Bonfire Night

Last November our document of the month was a deposition from a case in which a gang of boys in Houghton Regis stole straw to put on a bonfire on November 5th. In a bit of timely cataloguing I just came across a similar case in which Charles Kitchener of Luton was accused of stealing faggots (bundles of wood) from Peter Wilson in Luton. Joseph Matthews was to guard his master's faggot stack at 11pm on November 5th. A few minutes later Kitchener and two friends arrived. The friends helped Kitchener to climb the stack, from which he threw down faggots which the other two gathered. When he came down Kitchener picked up a faggot himself, only to be apprehended by Matthews and taken to the Old English Gentleman public house where he was handed over to the police. Matthews stated that nearly one hundred faggots had been taken from the stack that night. Presumably once the excitement of Bonfire Night had settled Wilson was feeling in merciful mood as the case was not prosecuted and Kitchener was discharged.

Did Luton have enough Police Constables?

...............well not according to the petition raised by inhabitants of the town in 1855. A 71 strong petition, featuring the names of business owners, solicitors and the clergy of the town petitioned the Quarter Sessions for an increase in the number of Police Constable in Luton.   At the time the population of the town and parish of Luton had grown to 16,420 but was policed by just 2 Police Constables.

The petitions throws up some other interesting statistics and comments:

- on 31 December 1854 the parish and town population had increased to 16,420, with the town population of 14,000.

- the nature of the population requires more surveillance than an agricultural population.

- the length of the parish of Luton was almost 8 miles with the average breath of 3 to 4 miles and was almost 17,000 acres.

- the parish of Luton paid £309 for the Police Rate in 1854 and had 2 constable whilst other parishes in the Luton division paid £250 and had the advantage of 4 constables.

- the Police Rate suggests they ought have 5 constables, considering the inclusion of Caddington and the probable increase in low and disreputable characters during the construction of the railway.

- the population of the county in 1841 was 107,936 for which 43 constables were considered sufficient; the rate being 1 constable per 2,500 inhabitants. 

- the population of Luton now being 16,420 same rate would require 6 constables.

- inhabited houses in the Town of Luton in 1841 were only 1,139 and in December 1854 this was more than double at 2,512.

The Quarter Session minute book for this period suggests the request was successful and the Chief Constable was given the authority to appoint an additional 6 constables. The next year saw major changes in the how the policing of Bedfordshire was organised, with the introduction of revised Police Districts.  In fact it's interesting to note that it wasn't until this year that it became compulsory for a county to have its own Police Force.  Regardless of the changes, the issue raises its head again in later years, with the town still feeling it had insufficient Police Constables.  Confirming it as a timeless issue.  The image below shows, the impact of the railways is being felt.

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I have no doubt that soot is mine!

On many occasion we have come across policeman comparing footmarks, left at the scene of a crime, to the boots worn by the prisoners.   An early document of the month from the Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Record Service offered a good description.

However the detective work of the police frequently goes even beyond that.  For example, in the cases of stolen crops, samples are taken from the original source and compared with the stolen loot.  A factor such as the number of times the wheat is dressed becomes relevant.  Often in the case of crops, such as potatoes, a cultivator can recognise the goods stolen from him as he is the only grower of that variety in the area. Sometimes it hard to believe that a chimney sweep would recognise the soot stolen from him, but allegedly the quality and colour did vary!

Already this current session, Epiphany QSR1855, has given us another couple of examples.  John Green, the keeper of the White Hart at Hockcliffe, discovered 2 of his flock of sheep missing. In a near ditch he found blood, sheepskins, heads, entrails and feet.  Police Sergeant Clough took away the neck bones and feet of the sheep.  On discovering a number of bones in the house of James Stone, he was able to compare the cuts and break in the bones.  This proved that the bones found in the ditch were from the same animal as those found in Stone’s home. 

James Addison Taylor, a poulterer and game dealer lived in Park Street West, Luton and had several dozen larks hanging by his door.  They were tied in dozen by string through their beaks. When he went to take them in and found 4 larks and 6 heads left in one of the dozens and 2 were gone, heads and all.  There were 8 gone altogether.  When the stolen larks were located he took with him the heads left on the string.  He was able to compare them with the bodies found.  An added detail stated that one of the birds tongues was left in the body, drawn out of the head, and one of the heads left at the shop had no tongue in it.  It was gory stuff to read but was compelling evidence.

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Never underestimate a pensioner

The Quarter Session Rolls throw up criminals of all ages and the sheer gall of some is quite impressive.  Take Joseph Pugh....a man of 63 years and described as a carpenter.  Joseph appeared to be of no fixed abode and his crimes followed a similar pattern.  In fact the Epiphany Session of 1890 has him up before the Court on 3 very similar offences.

The first instance was on 15 October 1889, when he arrived at the house of Mrs Lucy Evans of Marston Moretaine asking to lodge with her until the beginning of April.  He promised to pay 3s a week and so she accepted him as her lodger.  As soon as he got into the house he asked her to write him a letter to the general manager of the North Western Railway, Mr Findlay.  Furthermore, he then asked her to lend him a penny for a stamp. The letter said:

“Will you please forward to the above address my month’s money as soon as you receive this letter as I have quite run out.  The amount is 10 shillings.”  

Lucy Evans signed Joseph Pugh at his request.

Pugh had a full sob story to tell Mrs Evans.  He told her that until recently he had been a patient in a London hospital.  He told her he was in receipt of a pension of 14 shillings a week for as long as he lived from the railway but that he had lost half a sovereign the Friday before and it had made him rather short of money.  Having had such terrible luck, he asked her to fund his food until his money came and then, in return, he would pay her 12 shillings a week.  Pushing his luck even further, Pugh also asked her to lend him some money to go to Millbrook station so he could collect his clothes, which he said were coming to Millbrook
by train.  She lent him a shilling and sixpence for the purpose.  On 18 October he left the house to go to the station and saying he wouldn't be long.  He never went back.  He left owing 5 shillings for board and lodging and took with him the shilling and sixpence she had lent him.

Joseph Pugh goes on to commit similar offences and tell similar stories in Wootton and Ampthill. Pugh's written plea must have evoked sympathy for the ageing ailing man. (see the photo attached)  The courts sentence him to just 7 days in the House of Correction. 

Unsurprisingly, an old dog doesn’t learn new tricks and Mr Pugh pops up again in the next quarter.  This time in Sharnbrook where he convinces his landlady he had been advised by his doctor to take in the country air!  He didn’t quite gain so much sympathy from the Justices this time, as he was sentenced to a calendar months hard labour.  

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Inside Midsummer 1854

Having completed entering the quarter session rolls for the 1880's I've now hopped back to completing the 1850s.  These years feature many more cases than the later years, and in turn take longer to catalogue.

This week I have been cataloguing the 1854 Q4 but I thought it was be a good idea to give you all a feel of a typical quarter.

Here's some statistics based in the Midsummer Session of 1854.

• Number of defendants - 33.  30 men & 3 women
• Number of cases (some defendants appear on more than one charge, others are jointly accused) - 29
• Age range of defendants - youngest is 14, the eldest 58. 14 defendants were under 20 years.
• Number found guilty - 25 of 33
• Range of Sentence - from 4 years penal servitude to 14 days imprisonment
• Types of crime - mostly theft including 7 cases of stolen fowls.  Other thefts range from a stolen wooden washing tray to a silver watch guard, and from theft of a hymn book to a faggot of wood worth a half penny. We also have the killing of a sheep, a case of embezzlement, obtaining a shawl by false pretences and a sexual assault.
• Occupations of the defendants - being Bedfordshire it is unsurprising many were agricultural labourers (18 in fact).  We also have lacemakers, bricklayers, shoemakers, a basketmaker,  a commercial traveller, those in the plait trade, a butcher, a baker (not candlestick maker I'm afraid) and interestingly a Private Soldier in the Coldstream Guards.

We do see some seasonal themes, with the theft of food being prevalent in the Michaelmas quarter and the same family names crop up quarter after quarter ( in fact the same defendants crop up quarter after quarter). Obviously each quarter brings with it something different although we rarely have a quarter where we don't have at least one stolen fowl!  It all adds to the fascination of the Quarter Sessions Rolls.  

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"I'll be damned if I have not shot your daughter”

We don’t often come across gun crime in the Quarter Sessions so the shooting of 16 year old Emma Hills of Beeston instantly caught our attention.

Emma Hills retold how she had been going home along with her friend Emma Ilsley when they were overtaken by Edmund Huckle and William Jeeves on Beeston Green.  Huckle was carrying a gun which he had acquired from his master.  She asked if his gun was loaded and he said no.  He asked her to walk by his side and she said she would not and ran forward.  She heard the gun almost immediately.  As soon as the gun went off she felt as if she was on fire about her neck and she fell down.  Huckle picked her up and carried her home.  When Emma made no response to her mother’s questions, Huckle said “Mrs Hills I’ll be damned if I have not shot your daughter”.  She replied “you haven’t have you?” and he said that he had.  When the blood was removed, Mrs Hills saw that her daughter had been shot on the left side of the face and down her neck and shoulders. 

Fortunately the doctors, Emma’s family and Emma herself declared the incident to have been an accident and the wounds appeared relatively minor.  Edmund Huckle was found not guilty of the unlawful, malicious and felonious shooting of Emma Hill and went back to his wife Sarah and his rapidly expanding family.

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from Bicycles to Tricycles

Maybe unsurprisingly we’ve come across yet more Bedfordshire bicycle, or in this instance, tricycle crime.  This time in the Epiphany session of 1889.

Luton Detective William Chamberlain was perusing the Police Gazette one evening when he read details of Jacob Josh wanted in Kings Lynn for the theft of a piano.  The same man was also wanted in Huddersfield, Rugby, Portsmouth and other places for stealing tricycles.  Chamberlain went round to warn the local cycle agents and ascertained that the prisoner had visited 2 other cycle agents before being allowed to borrow a tricycle from Albert Trott, a jeweller and cycle agent of Waller Street Luton. 

Chamberlain hired a horse and trap and went to St Albans with Trott where they came across the tricycle in the yard of The Cock public house.  They watched the prisoner go into the bar and Chamberlain followed and entered into a discussion with Trott about purchasing the machine for £2.  An arrest was made, although the prisoner became violent and said he refused to be taken to prison alive.  Interesting he confessed to the crime at this stage, although later pleaded not guilty to the charge.  He was tried at the General Quarter Session of the Peace at Wakefield, West Riding, York and sentenced to 6 months hard labour.

Another interesting element to the case was that Josh was described in the Calendar of Prisoners (QSR1889/1/3/1) as an Engine Driver.  In fact the 1881 census described him, at just 16 years, as an Engine Driver.  However, records available via Ancetsry.co.uk suggest although he did once work for the railways, it was for a period of 2 months as a labourer.  It would be fascinating to know if he did have a further career as a driver; it would certainly explain his travelling tricycle crimes.  However in the October of 1890 Jacob Josh is again convicted of larceny, this time in Warwick.  He was considered insane and confined to the County Lunatic Asylum.  So possibly his interest in tricycles and trains were all part of his psychosis.

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