Spotlight on Cardigan

Spotlight on Cardigan

Monthly meeting and speaker 4 March 2024 at Cardigan Castle

Early Criminal Photography in Wales   

Our speaker this evening, 4th March, was Richard Ireland, retired Professor of Law.  Richard gave our group a lively and informative talk drawing on his many years of experience as a lecturer.

Nowadays we are able to identify people easily using photographic id, fingerprints and DNA.  Before these scientific methods came into use much more primitive ways of identifying and remembering the faces of criminals were used.  These included staring at pprisoners for a prolonged period of time in order to commit their features and any distinguishing marks to memory. The hands of the accused were also shown prominently in photographs as well as their faces as hands often had distinguishing features such as tattoos, missing fingers or other injuries.

The earliest surviving picture of a prisoner is a photograph by Governor George Stephens.  He photographed James Jones, who was convicted of attempting to murder his sister-in-law, in1858.  Carmarthen jail was also photographed by George Stephens during his long service there as a governor.  He enjoyed photography as a hobby but later realised that it could be a useful way to record criminals who otherwise could change their name easily when they moved between different areas.

Social changes in the 19th century meant that people were more mobile, often leaving rural areas to look for work in towns and cities.  Urban masses meant that people were no longer known to each other as they had been in small rural communities and were also unknown to the authorities.  

Two Irishmen, Patrick O’Sullivan and Ian Murphy, who brutally murdered an elderly lady near Newport, were pictured using a daguerreotype (named after the French inventor Daguerre) which was then sent to Ireland in order to find out more about them.  A woodcut made from the daguerreotype was then used to print the picture in a Monmouthshire newspaper.

Some photographs of criminals appear to be “dressed up’’ with painted backdrops and the accused shown in a posed position leaning on a pillar or chair.  The photograph took some time to take and it was necessary for the subject to stay still during the process so something to lean on was helpful.   A less kind method was used in Ruthin jail where a chair was equipped with a triangular piece on the seat to make the prisoner sit still.

During the 1850s and with an increase in prison numbers sophistication begins.  A prisoner named William Sadler is shown not only with his full face and hands prominently displayed but also in profile and with his prison number and the date displayed in front of him.   A sixteen year old murder, William Flackney, was photographed in Bedford jail with his prison number hanging on his front while a female prisoner, Mary Lobart, has her prison number more tastefully displayed beside her attached to a curtain instead of on her chest. They were fortunate to be identified by signs with numbers as Governor Gardner of Bristol was in favour of the idea of using gunpowder to mark a prisoner for identification purposes. Branding had been used throughout history to mark beggars, thieves and army deserters but these were more enlightened times.

Compulsory photography of prisoners was brought into law with The Habitual Criminals Act in 1869.  One copy was held at the prison and a second copy was sent to Scotland Yard in London.  Storing the increasing number of photographs became a problem and also prisoners tried all sorts of tricks such as closing their eyes and puffing out their cheeks to change their appearance and avoid being recognised.  

In 1879 Alphonse Bertillon invented a method that combined detailed measurements of a prisoner’s body with frontal and profile photographs.  The five measurements were head length, head breadth, length of the middle finger, length of the left foot and length from the elbow to the end of the middle finger. Eye colour and the length of the little finger were also recorded.

The use of fingerprinting was adopted by the police in 1901 and superseded other methods of identification but the mugshot is still used today and probably will always be the most obvious, instant and easy way to identify a suspect quickly. 

Fiona Thomas 8th March 2024 

Monthly Meeting and Speaker 8th January 2024 at Cardigan Castle.

Conscientious Objectors During World War1   

 

We were pleased to welcome Heather Tomos, our first speaker of the New Year. Heather gave a very in-depth talk on the reasons why men refused to enlist to fight despite considerable social and governmental pressure, the different categories of objectors, and the conditions under which many of them suffered for their beliefs.

At the beginning of WW1Britain had 25,000 regular soldiers and Germany had 700,000 therefore there was an urgent need to recruit men quickly.  !914 and 1915 saw so many large battles fought with the consequent loss of many men that increasing efforts needed to be made to replace them.  In 1916 the Military Service Act came into being and military service became compulsory for the first time in the history of Britain.  Initially only unmarried men between the ages of 18- 41 years were called up and some essential workers such as farmers and agricultural workers were exempt from service but as the war progressed and soldiers had to be replaced men had to attend tribunals if they felt that they were needed at home more than at the Front.  There were cases of farmers having to choose between their sons if one were allowed to stay and one had to go.  In one tragic case a farmer shot himself rather than see his son go to war.

In response Fenner Brockway and Clifford Allen set up the No Conscription Fellowship campaign as many men had political, moral or religious reasons for refusing to fight. There were just over 16000 men recorded as COs during the war but there may have been many more who would have been Cos but were exempt from military service for other reasons, for example clergymen.

Although many churches and chapels supported the war others did not. Jerusalem Chapel in Britton Ferry was one of those against conscription and was visited by well-known and respected people such as Ramsay Macdonald, Bertrand Russell and Sylvia Pankhurst.

The Pelham Committee was formed in March 1916 to co-ordinate the organisation of work for COs who had been given exemption from military combat.  Men in the Non-Combatant Corps wore uniform and took part in marching but did not carry weapons or take part in fighting. They were given work deemed to be of national importance but which was often far away from home, either on the Home Front or in Europe, and could also be seen to be a form of punishment.

Other conscientious objectors were: 

          Alternativists: men who would agree to help the war effort by becoming stretcher bearers or doing other non- combatant roles which did not require carrying weapons.  They were also willing to work in agriculture and food production although this could be seen by some as aiding the war effort.

Absolutists: these were men who refused to take part in any action which would contribute to the war in any way.  They were often imprisoned and kept in poor conditions, overcrowded, cold and malnourished.  Many had their physical and mental health wrecked due to their mistreatment.  Some were kept in prison up to a year after the war ended.

In 1994 a memorial was erected in Tavistock Square to recognise all those who have established and are maintaining the right to refuse to kill.  Also in the same square is another memorial dedicated to the people who lost their lives in a suicide bomb attack on a double decker bus on 7th July 2005. 

Heather gave us a lot to think about during her talk including the nature of

Courage – were men braver to fight in a war or braver to refuse to compromise their beliefs?

 

Fiona Thomas  14th January 2024

 

 

 

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