QSR1842/3/5/32-33

Depositions and examinations - Sarah Brooks and Mary Ann Pedley charged with stealing a sovereign

23 May 1842

From: 1842 To: 1842

George Hine of Knotting, farmer - on Wednesday 11th May he missed a sovereign out of his purse which he had left in a desk in his sitting room where Sarah Brooks had been, she having free access to the room in the course of her duties as his servant. He had reason to suspect she had stolen it. He ascertained that the sovereign had been changed by a man that travels with shoes from Wollaston on the 14th May. Sarah Brooks and Mary Ann Pedley were both present when the sovereign was changed. As soon as he had satisfied himself of the robbery he sent for the superintendent of police who came and questioned the girls and searched their boxes in his presence. William George Whitmarsh - at the request of Mr Hine he attended at his house at Knotting on 23 May to make enquiries concerning the money. He examined Sarah Brooks first. He asked if she knew anything about some money Mr Hine had lost. She said she did not. He asked her what money was paid for some shoes, and she said Mary Pedley had bought some shoes for 5s 6d with half a sovereign. She was certain of this because she received 4s 6d in change. He then examined Mary Ann Pedley and asked her what money she had paid for the shoes she had bought. She said that Sarah Brooks had paid for them with a sovereign, that they came to 4s 6d and that she received 5s 6d in change. He searched their boxes and in the box of Mary Ann Pedley he found 2 half crowns and sixpence, and in Sarah Brooks' box he found 2 half crowns, and in a mortar which stood on the mantlepiece in the kitchen he found 2 half crowns and one shilling. When he was upstairs searching the boxes Mary Ann Pedley told him that Sarah Brooks found the sovereign close to the privy. George Hine [further examination] - on charging Sarah Brooks with stealing the sovereign she admitted having taken it, and Mary Ann Pedley admitted that she paid for the shoes out of the sovereign that Sarah Brooks took. Sarah Brooks and Mary Ann Pedley - they do not wish to say anything.

item

Brooks, Sarah,
Pedley, Mary Ann,
Whitmarsh, William George,
Hine, George

KNOTTING, Wollaston, stealing, money, shoes