SURREY QUARTER SESSIONS: RECORDS

The main records of the Court fall into two series: the order books, which survive from 1659, and the Sessions rolls, from 1660. The order books are the central record of the decisions made at the Sessions - the judicial and administrative orders issued by the Court. The rolls are files of documents including lists of justices and county officers, indictments and presentments of criminals and recognizances (financial bonds) to appear at court. Other series of records also survive including minutes books of the court from 1694, and process books (listing all those tried for criminal offences) from 1671. From the early 18th century subsidiary documents from the rolls were stored in separate bundles known as the Sessions papers, which included calendars of prisoners in the county gaols and houses of correction, accounts and bills of county contractors, reports on the state of county bridges, coroner's expenses, examinations and witness statements relating to alleged crimes and papers relating to poor law cases. Other series of records were also stored separately, including indictments in criminal cases from 1759.

Legislation required various activities to be registered at Quarter Sessions. This led to the preservation of records relating to Protestant nonconformist and Roman Catholic meeting houses, printing presses, friendly societies, building societies and licensed victuallers. Under various Acts of Parliament, certain records were ordered to be deposited with the records of Quarter Sessions for local preservation and consultation. These included maps and awards for the enclosure of common land and plans of proposed public undertakings such as canals, railways and later, gas and electricity.

The medieval justices of the peace had a clerk, responsible for giving them legal advice and keeping their records. However, in no English county does the archive of the Court of Quarter Sessions begin before the 16th century, and in Surrey the archive only begins in 1659. However a few records of late 16th and early 17th century county government do survive among the deposited papers of local county families, including the Carews of Beddington and the Mores of Loseley. The loss of pre-1659 records may be explained by the political turmoil of the Civil War followed by the Commonwealth and Protectorate. An entry in the earliest surviving Quarter Sessions order book, Michaelmas 1660, shortly after the restoration of the monarchy, orders John Launder, the former clerk 'to deliver into the handes and possession of Henry Byne, gentleman, the present Clerke of the Peace ... all such rolles, records, proces[s] books and other writings as he hath in his custody concerninge the Sessions of the peace'. It would seem that Launder thought it wiser not to comply.

The Surrey Court of Quarter Sessions several times expressed concern at the lack of proper accommodation for their records. In 1751, for example, they appointed a committee 'to inquire into the state and condition of the publick records of this county and also to consider the proper methods for digesting and preserving them and for registering the future acts and proceedings'. At the following Sessions it was reported to the Court 'by the information of one of the said committee (who inspected the said records) that they are in a very bad state and condition, very ill-digested and very ill-preserved and that the ancient records of this county are entirely lost and that in order for the future to register the proceedings of this Court, a fair journal should be made of the acts of each Session containing every material act or order with a proper index, that the original should be ingrossed upon vellum or parchment to remain in the office of the Clerk of the Peace to each Session ... and the said committee do further report that a proper repository for the said records ought to be provided at the expense of this county for the more safe and convenient custody therof'. This recommendation seems to have been ignored. In 1787 a committee was appointed to consider the best location for 'proper Courts of Justice and other conveniencies for the administration of justice and the preserving the records of the Session'. The decision was made not to proceed, but in 1794 a new Sessions House with accommodation for records was constructed at Newington in south London. This Sessions House continued to serve the county until the transfer of county governemnt to Kingston at the end of the 19th century.

Quarter Sessions continued to meet in various parts of the county (chiefly Newington, Kingston, Reigate and Guildford) and it was therefore necessary to transport some of the records to the appropriate meeting place. In 1838 the court ordered that a new trunk be provided for the conveyance of the records to and from the different Sessions of the Peace.

In 1889 the newly formed Surrey County Council took over most of the administrative powers of the Court of Quarter Sessions, though the Court continued to function, including hearing criminal cases, until 1971.

There are no access restrictions.

Deposited by the Clerk of the Peace.

An item level description of the archive is available on the Surrey History Centre online catalogue