Report of James Burrough, Recorder of Portsmouth on 1 collective (65 people including...

Report of James Burrough, Recorder of Portsmouth on 1 collective (65 people including a chaplain and churchwarden) behalf of Thomas Ford/Thomas Foord, shipwright convicted at the Portsmouth Quarter Sessions on 13 April 1809 of stealing 12 pounds of lead and 1 fathom and a half of inch rope, value 4/3 from the dockyard at Portsmouth, property of His Majesty. Evidences supplied by: Richard Osmond, warder of the Dock gates of Portsmouth; John Thorpe, Captain James Goodinch (navy); Edmund Trett, coal merchant and William Taplin. There are certificates of good character from John Long, master shipwright also offering future employment should the prisoner be pardoned; Henry Donne, chaplain to the Laurel hulk; Captain R R Bligh, of HMS Alexander and Lieutenant James Godench of HMS Alexander. There are letters from the Navy Office offering no objection to mitigation of the punishment; from Henry Donne stating that 'it is a pity that so good a man should be locked up from society'. Grounds for clemency: the prisoner was of previous good character, has behaved well in prison, has an offer of future employment, the prisoner has served 3 years of his sentence, has a wife and 5 children to support, has previously served in HM Navy, as a carpenters mate on board HM ships Phoenix, Alexander and Neptune, was taken as a prisoner of war by the French. Initial sentence: 7 years transportation (exemplorary sentence). Recommendation: speaks against mercy as he was convicted for theft from a dockyard. Folios 243-253.