Collection: National Justice Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Social History Collection

  The museum’s primary exhibit is the Shire Hall complex, a grade2* listed building comprising two Victorian courtrooms (civil and criminal) – there has been a court on the site since 1375, 17th century rock-hewn dungeon, 1800 prison cells and dayrooms, 1833 prison win, 1905 police station. The museum has retained and actively collects artifacts relating to the site, including court furniture, two Victorian clocks, original Shire Hall chairs, birching stools, cell doors, cell beds, prison uniforms, images of the site and other miscellaneous items relating to the site. There is a collection of modern prison furniture plus loaned items from HM Prison Service Museum. The collections contain items made in prison by young offenders. The collection contains items from the Ross Simms Police Collection, including 66 heraldic plaques from all over the UK’s police forces and 44 Commonwealth and colonial police cap badges, and police equipment from 1780-2000. The Bramshill Collection of truncheons and tipstaves which contains 512 items dating 1750-1952. The Nicholls Collection of Restraint Material contains 200 restraints used by the police and prison service (1850-2002) Local significance and National interest

  Subjects

  Imprisonment; Prisons; Crime; Courts; Furniture; Local history; Law; Uniforms; Social history; Police; Prisoners; Penal sanctions

  Archives Collection

  National significance and International interest The breadth of the archive collection provides outstanding resources for research in areas such as: prisons, the probation service, reformatory and industrial schools, police and policing, role of executioner, forensic science, language of legal documents, and media representation of trials. Some of our key and most important collections include; HM Prison Service Archive, the Rainer Foundation Archive on probation and reform, Crimes and Trials, Crime Writers Association, and the Photographic Collection. The archives contain material relating to all the police forces in England and Wales. Legal documents and seals include letters patent for Solicitor General, Attorney General, Lord Chief Justice, Queen?’s/King?’s Counsel and Privy Counsel, Carter and Indictment at the Nuremberg Trial, licenses to Plead, an example of the complete set of deeds for one house, the deeds for the Shire Hall Building, 5 examples of indentures (1681-1850) that have been transcribed into modern English. Legal archive ephemera includes forms used by the courts, the prison service and the police. These include warrants, reports and bound record books, newspaper clippings relating to the following cases: Baccarat scandal, Tichborne claimant, Nuremberg tribunal and the Kray Twins, 13 bound volumes and numerous loose clippings on famous criminals and criminal trials of the 20th century, modern clippings (1998-2003) on civil and criminal cases. Material relating to case evidence is present for the following cases: R v Mancini (Brighton Truck Murders), R v Biggs (Great Train Robbery), R v Ruxton, Lady Chatterley obsenity case, Nuremberg tribunal, Baccarat scandal, Tichborne claimant, R v Bryant, R v Waddington (Nottingham Poisoning case), cases relating to pathologist Bernard Spilsbury and barrister Edward Marshall Hall. Loup collection of 50 legal music hall covers (all c.1890s). The museum houses the annual reports, minutes and photographs of the societies that made up the Rainer Foundation, from 1860-1950. The Rainer Foundation was the forerunner to the probation service. The museum houses the archive of the Crime Writers Association including letters, annual reports and material relating to the Golden Dagger Awards. Elements of archival material are included in the personalia collections relating to legal personalities.

  Subjects

  Administration of justice; Prisons; Crime; Courts; History; Criminology; Forensic science; Transportation of prisoners; Archives; Police; Trials; Penal sanctions

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC