Clerkenwell

Antiques from London on eBay

ANTIQUE STERLING SILVER WINE GOBLET. GILDED INSIDE. W. HUTTON LONDON 1898 278GMS
19 Jan 2012 at 3:07am

US $522.01
End Date: Friday May-18-2012 2:12:45 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $522.01
Buy it now | Add to watch list
William Eley & William Fearn Sterling Silver Condiment Spoon London circa 1820
11 May 2012 at 7:17am

US $55.00 (0 Bid)
End Date: Friday May-18-2012 5:17:16 PDT
Bid now | Add to watch list

Clerkenwell was a terra incognita even to experienced Londoners; but when a peremptory document demanded attendance there of some unfortunate West-ender as a juryman, he quickly found that it was not quite so inaccessible as he supposed.

This Court-house bore a general resemblance to a county town-hall, and was easily perceived by the conspicuousness of its dome at the western end of Clerkenwell Green, that oasis of mid-London!

It was built towards the end of the eighteenth century, but had been considerably altered and improved; though our juryman would probably find that personal comfort had been as little considered as in most London Law Courts; the same cheerless retiring-rooms, the same pew-like box wherein to be immured with aching limbs for hours at a stretch.

The cases tried at Clerkenwell were generally very numerous, and the criminals for the most part were drawn from the lowest and the poorest classes, quite unable of themselves to obtain the intervention of a solicitor, much less of a counsel; but money for their defence was often derived from a "lead," or benefit harmonic meeting held at some tavern on behalf of the accused, by which means a barrister was instructed, and a copy of the deposition or evidence already taken before a magistrate, was given to him.

Both at the Old Bailey and at Clerkenwell, a custom prevailed of offering to such senior members of the Bar as required it, the deposition of the Court to prosecute in cases where the Crown was not represented.

This deposition went by the curious name of "soup," and represented a small fee varying from £2, 4s. 6d. to as little as £1, 3s. 6d., and of which Montagu Williams QC, related an amusing anecdote.

At the Clerkenwell Court, he said, he was sitting next to an impecunious, eccentric old barrister who was lamenting that the clerk had omitted to bring him his customary "soup," and, pausing in the midst of the conversation, he wrote something on a piece of blotting-paper which with a vacant smile he passed to Williams, who read as follows:

County Session Courts in 1900: Clerkenwell

Antiques from London on eBay