Report of James Adair, Recorder of London, concerning 1 collective petition (Elizabeth...

Report of James Adair, Recorder of London, concerning 1 collective petition (Elizabeth Ward, prisoner's mother, and Nathaniel Newnham, alderman and MP for London) on behalf of Thomas Ward, schoolboy, convicted at the Old Bailey on 23 February 1785, for stealing goods from a dwelling house, on 28 January 1785. There is also a covering letter from Newman asking for compassion. Grounds for clemency: youth (under 14 when crime committed), already suffered 2 years of severe confinement, mother is of good character, prisoner's mother (a widow for the last 12 years) had been in service with Lord Delawars which required her to leave her children with a friend at Marylebone in Middlesex, on the date of the crime a man called May had enticed her son into a public house, got him drunk and then committed the crime which prisoner was convicted of, also the spoon (1 of the articles mentioned in the indictment) found in his pocket was his own. Initial sentence: 7 years transportation. Recommendation: to transport himself for 7 years.

Folios 327-332.