QSR1836/1/5/35-37

Depositions and examinations - Samuel Chappell, William Pennefather and John Bunker

31 December 1835

From: 1835 To: 1836

John Head Hooton of Kempston, farmer – his mother Ann Hooton is a widow and a farmer at Kempston. He manages her business for her. This morning his mother’s shepherd Francis Ambridge told him a sheep was lost last night. He went with Ambridge to the fold or turnip pens. They had two rams, both of them three-shear sheep, which he knew well from their appearance. One was missing. He found the mark of a man’s foot on a mole heap which led him to look in an adjoining field. He saw many more footmarks both of men and of a sheep, which led to the high road from Elstow to Kempston. On the road about 150 or 200 yards from where he tracked the marks out of the field they saw some blood. He tracked it to the turn to Houghton Conquest. He was given information which led him to obtain a warrant to search the houses of John Bunker, a wheelwright at Houghton, Elizabeth Chappell, the mother of Samuel Chappell, and Henry Pennefather, the father of William Pennefather. At Bunker’s house he found the carcass of a ram sheep in an outhouse. The head and pluck were hung separately in the same place. From the teeth he saw it was a three-shear sheep. It was in every respect like the stolen ram. He also found the paunch of the sheep on a dunghill on Bunker’s premises. He opened it and found the sheep had been fed entirely on barley straw and turnips as was the case with his mother’s sheep. That is not the general food. He later went to the other houses but did not find anything. As he was coming back to Ampthill he met Savage the Ampthill constable with Bunker in custody. Bunker told them that the skin was in the cart at the public house. He went to the Chequers at Hazlewood Road and saw a cart with the name “Samuel Chappel Houghton Conquest” on it. James Atterbuy, the constable of Houghton who was with him, took a sheep skin out of the cart which he knew immediately to be the skin of the lost ram. The skin exactly corresponds with the head. The carcass is well dressed but he thinks not by a regular butcher. They found Chappell and Pennefather in the public house where the cart was standing and took them into custody. Francis Ambridge of Kempston – he is shepherd to Mrs Hooton. This morning he missed one of the rams from the turnip pens. The skin now produced is the skin of the missing ram. Robert Savage of Ampthill – he is constable of Ampthill. He went with Mr Hooton to Houghton and was present when the sheep’s carcass was found in Bunkder’s house. He was bringing the carcass to Ampthill when he met Bunker coming out of the door of the Chequers public house in Hazlewood Lane and took him into custody. Bunker asked him why and he told him. After they met Messrs Hooton and Atterbury and they had left to search the cart Bunker told him he would tell the truth and said “they asked me for my pony to fetch a sheep”. He asked who “they” were and was told it was Chappel and Pennefather. Bunker said “I lent them the pany and sat up till 9 o’clock for them and I don’t know what time they came home. I went into my stable at 7 o’clock this morning and found my pony there in a cold sweat. Chappel was dressing a sheep and I told him he should not have my pony again and they shan’t any more”. Bunker said the skin in the cart came from the sheep they found in his stable. Bunker said that when he first went into the stable the sheep was alive and was standing tied up by a halter. It was later in the morning when he saw Chappel dressing it. Thomas Fox of Wilshamstead, baker – he was at the Red Lion public house last Wednesday at about 3.30 and saw Brightman, Pennefather and Chappel in the tap room. He left them in the house. He returned about 6pm and found them still there. At about 7.30 there was a bit of falling out among them about a whip. Pennefather went away and got into a cart with a bay pony and drove away by himself. Pennefather returned at about 9 and Chappel aksed him to drink. Pennefather said he would not. At about 9.45 the landlady refused to draw any more beer. They then all got into the cart and Chappel said he would go down to Crossley to settle about 2s, the difference owing for two sheep. In a short time they all returned. The landlady was then gone to bed. They went towards Elstow and he did not see any more of them. James Atterbury of Houghton Conquest – he is a constable of Houghton. He went with Mr Hooton to search Bunker’s house. They found the carcass of a sheep in an outhouse. He found the inside fat of a sheep in the house. They also found the head and pluck in the outhouse and paunch against the dunghill. Bunker was not at home. They searched the houses of Elizabeth Chappell and Henry Pennefather but did not find anything suspicious. Coming to Ampthill they met Savage with Bunker in custody who told them the skin was in a cart at the Chequers. The cart had Chappell’s name on it. Chappell told him it was Bunker’s pony. He found the skin in the cart. He saw Chappell, Pennefather and Bunker all coming towards Ampthil together in the cart that morning. He took both Pennefather and Chappell into custody. The skin was covered over with straw and hay so it could not be seen. John Bunker – Pennefather and Chappell asked him yesterday to lend them his pony to go and fetch a sheep, and said if he would lend it they would give the pluck of a hog they had killed that morning. He agreed. It was about 2pm when they left. The pony was put into a cart of theirs, which he had made for them. They are partners together. He saw no more of them until 7am this morning. Pennefather was in his workshop. He said Pennefather was a bad groom as he had not rubbed the pony down. He later met Chappell and said the same to him. He then went home and saw a sheep lying on a rack in his cow hovel which was bleeding. He should have said that when he first went to the stable in the morning he found the pony all in a sweat and there was a very large sheep tied up. When the sheep was killed he asked where they had it from. Pennefather said they had it from Mr White’s of Cardington. After a time Chappell asked if he was going to Ampthill. He said he was and Chappelll said he may as well put his pony in the cart and run it up. He did so. They paid the turnpike. They went back together to the Chequers. As he was going out of the door to give the pony some hay he met Savage who took him into custody. They met Mr Hooton and Atterbury and he told them the skin of the sheep was in the cart. He does not know when they came home with the pony. It was 9pm when he went to bed. William Pennefather – he has nothing to say Samuel Chappell – he has nothing to say.

item

Chappell, Samuel,
Pennefather, William,
Bunker, John,
Brightman, Josias,
Hooton, John Head,
Ambridge, Francis,
Savage, Robert,
Fox, Thomas,
Atterbury, James,
Hooton, Ann,
Chappell, Elizabeth,
Pennefather, Henry

KEMPSTON, HOUGHTON CONQUEST, AMPTHILL, WILSHAMSTEAD, stealing animals, sheep, farmer, shepherd, wheelwright, constable, carts, Houghton Conquest Chequers, Wilshamstead Red Lion