William Turner - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 1098 |
| Age: | 15 (born 24 November 1879) |
| Whence received: | H M Prison Stafford |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Sallow |
| Hair colour: | Brown |
| Eyes colour: | Grey |
| Height: | 4 ft 11½ ins |
| Particular marks: | Cut forehead, large stippling mark left arm |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Date of admission: | 5 August 1895 |
| Late residence: | 9 New Street, Walsall |
| Parish he belongs to: | |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Casting (regular street arab and quite beyond control. Sister lives at 95 Emily Street, Camp Hill, Birmingham) |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Imperfectly |
| Writes: | Imperfectly |
| Offence: | Stealing apples |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Apparently vicious |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 22 July 1895; R J Jupp and W H Brookes; Walsall Petty Sessions |
| Where imprisoned: | H M Prison Stafford |
| Sentence: | 14 days in prison, detained at Saltley until 19 yesrs of age |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | 4 |
| Length: | Imprisonment in each case |
| For what: | Gambling and obstructing the footpath |
| Father's name: | William Turner |
| Occupation: | Signalman (LNWR) |
| Mother's name: | - |
| Occupation: | - |
| Parents dead? | Mother |
| Survivor married again? | No |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Good |
| Character of parents | I believe father is given to drink. 4 children all working and (left) not living with father |
| Parents' wages: | 20s per week |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | Not assessed |
| Parents address: | Prince Street, Walsall |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | - |
| Person making this return: | R J Jupp |
| Notes: | |
| Brother to George (boy 928) - to see his record click here | |
| 27 July 1895 The crime that sent him to Saltley was reported in the Walsall Observer and South Staffordshire Chronicle Saturday 27 July 1895 p.3 col.5: A GANG OF THIEVES. - Three lads, named Patrick O'Brien (15), William Turner (15), and Edward Bailey (15). of Ball Street, New Street, and Gorton's Yard respectively, were charged with stealing a quantity of apples, value 6d., the property of Samuel Harvey, The Shrubbery, Sutton Road. - Police-sergeant Ballance found the prisoners asleep in a pigstye, with apples in the possession of Turner and Bailey, and more of the same fruit under O'Brien When the officer surprised the prisoners they tried to hide the apples in some straw. - Evidence as to the theft was given by William Birch. a caster's assistant, who spoke to the incursion by the prisoners into the prosecutor's garden during the early hours of Sunday morning last. - The Chief Constable (Mr. Taylor) said that Bailey was no doubt the ringleader of a gang. The whole of the prisoners had been previously convicted. - They were now each committed for 14 days' imprisonment, and ordered at the end of that time to be detained in a reformatory for four years. | |
| 8 November 1898 Discharged from Saltley by Order of the Home Secretary, having enlisted in the 3rd Battallion, Warwickshire Regiment, at Budbrooke, near Warwick | |
