Henry Benton - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 814 |
| Age: | 14 |
| Whence received: | H M Prison Stafford |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Ruddy |
| Hair colour: | Light brown |
| Eyes colour: | Light hazel |
| Height: | - |
| Particular marks: | Blue scar corner of left eye |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Slender |
| Date of admission: | 27 May 1886 |
| Late residence: | Rolling Mill Street, Walsall |
| Parish he belongs to: | Walsall |
| Customary work and mode of life: | None |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Not at all |
| Writes: | Not at all |
| Offence: | Stealing money |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Bad company |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 14 May 1886; J Newman and John Day; Walsall Court of Summary Jurisdiction |
| Where imprisoned: | H M Prison Stafford |
| Sentence: | 14 days in prison, 3 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | 2 |
| Length: | 1) 3 days, 6 strokes; 2) 6 days, 12 strokes |
| For what: | 1) Felony; 2) felony |
| Father's name: | Jonah Benton |
| Occupation: | Miner |
| Mother's name: | Mary Benton |
| Occupation: | |
| Parents dead? | Neither |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Well treated |
| Character of parents | Respectable people, nothing known against them |
| Parents' wages: | At present out of employ. Wife's 20s per week |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | Nothing offered. Could not afford about 1s per week |
| Parents address: | Rolling Mill Street, Walsall |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | Chief constable, Walsall |
| Person making this return: | - |
| Notes: | |
| 15 May 1886 There is a report of the crime in the Walsall Observer, and South Staffordshire Chronicle Saturday 15 May 1886 p.5 col.6: ROBBERY FROM THE PERSON AND WILFUL DAMAGE. - Henry Benton, Rollingmill-street; John Andrews, Rollingmill-street, and George Sanders, Brineton-street, lads whose ages ranged from 12 to 15 years, were charged with stealing 2s. 2½d. from a little boy, named Charles Craddock, in Bridgeman-street, on Monday night. - The little fellow said the lads came to him and took the money out of his pocket, and tore his clothes in doing so. He did not know them, and was not talking to them. - Detective Higgins stated that he apprehended prisoners on the night in question, charging them with the offence One of them said Sanders took the money, which they spent sad divided amongst them. Witness took them to the station and locked them up. - Andrews and Benton were then charged, in conjunction with John York, another lad of about the same age, with entering the brickworks of Mr. Henry Boys, Queen-street, and breaking two laths, value 6d, on the 29th ult. - William Marlow stated that he saw the prisoners go into the place and break the laths with an iron bar, but be could not say which of the prisoners had the bar in his hand. - Geo. Wilcox, foreman to Mr. Boys, stated that a great deal of damage had been done by lads getting into the works for the purpose of sleeping there by trampling amongst the bricks. - The charges were all dealt with as one case. - Mr. Newman said, to use a common phrase, prisoners were "fly to any game." They were intelligent lads. and not mere dummies, and he sincerely wished they would devote their talents to legitimate and honest purposes, as by so doing they would make good men. It was difficult to know what to do with them. - Prisoners were each sentenced to 14 days in gaol, and to be afterwards detained in a reformatory for three years. | |
| 31 December 1888 The Register of Boys on Licence reports that Benton was licensed to go out and work for Mr King, Wolverhampton Road, Walsall | |
| 26 May 1889 Sentence expired. Discharged from Saltley whilst out on licence | |
| 10 February 1891 The Log Book report records receipt of a letter from Benton, Walsall | |
| 14 February 1893 The Log Book report records receipt of a letter from Benton, Walsall | |
