QSR1859/4/5/1a,2a

Depositions of Sarah Shaw, wife of William Shaw of Toddington. William Shaw, innkeeper of Toddington. Phoebe Wingrove, single woman. Benjamin George, police constable. John Faulkner, son of Thomas Faulkner, a brewer of Toddington. William Wingrove, shoemaker of Toddington. Ann Baker, a widow and innkeeper. In the case of William Watts and John Wilson accused of stealing a leather purse and one shilling sixpence.

29 July 1859

From: 1859 To: 1859

Sarah Shaw: wife of William Shaw, keeper of the Sow and Pigs Inn at Toddington. On 20 July there was a holiday kept in Toddington and between 5 and 6pm she went with her friend to see what was going on. She had 6 shillings in her pocket and after she had made some payments had 18 pence or 2 shillings in silver in a leather purse. She also had a plain sixpence without either a head or tail upon it which had been in her possession for months. She had kept it so long and never tried to pass it. She went into a booth in the ground. She knew nothing prisoners. Between 7 and 8pm she missed her purse and its contents. She told her friend but thought no more of it. On her return home between 11 and 12, PC George came to her house and asked if she had lost any money. She told him her pocket had been picked. George produced the sixpence. There had been a large party in the field and also in the booth. During the evening she had been close to a number of people in the crowd. William Shaw: he knew the sixpence shown to him to have been in his wife’s possession for 3 months and he had seen it frequently. Phoebe Wingrove: a single woman living with her parents in Toddington. On 21 June she saw returning home between 12am and 1am. There had been a holiday in Toddington. She passed the cage and heard someone talking inside. One man said to another “what a fool you must be not to notice when I looked at you. You might have known what I meant. I know d[?]d well. We shall be found out. The little girl was looking at us all the time. If you’d went the other side of the booth we should have been all right”. One of the men appeared to be abusing the other and swearing at him. He made use of an oath almost every word he spoke. She knew there were 2 men in the cage for picking pockets. She listened at the keyhole and wished the inmates goodnight. They replied good night. PC Benjamin George: on 20 July, about 10pm, he received information that Mrs Shaw had her pocket picked. She suspected that 2 prisoners who were strangers to Toddington and found them together at the Bell Inn. He searched the prisoner Watts who said his name was George Wilson found the sixpence along with other silver. He showed the sixpence to Sarah Shaw who identified it. He charged Wells with stealing it and said he had taken it at Northampton about a fortnight ago. He searched the other prisoner, who gave the name James Wilson, but afterward said it was John. He found 7 or 8 shillings on Wilson. Wilson said the money was his own. Both were taken into custody and placed in the cage at Toddington. The prisoners appeared to know each other and conversed. On 21 July the prisoners were taken before the magistrate and Wilson said he knew nothing of Watts and had only met him in Toddington the previous day. When the prisoners were in the cage in Toddington there were no other prisoners in the cage. John Faulkner: son of Thomas, a brewer at Toddington. He recalled the Toddington holiday on 20 July and had been in Luton on the preceding day. He saw the prisoners there together walking by the Union House there. He later saw them lying down together on the Causeway at Luton. On the day of the holiday he saw them together in the field at Toddington and spoke to Watts, saying he had seen him the previous day in Luton with the chap in white trousers. Watts replied yes. William Wingrove: on the day of the Toddington holiday he was the gate keeper. He saw 2 prisoners between 4pm and 5pm in the field together. He saw them together several times both in the field and out of it. Wilson told him they belonged to the Harp Players but was not one of the musicians. He conversed with Watts and Watts asked him how to get out of the bottom of the field. He told Watts he could not as there was wire all around. Watts was them by himself. Ann Baker: a widow and keeper of the Bell Inn at Toddington. On the holiday at Toddington, between 10 and 11pm, both prisoners were in her house. They were together and had some bread, cheese and ale. Watts asked if he could have a bed and she told him she was full. Statement of the accused: William Watts – he came from Northmapton and had had the sixpence in his possession for 20 days. He could not say where he took it from. He was a hawker and there were some more sixpences like that one. It is hard that he should be committed on such a charge. John Wilson – it was a hard thing and he knew nothing about the sixpence. He did not know the prisoners. He was a stranger to him.

item

Watts, William,
Wilson, John,
Shaw, Sarah,
Shaw, William,
Wingrove, Phoebe,
George, Benjamin,
Faulkner, John,
Faulkner, Thomas,
Wingrove, William,
Baker, Ann

TODDINGTON, stealing, money, shoemakers, innkeepers, brewers, pickpocket, Toddington Sow and Pigs, Toddington Bell, fairs & markets