QSR1843/3/5/20

Depositions and examination - William Henry Doynes

12 June 1843

From: 1843 To: 1843

Thomas Wilson of Biggleswade, coachmaker - he has employed Doyne as a coach trimmer for 4 or 5 months. About 3 months ago he bought a piece of cloth, about 23 yards, from Mr Ryland of Biggleswade for lining carriages. On the following day he gave it into Doyne's custody to use for repairing carriages. It lay on a shelf in the warehouse so that Doyne might take what he required from time to time. He took the piece of cloth home with him once or twice to keep it clean and brought it back when Doyne wanted it. On these occasions he did not measure the piece but rather suspected that more had been used that was right for the jobs that had been done. He did not mention it to Doyne or anyone at the time. About a month ago Blundell [sic] the superintendent of police met him on the Market Hill and asked if he had lost any cloth. He said he suspected he had but was not certain, and that he suspected a man he employed had taken some. He asked Blunden to come to his warehouse and he would give him a piece of the cloth, and wished him to go to Doyne's lodgings on the following Sunday and compare the piece with Doyne's trousers. That morning Mr Blundell brought him a pair of trousers which he compared with a slip cut off from the principal piece. The trousers corresponded with the slip and he believes them to have been made from his cloth. He has 7 men and boys besides Doyne in his employ. He does not live at the warehouse. It is locked up at night but not at dinner time - anyone can have access to it. It is on a back street where persons are constantly passing by. The cloth was kept on a board upstairs over the workshop. The value of the cloth is about 7s per yard. He believes he has lost about 6 or 7 yards. Edwin Blunden - about a month ago he had information that one of the men in the employ of Mr Wilson the coach-maker was in the habit of robbing him of pieces of cloth used for coach-trimming, and also of pieces of leather. He told Mr Wilson of it, who said he suspected one man. A few days afterwards he went again to Wilson's shop where Wilson gave him a piece of cloth. Wilson told him that the man lodged at the Shoulder of Mutton and if he went there on a Sunday he would most probably find him with trousers on corresponding to the cloth in his warehouse. Having other business to attend to he gave the pattern of cloth he had received from Wilson to Sharpe the policeman and desired him to go to the Shoulder of Mutton, to find Doyne and compare the trousers he had on with the patern without letting Doyne know what he was about. From what Sharpe told him that morning he desired Sharpe to take Doyne into custody. Sharpe brought Doyne to him. They went together to the Shoulder of Mutton and found the trousers now produced hanging on a nail in Doyne's bedroom. He brought the trousers away. Sharpe asked Doyne where he got the cloth for the trousers from. Doyne said he bought it from a man he did not know who came to the Shoulder of Mutton, and that the same man made them. He later showed the trousers to Luck the tailor and in consequence of what Luck told him he applied to Hardwick, Mr Fane's journeyman. James Hardwicke - about 6 or 7 weeks ago Doyne met him in the street and asked him if he could make him a pair of trousers. He told him he could. Doyne said he would bring the cloth the following Sunday morning. Doyne brought him about 1 yard and a 1/4 of cloth. He made the trousers with it. He found the buttons and the linings. He believes the trousers produced were those he made for Doyne. He had no doubt - a tailor can mostly tell his own work. George Sharpe - he is police constable for the district of Biggleswade. Last Saturday he received a piece of cloth from Mr Blundell who desired him to go to the Shouder of Mutton to see if Doyne was there and if so to tally the piece of cloth with his trousers. The following Sunday evening (yesterday) he went there, saw Doyne in the tap room, got into conversation with him and saw the cloth corresponded with his trousers. He reported to Mr Blundell. That morning he took Doyne into custody at Mr Wilson's workshop. He told him he was charged with taking some of Mr Wilson's close for his own use. Doyne replied "the cloth my trousers were made of I bought of a man I did not know". He asked Doyne who made the trousers. Doyne said it was another man he did not know who was stopping at the Shoulder of Mutton. He asked Doyne if he made them there - Doyne said he did, in the travellers room, and that he gave him half a crown and found the buttons and linings. He asked Doyne if either Mr or Mrs Plowman, the landlord and landlady, saw the man making them. Doyne said it was very likely they might have done. He did not mention anything about the trousers until Doyne himself did. Doyne did not observe him comparing them the evening before. He took Doyne to the Shoulder of Mutton. On the way he met Mr Blundell who accompanied them there. Doyne unlocked his bedroom and he found the trousers hanging on a nail. Doyne admitted they were his trousers. Doyne said he gave 6s 6d to the stranger for the cloth and 2s 6d for the making. He took Doyne to Mr Hamley's Doyne said "Mr Wilson cannot hurt me as nobody saw me take it - it is a bad thing to swear to". He had previously cautioned Doyne. Eliza Plowman, wife of William Plowman of Biggleswade - she lives at the Shoulder of Mutton Public House with her husband's grandfather. It is her business to wait on customers. William Henry Doyne lodges at their house. There is also a woman called Mary who lodges with them - she came about Christmas, before Doyne. About 2 months ago Doyne told her he was going to have a pair of trousers made by the young man that lived across the road. She asked him if he meant young Hardwicke. He said he did. About a fortnight later she saw him wearing a pair of drab trousers. She asked him no questions about them. She had no suspicion there was anything wrong about them. About 3 months ago there was a travelling tailor and his wife staying at their house for 2 or 3 days. During the time they were there they lived in the kitchen. She saw the man making up trousers from some stuff called she believes Cantoon - it was not cloth and was striped brown. She also saw him making a pair of fustian trousers. He remained in the kitchen all day. In the evening he went out to sell his goods and on his return went to bed. He could not have made any cloth trousers without her seeing him. Charles Sloper of Biggleswade - he is foreman to Mr Ryland of Biggleswade. It is his custom to take stock every Christmas. Last Christmas he remembers measuring a piece of coachmaker's cloth containing 20 1/2 yards. He put a ticket on it himself. A few days afterwards he entered the quantity in the stock book. Sometime during March he was in the woollen warehouse when Mr Wilson came for some articles. After he had served Wilson with what he came for Mr Ryland took down the piece of cloth in question and offered it to Mr Wilson, who agreed to buy the whole piece. He later saw the same piece in Mr Wilson's shop. The cloth is a particular sort used only for coach linings and not generally used for clothing. He has seen the trousers and believes them to be made from the cloth bought by Mr Wilson. Pieces of cloth of that description generally run from 25 to 30 yards. He remembers selling some of the same cloth to Wilson's father who lives at Clifton. He has no recollection of the quantity. He does not recollect any having been sold to any other person. He superintends the woollen department and cloth is very rarely sold without his knowledge. The ticket he put on the cloth when he measured it at Christmas was on it when it was bought by Wilson. William Henry Doyne - he bought the cloth which his trousers were made with from a man he does not know by name who was lodging at the Shoulder of Mutton. He was a travelling tailor. He had often seen him before. He often stops there. After he was taken into custody the officer said to him "honesty is the best policy". He said he didn't care - Mr Wilson could not touch him, he never took anything of his or of any other person. He does not wish to say anything more until the day of his trial.

item

Doynes, William Henry,
Wilson, Thomas,
Blunden, Edwin,
Hardwick, James,
Sharpe, George,
Plowman, Elizabeth,
Plowman, William,
Sloper, Charles,
Ryland

BIGGLESWADE, stealing, cloth, coachmaker, coach trimmer, tailor, Biggleswade Shoulder of Mutton