1 collective petition (35 people including overseers, clergymen, churchwardens and...

1 collective petition (35 people including overseers, clergymen, churchwardens and inhabitants of West Bromwich) on behalf of Ann Jones, servant, convicted at Stafford Summer Assizes 1828 for attempting to administer poison (corrosive sublimate) with intent to murder William Jackson, surgeon of West Bromwich.

There are also letters from:

• William Salter forwarding the petition and certificates and informing the Home Office asking that when she is released from prison, the prisoner also be released from her masters who will otherwise claim her again as their servant
• Certificate from Ann Starkey as to the prisoner's good behaviour
• Certificate from John Martin, constable, confirming Selina Hopkins is a thief
• Letter from Robert Peel stating that unless the prisoner's innocence can be proved she must receive some punishment as an example.
• Character reference from Jeremiah Grigg and Hannah Grigg, the prisoner's former employers
• Character reference from Ann Brueton, matron of the asylum
• Letters from Lord Talbot supporting Ann Jones and transferring petition

Grounds for clemency: prisoner convicted principally on evidence of Selina Hopkins, another servant and former inmate of the orphan asylum in Birmingham who has a 'vile character' and is accused of being a thief; brought up as an orphan in the asylum in Birmingham and behaved well; prisoner suffered brutal treatment at the hands of her master and horse-whipped by her mistress; she absconded as she was so badly treated and afterwards imprisoned for one month; parish officers paid for her defence and gave bail. Initial sentence: 2 years' imprisonment and hard labour. KN12