QSR1847/2/5/5

Depositions and examination - Jacob Hull charged with stealing one leather bucket (value 1s) from Thomas Drage at Leighton Buzzard on 7 March 1847

26 March 1847

From: 1847 To: 1847

Yeoman Clare of Leighton Buzzard, saddler – on 6 March a fire occurred at Leighton on the premises of Charles and William Claridge. He was present. He keeps a number of fire buckets in repair which are kept at Leighton under the care of Thomas Drage. He delivered out a number of buckets on the occasion of the fire. The bucket now produced is one of them. He knows it as he has repaired it himself. He gave the buckets out with the engine. The engine house is in the care of Thomas Drage. David White of Leighton Buzzard, sawyer – he was in a field of Claridge’s near where the fire was the next morning between 6 and 7am. He had been there all night. He saw Hull in the field with a leather bucket like the one produced on his head, going towards Billington. When he first saw Hull he was about 100 yards from where the fire was and was walking away from the fire. It was 100 yards or more on Claridge's side of Procter's field. There is another field between that and Procter's field. William Rowe of Billington, labourer – on the morning after the fire he was going out between 6 and 7am and met Hull with a leather bucket on his head. Hull was going away from Leighton towards his home. Hull did not seem tipsy. William Clay, police constable stationed at Heath and Reach – on 11 March he went to Hull’s father’s house, where Hull lives. He found the bucket in a loft over a back room. It was not covered over, but would not have been seen unless it was looked for. Hull said he had picked it up at a distance from the fire and thought it would do for a coal scuttle. Thomas Drage of Leighton Buzzard, whitesmith – he has the care of the engine and buckets belonging to the Royal Exchange Assurance Office. He is responsible for them. If any bucket is lost he has to make it good. He believes the bucket produced to be one of those under his care. Jacob Hull – he was going along the footpath home just by Mr Simmons’s and the bucket lay in a footpath in Mr Procter’s field. He picked it up and carried it home. He did not know what it was. He did not see any such buckets at the fire. He found it at a distance of 200 yards from the fire.

item

Hull, Jacob,
Drage, Thomas,
Clare, Yeoman,
White, David,
Rowe, William,
Clay, William,
Claridge, Charles,
Claridge, William

LEIGHTON BUZZARD, BILLINGTON, HEATH & REACH, stealing, whitesmith, saddler, FIRE, fire appliances, fire stations, Royal Exchange Assurance Company