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Soham Police - The Soham Police Charge Book, 1848-1855

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The Soham Cage

The Parish Constables Act of 1842 S22 stated:

It shall be lawful for the Justices of the Peace of any County in General or Quarter Sessions assembled, if they shall think fit, to order that Lock-up Houses for the temporary Confinement of Persons taken into Custody by any Constable, and not yet committed for Trial, or in Execution of any Sentence, shall be provided in such Places within their County as the said Justices shall think fit; and for that Purpose to purchase and hold Lands and Tenements, or to appropriate to that Purpose any Lands and Tenements belonging to the County which are not needed for the Purpose to which they were applied or intended to be applied before such Appropriation; or, instead of providing new: Lock-up Houses, to order that the Lock-up Houses, Strong Rooms, or Cages belonging to any Parish be appropriated for the Purpose of this Act, and if necessary be enlarged or improved ; and the Expence of building, hiring, or otherwise providing, repairing, and: furnishing such Lock-up Houses shall be defrayed out of the County Rates: Provided always, that Notice of the Day and: Hour at which. any Business relates to providing; enlarging, or improving any such Lock-up House will begin at such Session shall be given by the Clerk of the Peace, with the Notice of holding the Session on the Requisition of any Five Justices acting for such County ; and that no such Lock-up House shall be built or otherwise provided, enlarged, or improved, except upon such Plan as shall be approved by one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State: Provided also, that every such Lock-up House shall be within the Inspection of the Inspectors of Prisons.

S23. And be it enacted, That whenever the Justices shall have provided a Lock-up House under this Act, they shall also appoint a superintending Constable to have the Charge thereof, who shall have all the Powers and Immunities of a Parish Constable under this Act, and shall have the Superintendence of all the Parish Constables appointed in such Parishes as shall be ordered by the said Justices, and under such Regulations as they shall make; and every such superintending Constable shall be entitled to hold his Office until dismissed by the Justices in General or Quarter Session assembled, and shall receive such Salary out of the County Rates as the Justices assembled as aforesaid shall order.

Soham had a lock-up or cage well before the 1842 Act. For example the Huntingdon, Bedford & Peterborough Gazette, 6 September 1828 p2 reported on a case where John Eden was committed to the Cage at Soham for unruly behaviour. The Soham Cage can be found on OS 25 inch map Cambridgeshire XXX.16 revised 1901, published 1902 (Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland' Map Images website https://maps.nls.uk/ ) just off the Market Place and close to the Soham Town Hall. It is not known whether the Cage in 1901 was the same structure in the same location as that of 1828, To date no photographs have been found of the Soham Cage. Living memory suggests that the cage may fave survved up to WW1

OS 25 inch map Cambridgeshire XXX.16 revised 1901, published 1902 'Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland' Map Images website https://maps.nls.uk/

Location of the Soham Cage as it is today - somewhere behind the Handy Plaice fish and chip shop

All we know about the construction and appearance of the Cage is that it had a wooden door and probably had no windows of any sort, as can be seen from the following report:

INGENUITY.—The old proverb, "a friend in need, a friend indeed," was exemplified the other day, when a fellow, for some misdemeanour, had got fixed in the cage, at Soham. Feeling the awkwardness of his predicament, he contrived by some means to let his friends outside know that he would like his pipe; but there being no easy method of supplying his want (an entrance not being accessible), one of his companions resorted to a little ingenious trickery, and after boring with a gimblet a hole through the door, large enough to admit the end of a tobacco pipe, filled and lighted the same outside; so that by this little piece of ingenuity, the poor fellow in darkness and "durance vile," enjoyed his whiff, to the no small amusement and gratification of the surrounding bystanders. (Age (London) 14 May 1843 p7)

Robert Hornsby, who described himself as Superintendent Hornsby had charge of the Cage on behalf of the Magistrates. The cage featured in the following altercation between Hornsby and the Soham Police Force.

SOHAM Cage Robbery, Novel Proceeding.
On Monday last, a felony having been committed in a house occupied by Mrs. Brown, East Fen Common in Soham, the policemen appointed under the general watching and lighting act, apprehended a person named Manning, and finding some or the stolen goods upon bis person, they placed him in the cage for safe custody, till they could take him before the magistrates. Robert Hornsby, the ex superintendent of police, and now special constable, thinking the prisoner was not so safe in the lock-up as he would be under his special care, and probably expecting a pleasant ride to Cambridge with him, at the expence of the county, took the prisoner out of the cage, and placed him under the care of one Robert Heagren, discarded policeman, at the Ship public house; but Manning, not liking tbe disagreeable odour of beer and tobacco, and sundry articles of grocery, made his escape, whilst Heagren was having a quiet nap. He was afterwards pursued by the special with his sleepy friend, and one or two assistants, but has not yet been captured. The Inspectors of police do not at all fancy the liberty taken byy Hornsby, and intend placing some additional locks upon the cage, that the policemen appointed by them may not have trouble of detecting felonies and apprehending the offenders, and then have them taken out of their custody by a man sanctioned by only a few individuals, to harrass and annoy nine-tenths of the most influential inhabitants of the town. Correspondent. (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, Saturday 22 June 1850 p2)