QSR1844/2/5/10

Depositions and examination - Joseph Bumstead charged with stealing one calico shirt (value 1s 6d) from the Guardians of the Poor of Ampthill Union on 25 March 1844

28 March 1844

From: 1844 To: 1844

Thomas Dawson of Ampthill – he is the Master of the Ampthill Workhouse. On Monday 18 March Bumstead was an inmate of the workhouse. He missed him at 6pm. The next morning William Spring came to him and inquired if he had lost anything from the House and said his wife had bought 2 shirts from a man named Bumstead. At the time he absconded Bumstead was wearing one of the Union’s shirts. He would not at that time have been legally in possession of a second shirt. The next night Bumstead came back to the House. The two shirts now produced are the property of the Guardians with the Union mark on. They are new shirts made within the last fortnight. He is sure Bumstead could not have been properly in possession of a 2nd shirt. He supposed it had been taken out of the able bodied men’s ward. He did not find any other inmate without a shirt. Mary Spring – she is the wife of William Spring of Ridgmont, sawyer. Bumstead came to their house on Monday evening and asked her to buy 2 shirts. She refused. Bumstead went away then returned and showed her the two shirts. He said he was an old soldier with nothing to eat and it was hard to be in the streets. He begged her to buy the shirts for 1s 6d. She noticed the marks and he said they were the marks of his name. As he said he was a soldier she thought he was speaking the truth about that. She gave him 1s 6d for the shirts. She washed them on the Tuesday – they were both very dirty. Bumstead had a shirt collar on when he sold them to her – she looked particularly. Robert Turle, superintendent of police at Woburn – on Tuesday morning William Spring came to him and told him his wife had bought some shirts from a man who he suspected of stealing them and who he supposed was at Woburn. He went in search but did not find the man. He later went to Spring’s house and received the 2 shirts produced. Joseph Bumstead – both shirts were served out to him, one by the servant Sally Upton and one by John Page, a boy in the school. He put them both on.

item

Bumstead, Joseph,
Dawson, Thomas,
Spring, Mary,
Turle, Robert,
Spring, William,
Upton, Sally,
Page, John

AMPTHILL, RIDGMONT, WOBURN, stealing, shirts, absconding, Poor Law Unions, workhouses, Poor Law Union Workhouses, Master of the workhouse, sawyer, police constable, servant