QSR1837/4/5/6

Depositions and examination - Fanny Chapman and Mary Garratt, charged wtih stealing wood work attached to a building of John Lavender

12 August 1837

From: 1837 To: 1837

Henry Ellis of Bromham, labourer – he is in the service of Mr John Lavender. Last Wednesday (9 August) he and 6 others were turning clover ins South Field in the parish of Biddenham. At about 10am he saw Fanny Chapman and Mary Garratt coming across the field, each carrying a bundle of wood. He got over the hedge, went to them and told them to lay the wood down. They did so and went away. He went to his work. The bundles were spits and [hooks?] which came off a rick such as they use to thatch with in harvest, and pieces of board and hard wood. He did not see where they got the wood from. He told them master would be sure to put them to Gaol. John Lavender of Biddenham, farmer – on Wednesday he went into the South Field to look at the 2 bundles of wood about which he had been told. They were lying on the ground. Henry Ellis was at work about 12 poles off. He examined the bundles which consisted of thatching wood, hurdle slates, and pieces of board and hard wood. They appeared to be fresh broken. He took some pieces from each bundle and went to his farm yard where he found the other part of a good hurdle that was broken. He patterned the pieces taken from the bundle with the broken hurdle and they corresponded. He also patterned several pieces of board which he brought from the bundles with the sides of a hovel in his yard and they exactly corresponded. He is sure the pieces were part of his building. The thatching wood in the bundles was the same as his thatching wood that was laid up in the same building. Henry Ellis [further deposition] – on Wednesday afternoon he saw his master examine the bundles of wood and saw him take part of them away under his arm. He was at work there all day long. The bundles could not have been changed without his knowledge. Fanny Chapman – “I am very sorry for what I have done and will never do the like again”. Mary Garratt – says nothing.

item

Chapman, Fanny,
Garratt, Mary,
Lavender, John,
Ellis, Henry

BIDDENHAM, BROMHAM, stealing, wood, buildings, farmers, clover, farm labourer