Crime and punishment knowledge test: Industrial Britain 1750-1900

Student copy

1. Why was the government so worried about protest at this time?

2. What was the ‘criminal class’?

3. What was the name given to the period of thinking during which philosophers
believed the human race could improve itself by becoming better educated?

4. Give four examples of how the industrial revolution affected crime and punishment.

5. Name four things people at the time blamed for the increase in crime.

6. What did a magistrate call the cheap magazines, newspapers and literature which he
believed influenced young people’s behaviour?

7. Who abolished the Bloody Code in the 1820’s?

8. Give three different reasons why the Bloody Code was abolished.

9. In which year did the last public hanging take place?

10. Give four reasons transportation was abolished.

11. Give three problems with the prison system in the late 1700’s.

12. What was the ‘turnkey’ fee?

13. What was the name of the first prison built using the separate system?

14. Give three reasons why prison reformers wanted to change the prison system?

15. Who was John Howard and what did he do?

16. What were the main features of the separate system?

17. What were the main features of the silent system?

18. Why were some people critical of the separate system?

19. Give three examples of ‘useful work’.

20. Give three examples of pointless work.

21. Which prison did Elizabeth Fry visit?

22. Give three changes which Elizabeth Fry helped to introduce.

23. Name three things Sir Robert Peel achieved as Home Secretary in the 1800’s.

24. What had the biggest impact on reducing juvenile crime in the 19 th century?

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 Crime and punishment knowledge test: Industrial Britain 1750-1900
25. What were Borstals?

26. Give three examples of forms of policing before 1829.

27. What four reasons led to the creation of the Metropolitan Police Force?

28. Give three examples of how policing developed between 1829 & 1900.

29. Give three reasons why the police didn’t catch ‘Jack the Ripper’.

30. How did the reputation of the police force change over the 19th century?

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 Crime and punishment knowledge test: Industrial Britain 1750-1900
Teacher copy with answers

1. Why was the government so worried about protest at this time?

Many were fearful that the ideas of the French Revolution would spread to Britain.
George I had felt threatened by rebellion so he introduced the Riot Act in 1715. For
ordinary people rioting was the only way to get their voices heard.

2. What was the ‘criminal class’?

This was based on Darwin’s theory of evolution. It suggested that criminals inherited
their criminal tendencies and could not escape from a life of crime as they had not
evolved properly.

3. What was the name given to the period of thinking during which philosophers
believed the human race could improve itself by becoming better educated?
Enlightenment

4. Give four examples of how the industrial revolution affected crime and punishment:

growth of towns and cities, voting, work, education, acceptance of government

interference, changes in ideas and attitudes

5. Name four things people at the time blamed for the increase in crime:
lack of seasonal work due to the weather, alcohol, too many children in families,
poverty, literature, trade fluctuations, cheap newspapers, professional sport, the
criminal class

6. What did a magistrate call the cheap magazines, newspapers and literature which he
believed influenced young people’s behaviour?
Penny Dreadfuls

7. Who abolished the Bloody Code in the 1820’s?

Sir Robert Peel

8. Give three different reasons why the Bloody Code was abolished:
public executions weren’t working, juries wouldn’t convict, ideas about punishments
were changing

9. In which year did the last public hanging take place?

1868

10. Give four reasons transportation was abolished:

 it cost too much
 prisons were expanding and changing
 crime had not fallen in Britain
 Lord Ellenborough called transportation ‘no more than a summer’s excursion’ in
1810.

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 Crime and punishment knowledge test: Industrial Britain 1750-1900
11. Give three problems with the prison system in the late 1700’s:
overcrowded, expensive, unhygienic, men and women were mixed, hardened
criminals mixed with debtors, children were brought up in prison

12. What was the ‘turnkey’ fee?

It was an amount you had to pay to leave prison once your sentence was completed.

13. What was the name of the first prison built using the separate system?
Pentonville

14. Give three reasons why prison reformers wanted to change the prison system?
 to teach people useful skill
 to avoid ‘hardening’ petty criminals
 to educate prisoners
 to separate men and women
 to prevent the spread of diseases
 to provide religious instruction in prisons.

15. Who was John Howard and what did he do?

Howard was appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1773 where he supervised the
county jail. He was shocked by the conditions he found there so he visited other
prisons in England and found the situation was no better. He wrote a book called
‘The State of Prisons in England and Wales’ in 1777. He influenced two
parliamentary acts on reforming prisons.

16. What were the main features of the separate system?

Prisoners were kept in individual cells where they worked, prayed and received
religious teachings. They only left the cells for religious services and exercise. Even
then they were not allowed to see other prisoners.

17. What were the main features of the silent system?

Prisoners worked together, but in silence. Discipline had to be effective for this
system to work

18. Why were some people critical of the separate system?

There were very high suicide and insanity rates.

19. Give three examples of ‘useful work’:

making boots, weaving mats, stitching prison clothes, mail bags and coal sacks

20. Give three examples of pointless work:

oakum picking, the treadwheel, the crank

21. Which prison did Elizabeth Fry visit?

Newgate

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 Crime and punishment knowledge test: Industrial Britain 1750-1900
22. Give three changes which Elizabeth Fry helped to introduce:
women only prisons, female warders, new rules for women prisoners, provision of
clothing and furniture, education, regular work

23. Name three things Sir Robert Peel achieved as Home Secretary in the 1800’s:
He abolished the Bloody Code, reformed the prison system and introduced the
Metropolitan Police Force.

24. What had the biggest impact on reducing juvenile crime in the 19 th century?
The Education Act made it compulsory to go to school which took children off the
streets and away from crime gangs of pickpockets.

25. What were Borstals?

They were special reformatory prisons set up in 1899 for children.

26. Give three examples of forms of policing before 1829:

Bow Street Runners, watchmen [Charlies], Bow Street Horse Patrols, constables

27. What four reasons led to the creation of the Metropolitan Police Force?
government and taxation, increased crime and fear of crime, fear of protest, London
itself

28. Give three examples of how policing developed between 1829 and 1900:
 the first detective force waa set up in 1842
 it became compulsory for all towns and counties in 1856
 police helmets were introduced in 1870
 there were 39,000 police in Britain by 1884.

29. Give three reasons why the police didn’t catch ‘Jack the Ripper’:
lack of forensic science, two forces working the case and not sharing information,
media coverage, pressure from Queen Victoria and the government to solve it

30. How did the reputation of the police force change over the 19th century?
 The Great Exhibition changed people’s perceptions of the police − they were
perceived as less of a threat to freedom.
 Crime fell steadily from 1850-1900.
 Crime prevention was working.
 Early recruits were sacked for drunkenness and the professionalism of the police
improved.
 Peel didn’t want police to be seen as above their stations so uniform was
designed to look different from the army and the tailcoat suggested servitude.
 New, strict rules were introduced for officers.

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