QSR1865/3/5/4

Depositions of Frederick Whitlock, master sweep of Aspley Guise and his wife Jane. Robert Inwood, sweep of Aspley Guise. John Olden, police constable stationed at Ridgmont. In the case of John Butcher accused of embezzling the sum of 6s 2d 1/2 from his master.

13 April 1865

From: 1865 To: 1865

Frederick Whitlock: he had employed the prisoner on and off for several years and permanently for the past 3 months. He paid the prisoner 4 shillings a week in wages and had allowed him a shilling a day for his victuals, to be divided between himself and Robert Inwood, a boy also employed by him. It was the business of the prisoner to sweep the chimneys of his customers and to account to him daily on what he received from them. He left home on 9 April and did not return until the evening of 11 April. His wife informed him that the prisoner has paid her 2s 3d ½ . The next day Robert Inwood told him that the prisoner had received 8s 6d altogether for the chimneys that had been swept in his absence. He had since ascertained this to be correct. He had been to several cottages and places at Ridgmont and Husborne Crawley. He had not owed the prisoner anything for wages and had in fact overpaid him by 13s. Whatever the prisoner had received in his absence should have been paid to his wife. The prisoner had no business to deduct any sum from it. He saw the prisoner on the morning of 12 April before he went to work and the prisoner said nothing of what he had received in Whitlock’s absence. He obtained a warrant for the prisoner after he had seen Robert Inwood at Ridgmont. He saw the prisoner in custody in the evening and he was drunk. Robert Inwood: he was 16 years old and lived with his master, Frederick Whitlock at Aspley Guise. He had been in Whitlock’s service since October and the prisoner had been in his service since 1 January. His master left home on 9 April and returned on the evening of 11 April. On 10 April he accompanied the prisoner to Husborne Crawley where they swept 18 chimneys at 2d a piece. He saw the money paid in each case to the prisoner. He also saw the prisoner receive 3 shillings at various cottages at Ridgmont on behalf of his master and they swept 6 cottages there. The prisoner collected a shilling from different parties. He then returned home leaving the prisoner at the public house in Ridgmont. They had finished sweeping the chimneys about 4pm and he left the prisoner drunk at the public house about 6pm. He saw no more of the prisoner that night. On the morning of 11 April he and the prisoner went to Ridgmont again. They swept the chimneys of 12 cottages and he saw the prisoner receive 2d for each. They also swept a butchers chimney there and received 6d for it. They received 2s 6d in total at Ridgmont and then went on to Crawley where they swept another 3 chimneys and received 6d. They stopped at the public house at Crawley for about 2 hours after sweeping the chimneys and the prisoner got drunk. They reached Aspley about 5pm and the prisoner went to bed drunk. About 5am on 12 April they went to Ridgmont and swept Mr Brown’s chimney and he saw the prisoner receive a shilling from Mr Brown. They swept another 2 chimneys and the prisoner received 4d. They went together to the Rose and Crown at Ridgmont where they had 2 quarts of beer and something to eat. The prisoner was drunk before he left the house and laid down in a field at Ridgmont. They had other chimneys to sweep in Ridgmont but the prisoner was so drunk he could not do it. He remained in the field with the prisoner and saw his master who told him to remain with the prisoner. He knew it was the prisoner’s duty to pay their master daily what he had received for sweeping chimneys. When he saw his master he told him the prisoner had earned 1s 4d that morning and later told him about the 8s 6d they had earned the previous 2 days. Jane Whitlock: wife of Frederick Whitlock. The prisoner was in her husband’s service. On the Monday and Tuesday mornings the prisoner left with Robert Inwood to sweep chimneys in Huborne Crawley and Ridgmont. On the night of Monday 10 April the prisoner retuned home drunk. If the prisoner had received money that day it was his business to have paid her what he received in her husband’s absence. When the prisoner came home, he told her he had plenty of money for her and gave her 3 sixpences, 6 pence worth of half pennies, a 3 pence piece and a halfpenny. In total 2s 3d ½ . On Tuesday 11 April he paid her nothing when he retuned home in liquor. He told her he had bought her no money. She did not see the prisoner at all on Wednesday 13 April. She told her husband what she had received from the prisoner. PC John Olden: he was a police constable stationed at Ridgmont. On 12 April he took the prisoner into custody on a warrant. The prisoner was not sober. He told the prisoner he was charged with embezzling 6s 4d ½ from his master. The prisoner said it was more money than he earned and he had given the mistress 4 shillings on Monday night and had taken home 4 bushels of soot. The prisoner said that on Tuesday he had carried 20 pence that they had spent and had taken 12 bushels of soot. He also said he had received a shilling that morning and the boy and he had spent it on breakfast. Statement of the accused: he would say nothing about it.

item

Butcher, John,
Whitlock, Frederick,
Whitlock, Jane,
Inwood, Robert,
Olden, John

ASPLEY GUISE, RIDGMONT, HUSBORNE CRAWLEY, Ridgmont Rose & Crown, embezzlement, chimney sweep, drunkenness