Crime in the 18th and 19th centuries

Continuity: most crime was still petty theft, often by the poor. Crimes against the person, such as assault, continued too.

Change: Britain was changing fast. The population grew, towns and industry expanded, more people and goods travelled, and trade grew. These changes created new chances for crime, and new reasons for it.

Three crimes against property rose and then fell in this period: highway robbery, poaching and smuggling.

Some activities stopped being crimes, or became new ones, as attitudes changed.

Highway robbery was robbing travellers on the roads, often by armed men on horseback (highwaymen). The highwayman Dick Turpin was hanged at York in 1739.

Why it rose: more people travelled with cash, as there were few banks. Roads crossed lonely heaths, there was no police force, and horses and pistols were easy to get.

Why it fell: by the 1830s, it had almost disappeared:

• towns grew and land was enclosed, so there were fewer lonely places
• mounted patrols guarded the roads near London
• banks and cheques meant travellers carried less cash
• highway robbery was punished by hanging.

Poaching, hunting animals illegally, remained a social crime: many poor people saw it as fair, and protected poachers.

Why it rose: the Game Laws allowed only wealthy landowners to hunt game. The Black Act of 1723 made poaching deer in disguise or at night punishable by death. Meanwhile enclosure, low wages and rising food prices made poor families hungrier, and gangs poached to sell to markets.

Why it fell: the Black Act was repealed in 1823, and from 1831 anyone could buy a licence to hunt game. Poaching continued, but on a smaller scale, and with less harsh punishments.

Smuggling is bringing goods into the country secretly to avoid paying import duties (taxes).

Why it rose: in the 18th century, import duties on goods such as tea, brandy, gin and tobacco were very high. Smuggled goods could be sold cheaply and for a big profit. Britain had a long coastline and few customs officers, and organised gangs grew powerful. Smuggling was a social crime: many people happily bought smuggled goods.

Why it fell: governments cut import duties, starting with the tea tax in 1784, and later moved towards free trade. The Coastguard was set up in 1822 to patrol the coast.

Change: the Witchcraft Act of 1736 ended prosecutions for witchcraft. Instead, it became a crime to pretend to have magical powers, to trick people out of money, punishable by up to a year in prison.

Cause: educated people, and the judges and MPs who made the laws, no longer believed in witchcraft. This was a time of new scientific thinking.

At the same time, the authorities used the law against new threats, such as farm workers organising to protect their wages, as the case of the Tolpuddle Martyrs shows.