An amazing resource

The Old Bailey Online has not only “The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674–1913,” but also extensive background materials.

A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court.

There are essays on “Community histories”:

• Black Communities
• Gypsies and Travellers
• Homosexuality
• Irish London
• Jewish Communities
• Huguenot and French London
• Chinese Communities

“London and its hinterlands”:

• 1674–1715
• 1715–1760
• 1760–1815
• 1800–1913
• A Population History
• Material London
• London’s Rural Hinterlands
• Currency, Coinage, Cost of Living
• Transport

As well as “Gender in the proceedings,” “Crime, Justice, and Punishment,” and “The Old Bailey Courthouse.”

(via The Cat’s Meat Shop.)