County Magistrates Court of the Petty Sessional Division of Manchester at Strangeways
1872-1990
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Magistrates court and licensing records for the Petty Sessional Division of Manchester (those areas outside the cities of Manchester and Salford)
Related Material:Lancashire Record Office holds records for this division (ref: PSMA: Minutes 1868-1948, committee minutes 1935-1949, letterbook 1910-1915).
GB124.A.TRAFF: Trafford Magistrates' Court
Title:
County Magistrates Court of the Petty Sessional Division of Manchester at Strangeways
Date of work:
1872-1990
Reference number:
GB124.A.PSDM
Level of description:
Fonds
Includes:
Custodial history:
As population 'exploded' in the nineteenth century provisions for the administration of justice both in buildings and in the number of constables lagged behind the needs. To remedy this the Manchester Division Petty Sessions Court Act of 1866 provided for a new court house and a Further Bench of Magistrates.
A letter sent out to magistrates from the New Bailey on May 12th, 1868 began as follows:
'I have the honour to inform you that the New Police Court at Strangeways will now very soon be completed. I have to request therefore that you will be kind enough to attend a Meeting of Magistrates of the Division of Manchester at the Magistrates Board Room at the New Assize Courts on Friday the 22nd of May'.
COST OF THE BUILDING
'The whole of the Divisional and Police Court business heretofore transacted at the New Bailey shall be transacted and disposed of at the said Court so provided at Strangeways from and after July 1st, 1868, that at the opening the Manchester Division Petty Sessions Court Act of 1866 shall be read substituting the words 'the said New Court' in place of 'the New Bailey', that £3,000 should be borrowed to pay for the New Court House and that the police force of the Division be increased by one. The cost of the Strangeways Court House was £6,933. 0s. 7d including furnishing, the latter item amounting to £572. 9s. 10 d.
STIPENDIARY MAGISTRATE
Mr. Yates was the last Stipendiary Magistrate to be appointed for the Manchester Division and he served from 1894 until 1916. A large photograph of Mr. Yates still hangs in the Magistrates Retiring Room at the Strangeways Court.
AREA OF JURISDICTION
In 1885 certain townships were incorporated with the city of Manchester leaving the Manchester Petty Sessions Division responsible for Barton-on-Irwell, Blackley, Burnage, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Clifton, Crumpsall, Didsbury, Failsworth Flixton, Gorton, Great Heaton, Heaton Norris ( that part outside The Borough of Stockport ), Levenshulme, Little Heaton, Moss Side, Moston, Newton Heath, Openshaw, Pendlebury, Prestwich, Reddish, Stretford, Urmston, Withington and Worsley.
COURTS AT ECCLES AND WORSLEY
The magistrates for a second time discussed a request in 1890 for the setting up of a petty sessional court at Pendlebury, Patricroft or Eccles, fourteen years after the first overture.
A letter from Mr. Bailey, Town Clerk at Eccles, stated 'the Borough Justices at a meeting this morning appointed me their Clerk and determined to hold requisite sittings for transactions of magisterial business at 10.30 a.m. every Monday and Thursday'. Thus the Borough Court at Eccles was begun, its jurisdiction being carved out of the Manchester Division. It was not until the year 1951 when the Clerk to the Manchester Division was appointed also at Eccles that the same Clerk once again served both Division and Borough.
RESOLUTIONS
About 1890 violent gangs were operating in the area. Individuals were attacked for no apparent reason. The arrest of those concerned was proving difficult. The men who attacked and ran away became known as 'Scuttlers'. In an attempt to deal with the problem the Magistrates considered it 'expedient for prompt corporal punishment to be given to those convicted of violent and brutal practices known as 'Scuttling' and sought the Home Secretary's consent to that course.
In the same year, 1890, the justices had to appoint a new Courtkeeper, and did so, allowing him a wage of 20 shillings a week plus 10 shillings for cleaning.
THE COURT 1900 - 1974
All the foregoing information relating to the Strangeways Court has been compiled from the minute book which commenced on the 22nd May 1868 and terminated on the 30th November 1905. Between 1896 and 1905 apart from the performance of their judicial duties which were considerable, nothing of any great moment is recorded.
There were for example, in 1908, some 58 Magistrates acting in the Division, and no less than eight ex officio Justices. In that year the Townships in the Division
Access restrictions:
UnrestrictedAccess to court registers restricted for 30 years; court orders restricted for 100 years
Use restrictions:
Unrestricted
General notes:
DG catalogued, 2011
DESTROY/OFFER BACK
Family Protection Orders 1988-89 (? - not mentioned in TNA Guidance)
Files relating to Reciprocal Enforcement of Matrimonial and Maintenance Orders 1960s-1980s
Financial Records of the Court Relating to Matrimonial Business 1980-1990s
Authorizations and related correspondence for payments ordered by the Court through the Department for Health and Social Security 1988-93
Attachment of Earnings Orders 1970-78; 1980-83
Discharged Attachment of Earnings Orders 1970-80s
See S2/40/54
Record types:
COMPONENT
Language:
English
Record number:
7182164
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Total copies: 1