GCSE-readyEnding the Bloody Code and transportation, c1700 to c1900
In 1700 a thief could be hanged. By 1900 almost every criminal went to prison instead. This lesson explains how the Bloody Code and transportation rose and fell, and why.
The Bloody Code at its height
The Black Act (1723) alone made many offences capital, such as poaching deer while disguised.
Why? Parliament was made up of landowners who wanted to protect their property, and with no police force the authorities relied on the fear of hanging as a deterrent.
In practice many death sentences were not carried out: the condemned were often pardoned or sent abroad instead, and juries sometimes refused to convict for minor thefts.
Why the Bloody Code ended
Juries: unwilling to send people to the gallows for small thefts, juries let many go, so the law looked weak.
Peel: as Home Secretary in the 1820s, Robert Peel removed the death penalty for many crimes.
By 1861 only a handful of crimes, chiefly murder and treason, still carried the death penalty. Public executions ended in 1868.
Transportation and the hulks
The First Fleet sailed for Australia in 1787 and arrived at Botany Bay in 1788. About 160,000 convicts were transported there.
Why it ended: it was expensive; Australian colonists increasingly objected, and after gold was found in the 1850s transportation looked more like a free passage than a punishment; and Britain was building more prisons. The last convict ship reached Western Australia in 1868.
Explain why transportation to Australia ended in 1868.
- Give a cost reason: shipping and guarding convicts for months was expensive.
- Give a reason from Australia: free settlers objected, and the gold rush made Australia attractive, so it no longer deterred.
- Give a reason from Britain: new prisons such as Pentonville meant there was an alternative at home.
- Link: together these made transportation unnecessary and ineffective.
Answer: It cost too much, Australians objected and it stopped deterring once Australia became attractive, and prisons in Britain now offered an alternative.
The Bloody Code grew to over 200 capital crimes by 1800 to protect property. It was dismantled in the 1820s and 1830s because of new ideas about reform, unwilling juries and Peel's reforms. Transportation to Australia (1787 to 1868) ended because of cost, Australian objections and new prisons at home.
- Bloody Code
- The name for English law from the late 1600s to the 1820s, when over 200 crimes could be punished by death.
- Transportation
- Sending convicts to colonies such as America and, from 1787 to 1868, Australia.
- Treason
- Betraying the monarch or the state, for example by plotting rebellion.
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Roughly how many crimes carried the death penalty in 1688?
- About 50
- About 5
- Over 200
- About 1,000
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Answer: About 50
The number rose from about 50 in 1688 to over 200 by 1800.
Which law of 1723 added many new capital crimes, such as poaching deer in disguise?
- The Gaols Act
- The Children Act
- The Metropolitan Police Act
- The Black Act
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Answer: The Black Act
It was aimed at poachers who blackened their faces.
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Checked by the GCSE-ready editorial team, 17 October 2026. Last updated 2 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.