Arthur Sheard - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 899 |
| Age: | 14 |
| Whence received: | H M Prison Wakefield |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Fresh |
| Hair colour: | Light brown |
| Eyes colour: | Grey |
| Height: | 4 ft 5½ ins |
| Particular marks: | 2 small burn scars under each wrist. Small mole back of neck |
| State of health: | - |
| Able-bodied? | - |
| Date of admission: | 10 January 1889 |
| Late residence: | Queen Street, Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury |
| Parish he belongs to: | Dewsbury |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Turner in a coal pit |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Imperfectly |
| Writes: | Imperfectly |
| Offence: | Stealing 2 domestic fowls |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Probably parental neglect |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 14 December 1888; J Ellis; West Riding Police Court, Dewsbury |
| Where imprisoned: | H M Prison Wakefield |
| Sentence: | 1 month in prison, 5 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | 1 |
| Length: | 6 strokes |
| For what: | Theft |
| Father's name: | Alfred Sheard |
| Occupation: | Factory hand |
| Mother's name: | - |
| Occupation: | - |
| Parents dead? | Mother |
| Survivor married again? | No |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Not reported |
| Character of parents | Nothing known against parents |
| Parents' wages: | Not known |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | Not assessed |
| Parents address: | Queen Street, Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | Superintendent of Police, Dewsbury |
| Person making this return: | - |
| Notes: | |
| 17 March 1888 There is a lengthy report of a previous offence in the Dewsbury Chronicle and West Riding Advertiser Saturday 17 March 1888 p.5 cols 4-5: IMPUDENT THEFT. - At the Dewsbury West Riding Petty Sessions, on Monday, John Charles Stafford (12), and Arthur Sheard (13), both of Ravensthorpe, were charged with stealing a purse and 12s, the property of Mr Benjamin Schofield, Ravensthorpe, on the 8th inst. Mr G. E. B. Blakeley appeared . for the prisoner Sheard. Clara Schofield (12) stated that shortly after five o'clock on Thursday afternoon, the 8th inst., her mother sent her to the Self-help Co-operative Stores for some groceries, and gave her a purse containing 12s and a note. Her brother accompanied her to the stores. There was no one in the grocer's shop with the exception of the two assistants Arthur Ingham and George Illingworth, and she went up to the counter, took the purse out of her pocket, and handed the note to Illingworth. She then placed the purse containing the money on the counter, and went to the shop door to fetch her brother inside. When she returned she saw the two prisoners in the shop, and Stafford was near the counter, close to the place where she left the purse She could not tell where the other prisoner was standing at the time. She looked on the counter for her purse, but found it had gone. She had known the prisoner Stafford for some months, and had seen him in the shop on previous occasions. In answer to the prisoner, she stated that she did not see him take the money but saw him in the shop. - Arthur Ingham, grocer's assistant in the employ of the Co-operative Society, stated that at about a quarter past five o'clock, on Thursday afternoon, he was in the grocery department when the last witness came in, and had a bag with her. He saw a note on the counter when the other assistant was reckoning the groceries she had purchased. Illingworth served her, and whilst she was in the shop the two prisoners came in and he served both with biscuits. Stafford stood close to the place where the last witness had been standing, but Sheard remained near to the shop door. Both prisoners left the shop before Miss Schofield. By Mr Blakeley: From the position in which Sheard was placed he would not be able to get the purse. P.C. Groves stated that at one o'clock, on the 10th inst, he apprehended the prisoner Stafford at Dewsbury, and charged him with the offence. In reply, he said "Sheard took it and gave me 2s out of it. We then went to Dewsbury, where we spent some of it, and I left Sheard at Dewsbury and went to Huddersfield." The next day he apprehended Sheard at his father's house, and he replied to the charge "Stafford took it and gave me 2s out of it, and we then went to Dewsbury and spent some there, and then Stafford left me and went on the train to Huddersfield." In answer to Mr Blakeley, the officer stated that he knew nothing against Sheard, but Stafford was a lad who had occasionally slept out at nights. The charge was then read over, to which Stafford pleaded guilty, and Sheard not guilty. Mr Blakeley spoke strongly in favour of Sheard's character and stated that his father had never had any trouble with him before. He was subject to fits, and consequently he was not quite so bright as many lads of his age. His client had told him that he knew nothing of the theft. but as he was returning home from school he met Stafford who asked him to go along with him, and said he was going to the Co-operative Stores on an errand for his mother. The evidence went to show that Sheard had nothing to do with taking the money. Dr Carr thought there was no doubt but that the lads had been working together in the theft. When boys were guilty of a bare-faced theft of that kind, a suspicion arose at once that it was not the first time. That was a very bad case indeed, and what had appeared before them in evidence was very unsatisfactory on the part of the boys, and showed that there had not been that proper parental control and discipline that was necessary for the lads to bring them up in a way which would fit them for the duties of after life. Stafford was ordered to receive ten strokes with the birch rod, and Sheard six strokes. | |
| 15 December 1888 The crime that sent him to Saltley was reported in the Batley Reporter and Guardian Saturday 15 December 1888 p.5 col 5: THEFTS OF POULTRY. - Yesterday, Windham Ellam (15) and Robert Smith (14). factory operatives, and Arthur Sheard (14), all of Ravensthorpe, were charged, at the Dewsbury West Riding Police Court, with stealing two hens belonging to Messrs Smithson, Pickles, & Smithson. on the 12th inst.; and also, along with James Stead (12) and George Farrar (14), moulder, all of Ravenethorpe, with stealing three hens and one cockerel, the property of the firm. Prisoners broke into the hen roost at night. and were caught by Police constables Begg, Groves, and Parker. They had been in before, and had sold two birds at Dewsbury. - Prisoners pleaded guilty, and had nothing to say for themselves. - Smith and Sheard, who had been previously convicted, were sent to prison for a month, and for five years to a reformatory; Ellam for one month, and Farrar for fourteen days. Stead was ordered to be whipped. | |
| 12 April 1889 The Medical Officer reported: Eczema, improving by 23 April | |
| 20 June 1889 The Medical Officer reported: Abscess of finger, much better by 26 June | |
| 23 January 1892 The Medical Officer reported: Influenza. Recovered by 28 January | |
| 26 February 1892 The Register of Boys on Licence records that Sheard was licensed to go out and work for Messers Hartley Brothers, Ravensthorpe, Yorkshire | |
| 9 January 1894 Sentence expired, discharged from Saltley | |
