Mary Bryant’s story

In the later 1700s, if you were convicted of a serious, or even not very serious, crime, you could face transportation to a British colony, that is if you managed to avoid the death sentence. Before 1777 convicts were taken to North America. After that point this option became unavailable. But there was an alternative … Continue reading Mary Bryant’s story

The good old days in quiet Cornwall

Sepia-toned photos of quiet nineteenth century Cornish towns and villages make us conjure up imagined memories of those peaceful days of our great-grandparents. But records of the police courts at two Cornish towns serve to qualify this nostalgic glow somewhat. The towns were St Austell in mid-Cornwall and Helston in the west. The time was … Continue reading The good old days in quiet Cornwall