QSR1844/3/5/8

Depositions and examination - William Henry Hill charged with embezzling money from his master John Pitts

11 May 1844

From: 1844 To: 1844

John Pitts of Clifton, timber merchant – on March 1843 he was told he was chosen and appointed overseer of the parish. Being quite unable to perform the duties of the office himself he engaged Hill to act for him in the collection fo the rates and to perform all the other duties of the office. He agreed to give Hill £5 p.a. for his trouble. In March 1844 Hill applied to him for payment of a poor rate for the premises in his own occupation. He gave Hill 18s 9d. On 27 March he was informed that Hill had absconded. [Deleted section: “There was to be a parish meeting held on that day for examining the overseers accounts and the prisoner ought to have attended such meeting but did not”] He sent to Hill’s house to enquire for him but did not go himself until 3 weeks later as he was satisfied by the report that he had absconded. When he did go, Hill’s wife informed him her husband had gone away and she had heard nothing from him. Hill has never accounted to him for any of the money he received on account of the parish, nor paid to him any of the money he so received. John Arch of Clifton, farmer – he has known Hill for some years. Hearing that Hill was acting for Mr Pitts in collecting the poor rates he paid Hill £7 10s 1½d. He is the High Constable for the Hundred of Clifton. On 17 March Hill came to him to pay him a County rate amounting to £14. At that time he owed a poor rate of £7 10s 1½d besides £2 4s 2d for his men’s cottages which he sometimes pay. Accordingly Hill paid him £6 7s 6d and gave him receipts for the above mentioned rates, making up the amount of the County rate. George Field of Clifton, farmer – he has known Hill for some years. He paid him a poor rate £5 14s 6d for which Hill gave him a receipt. He also paid £5 9s 3d being the rate assessed on other property in the parish in the occupation of [Jack?] Green for whom he has paid all rates and taxes during the last year or two. Hill told him at the Vestry meeting at which Mr Pitts was appointed overseer that he [Hill] was to act for him as his assistant in collecting the rates. Samuel Neal of Clifton, farmer – he has known Hill for 3 or 4 years. On 25 January he paid £5 13s as the poor rate for his farm and 3s 9d for three cottages for which he usually pays. He was aware Hill was acting for Mr Pitts the overseer. James Rowley of Clifton – he is a rated inhabitant of that parish. In February Hill demanded payment of the poor rate for the premises he occupies and his wife paid 18s in his presence. Hill gave her a receipt for it. Elizabeth Sharpe, wife of James Sharpe of Clifton, labourer – they occupy part of a house called the Poor’s house and pay rent for it to the Overseers of the parish. They pay £4 p.a. for the part they occupy. On 8 March they paid the £4 which became due last Michaelmas to Hill who gave her a receipt for it. Her sister Hannah Roberts was present and saw her pay the money. George Henry Cooper of Shefford, draper – he carries on business in partnership with William Arch. The parish officers of Clifton are indebted to their firm for £200 they lent to that parish. He usually receives the interest in a single payment of £10 p.a. from the overseer. One year’s interest was due in March last and is generally paid within a few days after it is due. Hill did not pay the interest due that year. He received it from Mr Pitts on 18 April. Gilbert Woollard – on March 1843 he attended vestry for the parish of Clifton at which John Pitts was nominated as overseer of the poor for the next year. On 31 March he attended the Petty Sessions at Biggleswade at which Pitts was appointed overseer by the magistrates. He took the appointment back to Clifton and laid it down in Pitt’s house. Hills was present and took away the appointment with the books. Pitts undertook the office and filled it all the year. He was in the habit of seeing Hill most days and 4 days or thereabouts before the meeting of the parish last Lady Day to choose new overseers Hill left the parish. Mary Roberts, widow – she lives in a house in the parish of Clifton belonging to the parish and pays rent to the Overseers. Sometime after Christmas Hill came to her house and she paid him £5 10s towards the £8 she and her son were to pay between them. She later paid him another £1 and he gave her receipts for both amounts. Just before Easter she paid him 13 shillings and some odd pence for a poor rate. William Thomas Chapman, auditor of the Union of Biggleswade in which the parish of Clifton is situated – William Henry Hill attended him at several audits as deputy for Pitts who was Overseer of the Poor for Clifton for the year ending at Lady Day 1844. The book he now produces contains a statement of the accounts which Hill rendered at the Midsummer, Michaelmas and Christmas audits for 1843. Hill did not pass any account at the audit at Lady Day 1844. He understood that Hill had absconded and that account was passed by Pitts himself, but it appears by 2 receipts found with Hill's papers that Hill had paid Mr Arch £14 for a County Rate and Mrs Barker £12 10s for some money due to her from the parish. William Henry Hills – “I would rather decline to say anything at present”.

item

Hill, William Henry,
Pitts, John,
Arch, John,
Field, George,
Green, Jack,
Neal, Samuel,
Rowley, James,
Sharpe, Elizabeth,
Sharpe, James,
Roberts, Hannah,
Cooper, George Henry,
Arch, William,
Roberts, Mary,
Chapman, William Thomas,
Woollard, Gilbert

CLIFTON, SHEFFORD, BIGGLESWADE, embezzlement, Overseers, assistant Overseer, Poor Rate, collector of rates, parish rates, Poor Law Unions, auditor, draper, clerk, High Constable