QSR1842/2/5/7/a

Depositions - William Colson charged with obtaining money under false pretences

31 March 1842

From: 1842 To: 1842

Susannah Skevington of St Mary Bedford, widow - she is a baker in the parish of St Mary. She has known William Colson for the last 12 months. He is a sawyer and worked for Mr George Dilley, carpenter, who is well known to her. She was in the habit nearly every week of giving Mr Dilley change for notes to pay his men. Sometimes he came himself and sometimes he sent one of his men. The previous Thursday 24 March he sent Colson and she changed a note for him. On Tuesday evening 29 March Colson came to her and asked her to change a £5 note for Mr Dilley. She said she did not think she could as she had been paying out all day, but looked and found she had enough change. Colson laid a paper she supposed to be a note on the dresser. She looked at it in a hurry and thought it was a Bank of England note. She asked Colson if it was a good one. He replied "yes - a very good one - the Bank of England". Believing it to be a good note sent by Mr Dilley she gave Colson 3 sovereigns, 3 half sovereigns and 10 shillings in silver. She put the supposed note in her purse which she put in her pocket. She did not take it out of her pocket until the next morning when she paid it to Mr Thomas Kingston the butcher. Less than an hour later Mr Kingston sent for her and returned the note as a bad one. She then saw that it was a flash note of the Bank of Elegance. She took the note to Paviour the constable who wrote his name on the note in her presence. Thomas Kingston of St Mary Bedford, butcher - the previous morning he received from Mrs Skevington a paper he supposed to be a £5 Bank of England note. He gave the change in a hurry without examining the note and believing it to be genuine. He put it in his till, locked the drawer and put the key in his pocket. About an hour afterwards he took the note out of the till, examined it, and discovered it was a flash note of the Bank of Elegance. No one but himself could have gone to the till and he had no other note there. He gave it to his son William Kingston to take it to Mr Barnard's Bank to be examined before returning it to Mrs Skevington. In a few minute his son returned with the note and he asked him to take it to Mrs Skevington. William Kingston of St Mary Bedford, butcher, aged 19 - yesterday morning his father gave him a flash note of the Bank of Elegance. He took it to Mr Barnard's Bank to be examined by the clerk. It was not out of his sight during the examination. The clerk returned it to him, he went back to his father and by his order delivered the note to Mrs Skevington. He is sure the note he delivered is the same one he received from his father. John Paviour, constable of Borough of Bedford - he received the paper now produced entitled "Bank of Elegance" from Mrs Susannah Skevington. He wrote his name on it at the time he received it and is sure it is the same. He apprehended Colson yesterday evening in the presence of Coombs the Chief Constable. Colson asked what was the matter. He said "did you get change for a five pound note?". Colson answered "what odds?". They went to Colson's lodgings where Coombs searched Colson in his presence and found on him 2 sovereigns, 3 half sovereigns, some silver and copper making he believes £4 9s 6d. Colson did not say in his hearing how he came by the money. William Coombs, chief constable of Borough of Bedford - he was present when the prisoner was apprehended. He later searched him and found a purse containing 2 sovereigns, 3 half sovereigns, 19 shillings and 6d in silver, and a few half pence from another pocket making £4 9s 10d. He asked Colson where he got the paper he gave to Mrs Skevington. Colson said that his little boy who works with him gave it to him the night before and told him he found it on the Ampthill Road. Colson said he had just changed one sovereign at Mr Bradley's and paid about 2s out of it. He said he had paid the other 10 shillings away. Colson acknowledged receiving the money from Mrs Skevington. George Dilley of St Mary Bedford, carpenter and builder - Colson had worked for him for nearly 12 months up to last Tuesday when he told Colson he had no work for him to do for a day or two. He had been in the habit of sending notes to Mrs Skevington to change to pay his men. Last Thursday he sent Colson to get change for him. He did not send him on Tuesday or any other occasion since last Thursday. Colson left his service between 11 and 12 o'clock on Tuesday,

item

Colson, William,
Skevington, Susannah,
Kingston, Thomas,
Kingston, William,
Paviour, John,
Coombs, William,
Dilley, George

false pretences, baker, sawyer, butcher, builder, carpenter, Barnard's Bank, bank notes, Bedford St.Mary, Bedford Ampthill Road