QSR1853/3/5/26

Depositions of Daniel Sear, labourer of Steppingley, Henry Jenkins, labourer of Woburn Sands, Joseph Warner, labourer of Steppingley and Thomas Bowles, police constable of Lidlington. In the case of John Crawley accused of stealing part of a harness called a Breeching.

6 June 1853

From: 1853 To: 1853

Henry Jenkins: employed by Rev Hely Hutchinson Smith who lived at Woburn Sand, having previously resided at Steppingley. On 25 May he borrowed a breeching from the servant of Rev William Charles Cavendish Bentinck at Ridgmont, for is masters use. he sent a man to return it to Rev Bentinck and the man subsequently told him had had forgotten and left it with his brother Daniel Sear at Steppingley, in the house his master was moving from. Daniel Sear: on 25 May he received the breeching from his brother, who said it was the Rev Bentinck's and he was to forward it as soon as he could. Sear lived in the brewhouse at the Rectory. It remained in the same place until 1 June when there was a sale of the Rev Greene's property (decreased). He saw the prisoner at the sale and the day after the sale he missed the breeching. Joseph Warren told him he had seen the prisoner taken the breeching off a nail in the brewhouse. The prisoner purchased several lots at the sale and there was one old set of harnesses. A breeching was not put up for sale. Sear had been assisting the auctioneer. Joseph Warner: had been assisting at the sale of the late Rev Greene's. He saw the prisoner, who he knew well; take a breeching off a nail in the brewhouse in the rectory. He said nothing to him as he thought he must have a right to it. When Sear asked about it, he told him what he had seen. Thomas Bowles: a police constable stationed at Lidlington. From information received at the sale of the late Rev Green, he went to Hockcliffe and took the prisoner into custody. He asked the prisoner if he knew anything of a breeching and he said he did and that he would fetch it. The prisoner said he had thought it was his own and he had picked it up from the ground in the brewhouse at Steppingley. When he went to the prisoner cart it was loaded.Statement of the accused: made his living from attending sales and went to Rev Greene's sale where he purchased several lots. He bought lot 235, which was a lot of sundries and was more than in the catalogue and nothing was specified. After the sale was over, he saw the breeching lying in the brewhouse doorway and asked some men to whom it belonged. They said they did not know but it was probably part of his sundry lot. He picked it up and hung it over a chair in the brewhouse and said he would leave it to see if anyone claimed it. He waited about half an hour. He waited a further hour with the breeching to pay. Outside he threw the breeching down by some drawers he had bought and went to pay for his goods. After paying he asked Sear to give him his lots but he referred him to Bowles. Bowles may have seen the breeching in the cart as might anyone else.

item

Crawley, John,
Sear, Daniel,
Jenkins, Henry,
Warner, Joseph,
Bowles, Thomas,
Smith, Hely Hutchinson Augustus,
Bentinck, William

stealing, STEPPINGLEY, WOBURN SANDS, Hockcliffe, RIDGMONT, rectories, LIDLINGTON, harness, specific auction sales