QSR1851/1/5/15-17/a

Depositions of: Charles Huckle, labourer, William Wilson, labourer, Robert Wilson, labourer, Charles Yeo, police constable and Walter Robarts, butcher, all of Biggleswade. In the case of Thomas Presland, Henry Bygrave & James Jaques, accused of stealing 8 bushels of potatoes.

11 November 1850

From: 1850 To: 1851

William Wilson: he occupied half an acre of land in Biggleswade, and upon that land had a pit of potatoes. On the morning of 9 November he found the pit had been disturbed and potatoes taken. About 8 o'clock that evening, he went and watched the pit until it was light, The following morning he returned again, and found more potatoes gone. He assumed they must have been taken before he began watching on the Saturday night. About 8 bushels of potatoes were taken and nobody, with the exception of his brother, grew that variety of potato in the parish. On Sunday morning he went with Constable Yeo to Mrs Huckle and she produced 5 or 6 bushels of potatoes he identified to be his. Robert Wilson: brother of Robert Wilson. About quarter to eight on the 9 November, he was going down Langford Lane and saw the 3 accused in Mr Charles Huckle's house. They had a wheelbarrow full of potatoes standing by the door, which they were offering to her. On examining those potatoes produced by the prisoner, he knew them to be his brothers. Ann Huckle: the accused came to her house on the Saturday night and she bought 5 bushels and 3 pecks of potatoes from them. She asked where the potatoes were from and she was told 5 bushels were from Walter Robarts land and 3 pecks from Samuel the Pattern worker's land. Charels Yeo: he apprehended Bygrave on the Sunday morning and he told him he had not sold any to anybody. When Yeo told him he had hear her had sold some t to Mrs Huckle, he said they were his fathers. He went to Mrs Huckle and she produced 5 or 6 bushels of potatoes. The prosecutor identified them as his property. The potatoes match those remaining in Wilson's pit. Yeo then detained Presland and Jaques. They told Yeo they had sold potatoes to Mrs Huckle that they had 'forked up'. Walter Robarts: a butcher of Biggleswade. He confirmed the potatoes were not the ones he had grown this year as his variety were shorter and brighter.

item

Presland, Thomas,
Bygrave, Henry,
Jaques, James,
Huckle, Charles,
Wilson, William,
Wilson, Robert,
Yeo, Charles,
Robarts, Walter,
Huckle, Ann

stealing, potatoes, BIGGLESWADE