2 reports from C Abbott on 2 individual petitions (the prisoner) William Townsend...

2 reports from C Abbott on 2 individual petitions (the prisoner) William Townsend alias William Pocock, convicted at the Old Bailey on 26 October 1822 of highway robbery and extracting money from Aaron Crossley Seymour 'under a pretence of charging him with an abominable act'. There is a memorial form John Cooper; an affidavit from George Hamilton, of the Fox and Hounds public house, Kingston upon Thames; an opinion on the case from [Lord] Eldon; a memorandum on the case, letters from William Powell, coach maker of Cheltenham and J W Parkins [x2]; Robert Peel [x5]; and Henry Hobhouse. The correspondence, affidavit and memorial record Seymour's ways of procuring boys for 'unnatural acts', Townsend extracting money in payment/blackmail and Seymour later absconding from a charge of a similar nature. (Abbott's report also contains a reference to John Martin capitally convicted at Appleby). Grounds for clemency: the money was promised to the prisoner to keep quiet, the prisoner did not ask for more than was offered, the money was not given to him, would have preferred to prosecute Seymour but did not have enough proof, the prosecutor absconded to Ireland, has since been caught in a 'foul act' and the prisoner is in a 'perilous' state in Newgate due to his disclosure of an escape plan by other prisoners. Initial sentence: death. Recommendation: 1) speaks in favour of mercy; 2) pardon, but '1 trust a pardon at this time will not afford any encouragement to such abominable accusers, nor establish a point of law in their favour'. Annotated: 'This is a most peculiarly guarded ansr [answer], I suppose Townsend must be pardoned' and 'I give a reluctant consent'. Folios 205-236. One letter includes a reference to 'Bishop Joycelyn's Gang' and scandal in 1822 [Percy Joycelyn, Bishop of Clogher]