Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    QSR1846/1/5/10/b
  • Title
    Depositions and examination - John Hornsby charged with stealing one worsted shawl and one cotton shawl, value 1s, from AnnPoulter at Leighton Buzzard on 25 November 1845
  • Date free text
    27 November 1845
  • Production date
    From: 1845 To: 1846
  • Scope and Content
    Thomas Forth of Leighton Buzzard, parish constable – on Tuesday 25 November he received information of a robbery committed at Mr Olley’s and a description of the thief given. He saw a man answering the description coming out of Samuel Hopkins’ yard, in the act of hiding a handkerchief inside his trousers. He took the man into custody and searched him. He found a worsted shawl, a cotton shawl and a silk handkerchief. He took Hornsby and the items to Mr Hopkins and they were identified. Thomas Deverell of Leighton Buzzard, cap maker – on Tuesday 25th Hornsby came to him in the open market and offered an old black cloth coat for sale. He bought it for 1 shilling. This took place publicly at his stall in the market. Hornsby was a stranger to him. He said it was his own coat and that he sold it because he had no food. When he heard Hornsby was in custody he made enquiries and the coat was identified by Mr Hopkins’s servant Ann Poulter as his property. He gave the coat to PC Chapman. Ann Poulter of Leighton Buzzard, singlewoman – she is in the service of Samuel Hopkins, butcher. She did not see Hornsby at their house or know anything had been taken until Forth the constable came to her. The shawls are her property. The silk handkerchief is the property of her master’s son Benjamin Hopkins and the black coat is Mr Hopkins’s. The coat hung on a clothes horse in the kitchen, the handkerchief was on the dresser close by, and the shawls were also in the kitchen. John Chapman, of Leighton Buzzard, constable – he received the coat from Deverell on Tuesday. He had been searching for the prisoner after receiving information about the robbery at Mr Olley’s. Hornsby was a stranger in Leighton but he had seen him loitering about for 2 or 3 days. John Hornsby – has nothing to say.
  • Level of description
    item
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