QSR1857/1/5/8

Depositions of Elizabeth Burrell, widow, William Bygrave, labourer and Lucy, his wife ad Richard Todd, police constable. All of Biggleswade. In the case of Thomas Smith accused of passing a counterfeit half crown.

3 December 1856

From: 1856 To: 1857

Elizabeth Burrell: keeper of a lodging house and beer shop at Biggleswade called the Travellers Home. On 29 November the prisoner came to the house with another man and took lodgings for the night. The next morning Smith ordered a quart of beer and half an ounce of tobacco which came to five pence half penny. The prisoner gave half a crown in payment and later he called for another half ounce of tobacco and gave another half crown in payment. About 4pm he called for 2 quarts of beer and half an ounce of tobacco, again giving a half crown. Soon after 6pm, in consequence of what her grand daughter, Lucy Bygrave, told her she looked at the half crowns and they were all bad ones. She had put them in a box as she received them and there where no others in there. She gave them to her grandson William Bygrave and told him to take them to the police. Lucy Bygrave: she and her husband lived at the Travellers Home with her grandmother and she helped serve the customers. On Sunday evening, a little before 6pm, the prisoner Thomas Smith, called for a quart of beer and she fetched it for him. He gave her half a crown. It was bad one. She gave it him back and told him it was bad. He begun to swear and said it was a good one. He then gave her a shilling and she gave him his change. She went and told her grandmother and asked her if he had given her any half crowns. Her grandmother produced the box and they were all bad. She went back into the room where Smith had been but he had gone. William Bygrave: his grandmother gave him 3 bad half crowns to take to the police and he ran to Mr Todd’s with them. Todd marked them in his presence. They were all bad. He was present when Smith had given the half crown to his wife. He handled it and was sure it was a bad one. PC Richard Todd: he received the coins from William Bygrave and marked them with a cross. He went in search of the prisoner and met him in the street. He took the prisoner into custody and told him the charge. He took Smith to the police station and searched him. He found another bad half crown in his left pocket and 12 shillings, 5 sixpences, a fourpenny piece, 9 penny pieces and 16 half pennies in his right pocket. Statement of the accused: he went to the woman’s house on Saturday night. He did not give her a half crown at all. He only had one in his possession which he offered to the granddaughter. The granddaughter took it up and went away. She came back and said it was a bad one. He threw it down on the table for people to see if it was a bad one, as he was no judge. A young man said it was a good one and William Bygrave said it was a bad one. He gave the young woman a shilling and put the half crown in his pocket by itself.

item

Smith, Thomas,
Burrell, Elizabeth,
Bygrave, William,
Bygrave, Lucy,
Todd, Richard

BIGGLESWADE, passing counterfeit coin