics of the transportation ballads.’

‘Great to learn new things, meet fellow members, and enjoy a good night out!’

Eleanor, Emma and Larissa at the Sheffield Showcase.

On Saturday 11th March, myself, Emma Watkins and Eleanor Bland ran a Digital Panopticon stand as part of the University of Sheffield’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities Showcase at the city’s Millennium Gallery. Reflecting on the day, Emma said afterwards, “Lots of staff, students and members of the public popped by, including both adults and children – there was a great atmosphere and diversity of projects on show”. 

Over the course of the day, Emma, Eleanor and myself spoke to approximately fifty members of the public.  We introduced the Digital Panopticon project and explained its potential to provide valuable information to family historians, school teachers and policy-makers.  We also told people about currently available resources such as The Old Bailey Online, Founders and Survivors as well as books produced by the Digital Panopticon team. We had conversations about a diverse range of subjects including people’s family history, a recent Heather Shore documentary on transportation, local court records and the meaning of the word ‘Panopticon‘.

Faculty Showcase, Cadman Room, Millennium Gallery.

Speaking of her experience at the Showcase, Eleanor commented:

“I really enjoyed engaging with members of the public about the Digital Panopticon project. In particular, I was fascinated to hear about some of their ancestors’ lives, and suggest how they could use the datasets linked by the project to understand more about their family history. It was also a great opportunity to explain some of the interesting aspects of the history of crime and transportation to members of the public who have perhaps not encountered this field before.”

In addition, a few days earlier, I spoke about the showcase while being interviewed about the Digital Panopticon on the Toby Foster Breakfast Show (BBC Radio Sheffield, 9 March 2017, starts at 40 mins, 30 seconds).  This was in response to Toby’s interview with journalist and broadcaster Sophie Raworth (8 March 2017).  Fortunately for Digital Panopticon, Sophie’s appearance on Who Do You Think You Are? had heavily featured late eighteenth and early nineteenth century family history!

The London Metropolitan Archives

On 15th February 2017, myself and representatives of the Digital Panopticon team had a meeting with the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) about an upcoming Digital Panopticon themed exhibition to be held at the LMA.  The exhibition will tell stories of people convicted at the Old Bailey in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.  The exhibition will focus on the shift in punishment from hanging, branding and whipping to transportation and imprisonment in the period 1780 to 1925.  This historical shift essentially represents the move from punishing the bodies of convicts to reforming their minds.

(more…)

Digital Panopticon representatives have returned from their public engagement adventures at The Open Book, Wigtown (22^{nd –} 25^th February 2017).  Following press coverage in the local newspaper, The Galloway Gazette, the team offered public talks at the book shop on Scottish Convict, Hannah Holiday (Lucy Williams, Wednesday 22nd February)  and on how to use criminal records to make family and social history (Barry Godfrey and Emma Watkins, Thursday 23rd February).  Aoife O’Connor also led a very popular family history surgery on Saturday 25^th February, which offered free access to the Findmypast website. Reflecting on the success of the family history surgery, Barry Godfrey commented, “We ran it from 9.30am to 5.30pm without a break. If we had more room or more helpers we could have doubled the sessions.”

Here are some responses from participants:

Barry Godfrey with a visitor at the Open Book

“What an unexpected find in a Scottish bookshop – top-class academics coming out of the university to talk to people – it was great!”

“Excellent – and very moving account of an individual’s story.”

“Wonder who we will find in our family? Such a moving presentation – history taking the statistics and turning the figures into real people. Social history at its best.”

“I really enjoyed finding some unexpected facts (to be confirmed!) about my family. Thanks!”

“It was brilliant to find what I had long expected to be the case really is fact. Thank you so much.”

“The searches that were undertaken brought up a number of new relations and subsequent avenues to search. I also learnt that there was a site for Irish naming patterns…Thank you.”

“I had no idea that this kind of thing was even possible. Setting the individual stories in their broader context is a fascinating way of bringing history to life. How wonderful to do it in a bookshop.”

Please click here to see a Wigtown bookshop poster,