QSR1855/2/5/3

Depositions of Abraham Hight, labourer of Renhold, Ann Hight, spinster of Renhold , Elizabeth Hight, wife of Abraham Hight, George Hight, shepherd of Renhold, William Beach, sergeant of the Bedfordshire Rural Police, of Great Barford and Thomas Islip, labourer of Renhold. Lydia Milton, mother of Eliza King, on behalf of the accused. In the case of Eliza King, spinster of Renhold, accused stealing certain monies and a box.

20 March 1855

From: 1855 To: 1855

George Hight: he was a shepherd at Renhold. On 31 August he put 4 sovereigns and 3 half sovereigns in a box in a chest of drawers, upstairs at his fathers house. On the morning of 1 September the box and the money were gone. The money belonged to his father. The next morning the prisoner showed him the box in which he had put the money. His sister, Ann Hight, was present. The prisoner said that Charlotte Lumber’s child had got the box and she had asked the child who had given it to him. The child said its mother. Charlotte Lumbers lived next door to his father. The prisoner did not show him the box but he saw it standing on a table in the house as he entered. His sister pointed out the box to him and then the prisoner said Lumber’s child had had it. He did not put the money in the chest of drawers but had given it to his sister. His sister pointed out the box and said to him that there was the box he had given her to put the money in. Ann Hight: sister to George Hight. She remembered Eliza King coming to her father’s house on the 1 September at about 6.45am. Eliza King had been in the habit of working with her. Her brother came in the house between 9 and 10am. She was in the house when he came in and she showed him the box she had found in Charlotte Lumber’s yard about 9am that morning. King said she had seen Lumber’s child with the box. She had put 4 sovereigns and 3 half sovereigns in the box and put it in a chest of drawers in her mothers bedroom. She missed the money and the box about 9am on 1 September. The prisoner lived about 200 yards from the house. King had been in the house when her brother gave her the money but did not see him give it to her. King had not been alone in the house. She had not missed the money when she had seen the box in Lumber’s yard. Elizabeth Hight: wife of Abraham Hight. About 4 months previous she had asked the prisoner if she had taken the money and she had said she did not know how much there had been and she wished God to strike her dead if she knew anything about it. A few days after the conversation, another person was charged with stealing the money and it was after that that King said she had taken the money and had hidden it. She asked King if she had spent the money and King said she had spent half a sovereign and she would give her the money if she did not say anything. She told King to give her the money but King said she could not as she had thrown it away up the lane. King said she would not have done it if it had not been for the young man she was with. King’s mother brought her a watch a week afterwards to go towards the loss of the money. She took the watch and the mother later gave her 5 shillings. A few days later the prisoner put half a crown in her pocket. She gave the watch to her husband. Abraham Hight: he could produce the watch his wife gave him but could not say how long ago. He considered the watch worth 30 shillings. William Beach: on 1 September he went to Abraham Hights. The prisoner was there and gave him the box which she said she had found in Charlotte Lumber’s house. King said the child had been playing upon the bed. On 17 March he took the prisoner into custody and she began to cry. She said she had stolen it and had spent half a sovereign. The rest she had thrown away in the lane. He asked her which lane and she said she would show him. She had thown it in a hedge on the Sunday after she had stolen it on the Friday. He searched the place where she said she had thrown it but he found nothing. Thomas Islip: he found a sovereign in a lane in Renhold. The sovereign laid level on the bank. Statement of the accused: on 18 October she told Mrs Hight she had taken the money. Mrs Hight agreed with her and her mother that she would take it a little at a time until it was paid and not say anything about it. Her mother said she might have a watch and she gave it to her to give to Mrs Hight. One of them wished to take the watch to Mr Clares at Bedford to know the value of it. Mr Clare valued it at 35 shillings. Her mother had paid another 5 shillings since and she had paid half a crown. Mrs Hight told her to tell Mr Beach that she did not have it. Witness of the prisoner – Lydia Milton: mother of Eliza King. She had been present when Mrs Hight told her daughter to tell Mr Beach she knew nothing about it if he came. Mrs Hight came on the Saturday and told her not to tell that she had paid anything.

item

King, Eliza,
Hight, Abraham,
Hight, Ann,
Hight, Elizabeth,
Hight, George,
Beach, William,
Islip, Thomas,
Milton, Lydia

RENHOLD, Great Barford, stealing, money, box, shepherd