QSR1845/1/5/15-16

Depositions and examinations - William French and Charles Stanford charged wtih stealing one silver watch and one steel chain, one canvas purse and 2 shillings from the person of Joseph Taylor at Ampthill on 28 November 1944

13 December 1844

From: 1844 To: 1845

Joseph Taylor of Houghton Conquest, labourer – he is a Chelsea Pensioner. He attended at Ampthill on 28 November to be inspected. After it was over he remained at the Kings Arms Inn in Ampthill drinking until 9pm or after. He was quite fresh. Mrs Whitbread the landlady had refused to let him have any more beer. He thinks after that some persons asked him to drink with them. He does not know if the 2 prisoners were there or not – there was a room full of people. When he left the Kings Arms he went to the Rose and Crown and had one more pint of beer. He looked at his watch at 9.30pm. He set of home alone. He did not notice anybody until he was about ¼ mile from the end of the town. He thought he heard a rustle. He turned and was thrown down by one or more persons. He thinks he was tripped up by one man. A man then lay across his chest and he felt someone’s hands at his pocket. It could not have been the same man who was lying across him. It was a very dark night and in a very dark place. He did not call out. He said “don’t hurt me and rob me and all”. The persons did not speak. His watch was taken. It was a silver cased watch he had bought at Handscomb’s at Ampthill, numbered 1645. He can’t read or write but he knows figures. He remembers the number as he was in the 16th Regiment and they were with the 45th in India and when he bought the watch he knew the numbers were those of the two regiments. There was also a crack on the figure 9 on the face fo the watch, and the glass had a little chip. His purse was taken out of his left hand breeches pocket, with 2s or more in it. It was a yellow canvas purse. As soon as the man stopped picking his pocket the other got off his chest and they went away. He saw a glimpse of one but could not distinguish him. They went through a gate towards Maulden. He went back into Ampthill and gave information to Mr George of Houghton, who went back with him to the Kings Arms. The watch produced is his. Caroline Whitbread, wife of George Whitbread of Ampthill, victualler – they keep the Kings Arms in Ampthill. He knows the prisoners who often come together to their house. She remembers the day the Chelsea Pensioners were inspected at Ampthill. Taylor came to their house and was there the whole day. The inspection took place at their house. She saw he was intoxicated and refused to let him have any more beer and tried to persuade him to go home. She noticed the prisoners in the tap room a little before Taylor left. About 8.30 she again spoke to Taylor about going home and thinks that only French was in the room with him. French gave Taylor beer from his own jug. Stanford came in and she left the room leaving the three together. She does not know when Taylor left. Half an hour later they were all gone. Taylor came back half an hour or more later with Mr George and another and said he had been robbed. The prisoners have been together at the house twice since then. They were constantly together before. She has seldom seen one without the other. She believes they both live at Maulden Daniel Hazard police constable stationed at Shillington – he has been watching the two prisoners since the robbery on the instructions of his superintendent Mr Bates. On 12 December he followed them to the Green Man public hosue at Clophill. He told them he intended to search them for a watch that had been lost. He did not find anything on Stanford in particular – a canvas purse and 1s 6d (the purse is the same as the one Taylor says was taken from him). He found the watch and chain in French’s trousers pocket He handed them to Mr Bates and took the prisoners into custody. He had seen them together beford. He determined on searching them that morning because he saw them go into the public house where wagons sometimes stop and his orders were to be on the watch on the wagon day to London. As they were going to Ampthill some friends of Stanford asked him what he was in custody for. Stanford said “for catching an old hare”. Mr Bates had told them what they were charged with before they left the Green Man. George Farmer of Ampthill, victualler – he keeps the Rose and Crown and knows Taylor. He remembers Taylor coming to his house a little the worse for liquor, but he seemed to know very well what he was about. Taylor had a pint of beer and gave him half a crown out of a purse. He gave him 2s 3½d in change. He saw Taylor put the money into his purse and into his pocket. Taylor took out his watch and asked him to tell him the time. It was 9.30. He is sure Taylor put the watch back into his pocket. William French – he and Stanford went home together as soon as they left Mr Whitbread’s, except for perhaps stopping 5 minutes in the town. They left before Taylor did. They met one woman as they were going home and bid her good night. The next morning about 2am Mr Bates came to him while he was in bed to search for a watch. Bates made a search but did not find it. He was taken in a fit just as Bates was leaving. He bought the watch for £2 from a person on the road – a carpenter he thinks – as he was walking to Ampthill. The man said it was his own and that he was out of work and hard up. He had money he had saved in his pocket. He only went to Clophill yesterday to pass the day away. The man he bought the watch from said his name was George – he did not say his surname – and said he came out of Huntingdonshire and was going to sleep in Ampthill that night. Charles Stanford – he knows nothing about the robbery. He only went with French to Clophill yesterday for a walk. He knows nothing about the watch. French only told him last night that he bought it. That was after they were in custody. When the came out of the Kings Arms that night he went straight home. He does not wish to say if French went with him or not. He went along the regular road to Maulden. He met two or three people. He thinks he bid one young man good night. French and he did go home together. It was a little past ten when they got home. They walked together straight from Ampthill to near the White Hart at Maulden.

item

French, William,
Stanford, Charles,
Taylor, Joseph,
Whitbread, Caroline,
Whitbread, George,
Hazard, Daniel,
Farmer, George

HOUGHTON CONQUEST, AMPTHILL, MAULDEN, CLOPHILL, stealing, watches, money, pickpocket, victuallers, Chelsea Pensioner, police constables, Ampthill Kings Arms, Ampthill Rose & Crown, Clophill Green Man, wagon