Reference
QSR1820/268
Title
Information of Susannah Atwood, wife of James Atwood of Dunstable.
Date free text
27 November 1820
Production date
From: 1820 To: 1820
Scope and Content
"James Whitbread has slept in her house for about three weeks - that he was very dirty in his person and had only one rag of a shirt - His mother made him another shirt of calico out of an old sleeping jacket - that about a fortnight ago she observed that he had on a particular good shirt - and asked him to take it off and let her look at it - she examined it & found it a very good Irish shirt - The frill was torn off and a round hole appeared to be cut in the front flap, where she supposed it had been marked - supposing he had not come honestly by it, she spoke to him about it and after some hesitation he said that Richard Maddox had given it him - she was not satisfied with this account, & hearing a day or two afterwards that some shirts and other things belonging to Mr Dear had been stolen from a field, where they were hung to dry, she again spoke to James Whitbread about it, who repeated that Richard Maddox had given it him and when asked over & over again whether he did not know that Maddox had taken it from Mr Scott's field, where Mr Dear's things were hung to dry - he continued crying & repeating that Maddox had given it to him - She then told him that the shirt should not stop at her house - and he took it away - She observed the shirt was rounded at the collar & double stitched, It was in very good repair.
Upon one of Mr Dear's shirts being shewn her she was of opinion that it was cloth of the same quality & made by the same person."
Reference
Level of description
item