Record revealed
Hoax letter signed by ‘Jack the Ripper’
This is one of hundreds of letters in police files claiming to have been written by the infamous Whitechapel Murderer – otherwise known as 'Jack the Ripper'.
Series
Assizes: Norfolk, Home and South-Eastern Circuits: Indictment Files
Catalogue reference: ASSI 35
What's it about?
ASSI 35
The files of the Home Circuit, dating back to 1559, include the earliest extant files for any circuit, following the end of the medieval series in the fifteenth century. Some files contain documents that have strayed from their proper files, but...
Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
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ASSI 35
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Title (The name of the record)
- Assizes: Norfolk, Home and South-Eastern Circuits: Indictment Files
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Date (When the record was created)
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1559-1969
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Description (What the record is about)
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The files of the Home Circuit, dating back to 1559, include the earliest extant files for any circuit, following the end of the medieval series in the fifteenth century.
Some files contain documents that have strayed from their proper files, but the vast majority are the trespass files for all the counties in that particular session. Indictments relating to trespasses were placed on one file for all the circuit, while indictments relating to felonies were placed on separate files for each county. The distribution of associated documents between the two types of file varies, but as a general rule trespass (or general) files contain the precepts and other documents issued under the justices' commission of oyer and terminer, while the felony files contain the precepts issued under the justices' commissions of assize and of gaol delivery, and such related documents as gaol calendars and names of the commission of the peace for the county in question. In the nineteenth century the trespass file is renamed the misdemeanour file. The practice of filing felonious indictments separately from those relating to lesser offences ceased in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
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Arrangement (Information about the filing sequence or logical order of the record)
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Arrangement
Until 1996 this series included all the files for the Norfolk, Home and South-Eastern circuits from 1559 onwards, but the series was split into three to fit into the storage accommodation in the new PRO at Kew, and to accord with the requirements of the computerised ordering system. The files which remain in ASSI 35 cover the period up to the end of 1688, and retain their existing piece numbers.
The files are arranged by date of session and by county, and the different files are identified accordingly in this list in the case of the files. This is the result of sorting, relisting, and conservation of some pieces in the 1960s and 1970s.
Some pieces are described in this list not by county but under the term general.
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Separated material (A cross-reference between records that are related by provenance but now kept separately)
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Files for 1851-1971 are now in
Other Home Circuit indictments are in p. 22-24 in
Indictment files from 1689-1850 were removed from this series in 1996 and can now be found in
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
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Public Record(s)
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Physical description (The amount and form of the record)
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554 bundles and files
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Access conditions (Information on conditions that restrict or affect access to the record)
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Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated
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Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
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Publication note(s) (A note of publications related to the record)
- J S Cockburn, Calendar of assize records: Home Circuit indictments, Elizabeth I and James I: Introduction (London, 1985) contains a full account of early indictments files in this series. Indictments in this series for the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, and for Kent for the reign of Charles I and for the years 1649 to 1659 have been calendared in Calendar of assize records, 13 vols (1975-1995).
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C2427/
Catalogue hierarchy
Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
41,615 records
Within the department: ASSI
Records of Justices of Assize, Gaol Delivery, Oyer and Terminer, and Nisi Prius
You are currently looking at the series: ASSI 35
Assizes: Norfolk, Home and South-Eastern Circuits: Indictment Files
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