Arthur Edward Newman - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 840 |
| Age: | 15 |
| Whence received: | H M Prison Stafford |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | - |
| Hair colour: | - |
| Eyes colour: | - |
| Height: | - |
| Particular marks: | - |
| State of health: | - |
| Able-bodied? | - |
| Date of admission: | 16 March 1887 |
| Late residence: | 14 Friars Terrace, Stafford |
| Parish he belongs to: | Castle Church, Stafford |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Office |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Imperfectly |
| Writes: | Imperfectly |
| Offence: | Stealing money, etc |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Bad company |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 17 February 1887; W H Peake and W Silvester; Stafford Court of Summary Jurisdiction |
| Where imprisoned: | H M Prison Stafford |
| Sentence: | 1 month in prison, 5 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | - |
| Length: | - |
| For what: | - |
| Father's name: | - |
| Occupation: | - |
| Mother's name: | Ann Newman |
| Occupation: | - |
| Parents dead? | Father |
| Survivor married again? | No |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Well treated |
| Character of parents | Mother good character but delicate health |
| Parents' wages: | Mother is a widow in delicate health. Her only income is from 2 lodgers |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | She is not in a position to pay anything towards support of her child |
| Parents address: | 14 Friars Terrace, Stafford |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | Benjamin Thomas Oswell, Deputy Chief Constable, Stafford |
| Person making this return: | - |
| Notes: | |
| The crime was reported in the Staffordshire Chronicle Saturday 19 February 1887 p.4 cols.4-5: THEFT AT THE ASSIZE COURTS. - Arthur Edward Newman (14), office boy, of 14, Friars Terrace, was charged with stealing a gold scarf pin, value £2, the property of Mr Francis William Jones, of Eldon Chambers, Gloucester, on the previous day; and further stealing £1 1s in money, the property of George Green. - Prosecutor Jones, solicitor, and assistant to the Clerk of Assize of the Oxford Circuit, stated that about three o'clock on Wednesday afternoon he left the gold scarf-pin produced, enclosed in a wig box in the private room of the Clerk of Assize upstairs, behind the Bench of the Crown Court in the Shire Hall. This room adjoined the barristers' robing room. He went into Court, and returned about four o'clock to the room where he left the pin. He then missed the pin. The wig box had been closed and fastened, but not locked. After making inquiries he gave information to the police. The public had no right in the Court at all. The corridor onto which the room opened was reached from below by two flights of stairs. - Prosecutor Green, Clerk of the Indictments on the Oxford Circuit, of 32, Brook Green, Middlesex, stated that at about three o'clock on the afternoon of Wednesday, he placed in the drawer of the counter in the indictment office £2 in gold and 4s. 6d. in silver. About four o'clock having left the office for a few minutes in the interval, he reopened the drawer, and found that a sovereign and a shilling were missing. P. S. McCabe deposed to arresting prisoner that (Thursday) morning, at his mother's house, from a description which he had received. Witness told him he had been seen in the Shire Hall on the previous day. Prisoner denied knowing anything about the robberies, but in the office at the Guild Hall prisoner had had a conversation with his cousin, a lad named Dale, after which he said "I'll fetch it; I'll show you where it is." He took witness with him to his mother's house, and produced the pin from a little box on the dressing table upstairs. He said that he had not interfered with the money; and that he was very sorry and hoped to be forgiven. - John Dale, silversmith's apprentice, of 5, Barford Street, Birmingham, said that in the course of conversation that morning, prisoner said "If you want to find the money you'll find it under the mat in the hall at my mother's house." Witness went with Inspector Stretton, and found one sovereign and a shilling, some small change, and stamps in a purse, placed as described by prisoner. - Prisoner pleaded guilty. - Both prosecutors asked the Bench to deal with the prisoner summarily, both for the sake of the lad and his family, and for their own convenience. - Prisoner elected to be dealt with summarily, and the Bench decided to adopt that course. - Mr Jones then asked that the lad might be dealt with as leniently as possible. - The Mayor said that the prisoner had been twice convicted within the last 14 days before the present offence was committed. It seemed a hopeless case, and the prisoner would be separated from the family he was doing so much to distress. He would be sentenced to one month's hard labour, and afterwards would have to go to a reformatory for five years. | |
| 10 December 1889 The Medical Officer reported: ….itis [cannot decipher word]. Sick room. Convalescent by 24 December | |
| 10 June 1890 The Reformatory Committee Log Book report records that Newman was discharged early from Saltley by order of the Home Secretary, on account of his emigrating, along with Williams [boy 845] and Perkins [boy 864] | |
| 11 December 1894 The Log Book report records receipt of a letter from Newman, Birmingham | |
| 12 February 1895 The Log Book report records receipt of a letter from Newman, Birmingham | |
| 9 February 1897 The Log Book report records receipt of a letter from Newman, Birmingham. (A very satisfactory case, just leaving his present employers after 4 years' service) | |
