The mainstay of the operations of the SRM

The first Justice of the Peace to use these methods to the full was Ralph Hartley of Middle***.Hartley was a very early and vigorous exponent of the use of the informers kept up their work, some doubtlessly for temporal rewards, others for spiritual.While the methods outlined would become the mainstay of the operations of the SRM,these tactics were used before the SRM began, and were found to be less than satisfactory.

The first Justice of the Peace to use these methods to the full was Ralph Hartley of Middle***. Hartley was a very early and vigorous exponent of the use of warrants to suppress vice and, in the summer of 1691, under the direction of Sir Richard Bulkeley, Hartley began to issue warrants against it.Unfortunately, the zeal with which the warrants were issued was greater than that used to investigate the cases brought by Hartley.