WHEN 14-year-old Frank Morris stole an egg in 1908, he probably didn’t expect four years’ detainment in Glamorgan.

But Morris was also making history, as the first defendant to be tried at juvenile court in Herefordshire.

The Juvenile Court in Herefordshire reached a milestone last month when it marked 100 years of justice.

But while punishments have changed – workhouse orders and whipping were common – some routines have barely altered.

Adults, women and juveniles were previously tried in the same court before the Children Act was introduced in 1908.

The act proclaimed that juveniles should be treated differently from adults, with the aim being to reform, rather than punish.

Records show that Morris, a serial offender of no fixed abode, appeared in a separate Hereford court on March 5.

It’s the first known case of its kind, while further changes arrived in 1931 when a youth panel of eight magistrates was formed.

Nowadays the number is around 40 and is chaired by Chris Hillyard, a magistrate of 25 years.

“Creating the juvenile court was not something that made the newsreel, but it was a remarkable event,” said Mr Hillyard.

“It wasn’t good for young felons to be mixing with hardened criminals, so it’s to the government’s credit they did something.”

Hereford sessions began in the Guildhall on Widemarsh Street and moved to Gaol Street around the time of the Second World War.

Press reports are limited, but you get the impression that sessions were little restricted, and sometimes jovial.

“There is this assumption that in the olden days, if you stole a turnip they would send you to Australia,” said Mr Hillyard.

“But the records make reassuring reading. There’s supervision orders from the probation office, each felon had to pay costs of 5/6d, and the costs usually exceeded compensation.

There was plenty of leniency.”

Examples include May 7, 1908, at the Guildhall, where three boys, aged 11 to 15, appeared for “feloniously” stealing bones. The parents agreed to their whipping, but a £1 collection order was imposed instead.

Another four juveniles, aged 12 to 16, appeared on April 24 for damaging a rick of hay. The quartet received a sixmonth probation order, were told to pay costs of 5/6d and 2/6d compensation, and were urged to lead an “industrious and honest life”.

The court made national headlines in 1943 when two boys were ordered to be birched and placed under care. The punishment took place before the appeal, while the matter went to a public inquiry following complaints about the session and evidence.

The court, having moved to Bath Street in 2001, deals with around 380 cases every year.

“It’s a very small minority that exercises the minds of the court,” said Mr Hillyard.

“As a judicial system, the juvenile court works very well – but we’ve come a long way in the last 100 years.”