Hiatt Liverpool Borough Gaol Darby's

I received these cuffs in the mail this past week after a nightmare with eBay Global Shipping.


 I had to win them twice and get eBay to refund the difference, but they were worth the wait and the aggravation. 



They're the smallest Darby cuffs that I now own. I tried them on my wife's wrist, she has tiny wrists. I was just able to close them, but they were way too snug for her.
They're not too much bigger than my watch.



Here they are next to a normal-sized Darby. 

Size Zero then??  You see a lot marked 2 or 3. Never see one marked zero. Now I want to get a set of 0,1,2,3. I have a set of similar size but no markings. Congrats

So that 0 is a size mark? I didn't know that.
Inside the bow, it measures 1 & 1/2 inches between the clevis and lock tube.



And the bow measures 2 inches wide (from the inside).


This is how far I can close them on my wrist.

Size 0 is a new one on me as well. Very nice grab on this set! Anyone else out there have a size 0 darby in their collection? I cant say that I have ever seen one before?
-Richard Knip-

Size zero is a guess based on so many marked 2 or 3 which I believe is a size. We had a Post on here years ago showing the smallest sized darby, but I don't remember who 'won' or whether any were marked zero. Below is a little lock by Hiatt, like half a handcuff but too small. I suspect it was on a chain and locked a hasp or sliding bolt.

Seeing a clevis, I would have assumed that it was one side of a handcuff, but they would definitely be smaller than a size zero and would have to be some kind of lock as you described. It would be too small for any other use.

Would anyone be able to give me any insight as to a possible age of the cuff? It's really too small to be used even on a woman and must have been used solely for children. I can't imagine that Hiatt would even make a cuff that small today or for at least sometime before the start of the 20th century. They're probably the perfect size for the fictional Oliver Twist.

I think you are right on the money with the Oliver Twist reference. Child thieves were a a real problem. Imagine the half starved homeless kids on the street and docks of Liverpool. A lot of them would be Irish who had survived the potato famine. And don't forget that people were a lot smaller then. Malnourished people would be the height of a child and skinny.

I would date these to early to mid 1800s and my reasoning is this -
The shape of the cuff, where the top of the lock follows the arc of the bow is very nice and tapers to the end. The beautiful workmanship is typical of early cuffs when more pride was taken in the work. Compare it to my small lock in the pic above. Your hinge is tight fitting, the font is serifed not modern and the tapered, more rounded top of lock mentioned earlier are all signs of earlier cuffs. 
The gaol stamping is typical of parish name stampings which appear on cuffs prior to official police forces coming into existence. ie a town beadle carrying a lamp, truncheon and handcuff.

Thank you Paul. I did a little digging and found some information on the history of the Liverpool Borough Gaol that backs up your date range of the early to mid 1800's.

Liverpool’s first Gaol was the "Liverpool Tower". It was built sometime in the 15th century and lasted until the late 18th century. Construction of the “Liverpool Borough Gaol” was started in 1787. It was located at Great Howard Street, Liverpool L3 7Dw and was based on Newgate Prison in London. By 1793 with the goal not yet complete, it was being used to incarcerate French prisoners of war. It wasn't used for prisoners of the city until 1811. It closed in 1855 when the new Liverpool Borough Gaol at Walton (68 Hornby Rd, Liverpool L9 3DF, United Kingdom) was opened. It is still in operation today and is currently known as HMP Liverpool.

Below is a painting from 1856 of the Liverpool Borough Gaol on Great Howard Street painted by W.G. Herdman


And a sketch of the building from above.