Object number
51/298
Creator
Description
This is a printed handbill, dated 9th May, 1838, issued by the Clerk of the Henfield Prosecuting Society, Thomas Coppard, offering a 25 guinea reward for apprehension and conviction of the thief who stole hair from three cart horses belonging to Thomas Page. It was printed on crown sized paper, at the press of Charles Hunt in Horsham, West Sussex.
Physical description
1 framed hand-bill: good condition
Archival history
MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'This is a printed handbill, dated 9th May, 1838, issued by the Clerk of the Henfield Prosecuting Society, Thomas Coppard. It is printed on crown sized paper, at the press of Charles Hunt, West Street, Horsham, Sussex. // Before the establishment of a regular police force, many local expedients were used for the prevention and detection of crime. Their aim was not for the general prevention of acts of violence, but the defence of the property and persons of a specific group of individuals. These individuals might establish a Society of this type, where communal funds for paying Rewards could be collected, or in urban areas they might maintain a watchman. Though the system supplied certain deficiencies, it had the grave defect of leaving the greater part of the populace without any such defence. The need for such societies as the Henfield declined in the years after Sir Robert Peel established the Metropolitan Police Force, for his system was copied throughout the country. Complete coverage of the country was not achieved for some years, as this Bill shows, for protests were made that the police were an interference with the rights of the Individual.'
Production place
Horsham [West Sussex]
Production date
1838-05-09 - 1838-05-09
Object name
Material
Technique
Associated subject
Associated person/institution
External document
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\35 series negatives\Scans\35_591.tif - High resolution image
