Elizabeth Bennet, shirt stealer? (1796)

Tags

Clothes, Court records, Elizabeth Bennet, Old Bailey, Tenuous Austen Connection, Theft, Women

…. Not the Elizabeth Bennet I know! Good Lord.

- Detail from ‘Arrest of a Woman at Night by Thomas Rowlandson (1800)

“Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 13th January 1796.

ELIZABETH BENNET was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 23d of October , three linen shirts, value 20s. a china plate, value 2s. and a brass skimmer, value 12d. the property of Nicholas Roberts .

NICHOLAS ROBERTS sworn.

I live in the Curtain-road : On the 20th of December last, I missed a pair of nankeen breeches, from off my drewers; the prisoner, I understand, came to assist my servant; upon missing this, it led me to a suspicion; and I examined my linen, and missed three shirts; the numbers of that class of shirts, if I may so say, ran from one to nine; I found all the intermediate numbers, except 1, 3, and 9, which were missing; search was made in the house, but to no purpose; they were not to be found; the servant had suspicion of this woman; she went out, and found her; some of the shirts were found at the pawnbrokers.

SARAH HARDY sworn.

I am servant to Mr. Roberts: the prisoner acted as charewoman in the house; I knew nothing of these things being gone, till my master missed the breeches; the next day my master missed some shirts; I went to the prisoner, and found her; she denied knowing any thing about it; I took her to the pawnbroker’s, and found one of the shirts; then she owned to it, and told us where she had sold the other two shirts.

JAMES BROOKS sworn.

I am servant to Mr. Francis, pawnbroker, Shoreditch, (produces a shirt); I took in this shirt of the prisoner, on the 23d of October.

John Stockman and Thomas Davies were called, but not appearing, their recognizances were ordered to be estreated.

Mr. Roberts. I am certain this is my shirt.

Prisoner’s defence. It was a case of necessity.(The Prosecutor and Jury recommended her to mercy, believing it to be her first offence).

GUILTY .

Privately whipped and discharged.

Tried by the first Middlesex Jury, before Mr. COMMON SERGEANT.”

For the original trial record, see the Old Bailey Online.

A pickpocket with a conscience..?

Tags

Advertisements, Masquerade, Pickpockets, Property, Public Notices, Theft

A desperate appeal for a laptop thief to return the stolen property to its owner recently appeared at a bus stop on my road. ‘HELP A BROTHER OUT’ the sign screamed in tear-smudged ink, evidently written by a forlorn student whose entire degree was probably being wiped from the hard drive as he made his plea. The thief was offered £300 to bring it back, ‘no questions asked’.

In a testament to the fact that nothing really changes, this week I came across the following advert, placed in a newspaper in the late eighteenth century:

A MISTAKE.– Whereas a Gentleman, at the Pantheon Masquerade, last Thursday evening, put his hand into another’s pocket, and took out a small Pocket-book, with a Goldsmith’s Almanack, and put it into his own in the bustle: As there are some memorandums in it which will be of service to the owner, he requests the Gentleman send his servant with it, according to the address in the book, and he shall receive Five Shillings reward for his trouble.

I wonder whether either of these public notices were rewarded?

I doubt it, somehow.

The Pie-Loving Prostitutes of Dover Street, 1819

Tags

London, Murder, Newspapers, Pies, Prints, Prostitutes, Salesmen, Theft

MURDER.

About three o’clock yesterday afternoon a poor man who used to sell hot pies, &c, went into one of the infamous brothels in Dover-Street, to offer his pies for sale, when he was immediately surrounded by the wretches who inhabited it, his pies were soon picked up and devoured by them, they then hooted and laughed at him, setting him at defiance, and refusing to pay for his pies. They then struck him unmercifully with quart pots, a poker, &c, until he was quite senseless and left for dead, of which they only made sport for some time; but at length not recovering, the case became publicly known, and the poor man was carried home to his house, 14, Tower Street, facing Bethlem, but expired in a few minutes: a surgeon was sent for but could render no assistance. One woman, who is charged with the mortal blow, was secured and lodged in the watch-house.

- The Hereford Journal, 1st September 1819

Bet they weren’t quite as fancy as Conrad Hagger’s pies of a hundred years earlier:

Georgian Oxford’s Politest Highway Robbery, 1765

Tags

Crime, Highwaymen, Newspapers, Oxford, Post-boys, Robbery, Theft

I feel sorry for the Oxford post-boy. Highwaymen seem to have thought him a great target. Of course, sometimes they were after whatever money they could get, on other occasions they simply fancied a quick rifle through the mail bags. This pair of robbers, though, seem quite affable – even promising to return his money at a later date. Ah, bless. Even our criminals are a mild-mannered bunch.

Last Sunday Night the Post-Boy, carrying the Oxford Mail upwards, was stopped on this Side West-Wycombe, by two Men on foot, who robbed him of ten Shillings, which was all the Money had had, but never attempted to take the Mail; and at parting they bid him remember it was the 17th of February, for on that Day Twelvemonth they would meet him again, and return the Money.

- Oxford Journal, Saturday 23 February 1765