Harry Prout - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 1234 |
| Age: | 14 (born 1 September 1885) |
| Whence received: | Brixham Petty Sessions |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Fresh, inclined to sallow, small features |
| Hair colour: | Dark brown |
| Eyes colour: | Bluish mottled |
| Height: | 5 ft 0½ ins |
| Particular marks: | 4 vacc. marks left arm; wart on right knee |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Date of admission: | 18 June 1900 |
| Late residence: | Higher Street, Dartmouth, Devon |
| Parish he belongs to: | - |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Father says that for some years past he has been entirely beyond his control. Owing to these proceedings, a charge of cruelly beating to death some fowls and injuring some young pigs were not proceeded with. The lad also admits going aboard a steam launch and committing wilful damage |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Imperfectly, Standard 3 |
| Writes: | Imperfectly, Standard 3 |
| Offence: | Larceny |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Lack of parental control |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 8 June 1900; Llewellyn Llewellyn and Major H Turner; Brixham Petty Sessions |
| Where imprisoned: | Not |
| Sentence: | Detained at Saltley until 19 years of age |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | 44 |
| Length: | 1) Fined; 2) fined; 3) fined; 4) 14 days in prison |
| For what: | 1) Cruelty to animals; 2) wilful damage; 3) rowdiness; 4) larceny and office breaking |
| Father's name: | James Prout |
| Occupation: | Coal sumper |
| Mother's name: | Elizabeth Prout |
| Occupation: | Housewife |
| Parents dead? | Neither (but living apart) |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Good |
| Character of parents | Good (added underneath - Doubtful. Mother drunken (Supt.)) |
| Parents' wages: | Not known |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | Not yet assessed |
| Parents address: | Higher Street, Dartmouth, Devon |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | Superintendent of Police |
| Person making this return: | Sergeant Newberry, Brixham |
| Notes: | |
| 27 February 1900 A previous offence was reported in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette Tuesday 27 February 1900 p.7 col.3: At Dartmouth Guildhall on Saturday Harry Prout, 14. and Elizabeth Efford, 17, were brought up in custody on a charge of having broken into the offices of Messrs. Renwick and Wilton, on the South Embankment, and stolen a quantity of stamps. Both pleaded guilty, and elected to be dealt with summarily. The boy was fined 20s, or, in default, a fortnight's imprisonment without hard labour, and the girl, who had been charged with larceny on three previous occasions, was sent to Exeter for a month, with hard labour, Charles Efford. the girl's father, was then charged with receiving the stamps, knowing them to have been stolen. This charge was not sustained, the girl declaring in evidence that she told her father she picked the stamps up. Case dismissed. | |
| 22 June 1900 Another offence was not proceeded with, as reported in the Dartmouth and South Hams Chronicle Friday 22 June 1900 p.3 col.2: SUMMONS WITHDRAWN - A GOOD REASON. A summons had been taken out against Harry Prout, 11. on a charge of cruelty to animals. - The Clerk: It has not been served and the Inspector has an application to make. - Inspector Bartholomew, R.S.P.C.A., Torquay: With your Worships' permission I should like to withdraw the summons. My reason is that since the offence was committed Prout has been ordered to be sent to a reformatory school until he is 19. Therefore he is practically beyond our reach. We have kept the summons back on that account. - The Bench allowed it to be withdrawn. | |
| 2 February 1901 The Medical Officer reported: Abscess in arm | |
| 6 January 1903 The Register of Boys on Licence records that Prout was licensed to go out and work for Mr Derricourt, Amington, Tamworth | |
| 9 August 1904 The Reformatory committee Log Book report records that Prout had returned to Saltley from on licence having been reported as unsatisfactory | |
| 31 August 1904 Sentence expired, discharged from Saltley | |
