Prisoner name(s): Richard Knight. Prisoner age: 26. Court and date of trial:...

Prisoner name(s): Richard Knight.

Prisoner age: 26.

Court and date of trial: Old Bailey June Sessions 1829.

Crime: Stealing 784lbs of iron from employers, (Mr Burley, farrier).

Initial sentence: Seven years transportation.

Gaoler's report: 'Previous character good. Married one child.'

Annotated (Outcome): 'Let him go to the Hulks.'

Petitioner(s): Richard Knight (prisoner).

W Adams of Whitehall Place, London;

George Adam, Mayor of Totnes, Devonshire.

Grounds for clemency (Petition Details): Prisoner was persuaded to commit the theft by John Smale, the foreman; the prisoner claims that both John Smale and himself were unaware that their actions constituted a crime; good character at the time of committing the offence; the prisoner was an accessory not the principal in the theft; no previous offence; the prisoner has always borne a good character for honesty, sobriety and industry; the prisoner belongs to a very respectable family in Totnes; the prisoner is very penitent and unlikely to return to bad courses; he has one child and pregnant wife; the prisoner's family distressed without any other support to depend upon.