Report of Richard Burke, Recorder of Bristol, on 1 collective petition (26 people,...

Report of Richard Burke, Recorder of Bristol, on 1 collective petition (26 people, merchants and traders at Bristol in Gloucestershire) on behalf of Thomas Davis, convicted at the Bristol Assizes on 5 September 1787, for forging a £40 bill of exchange in the name of Henry Shirley, and presenting it as his own. There is also a letter from Philip Protheroe and Robert Claxton, as well as an initial letter from the magistrate requesting the prisoner's death sentence to be suspended for a fortnight to give him time to produce a report. Grounds for clemency: judge was considerably impressed by the quality of the gentlemen signing the petition, that the prisoner had just arrived from the West Indies, was an utter stranger and his behaviour was grossly ignorant and stupid (not to the extent that it constituted a legal defence) the handwriting he forged bore no likeness to that of Henry Shirley) but he was not so incapacitated as would constitute a legal defence. Initial sentence: death. Recommendation: transportation for life.

Folios 419-425.