Report of Lord Loughborough on 1 individual petition (prisoner) on behalf of Humphrey...

Report of Lord Loughborough on 1 individual petition (prisoner) on behalf of Humphrey Tristram Potter, gentleman, convicted at the Surrey Assizes, on 14 July 1788, for printing and publishing a libel, against Richard Clark, a summoning officer (or beadle) at the Court of Request, Southwark. A handbill had been printed and issued claiming Clark had committed an unnatural act (prisoner was convicted of publishing only). Grounds for clemency: he should have been tried at the Old Bailey (not at the Surrey Assizes), had already served 10 months in prison, his health and circumstances had deteriorated in this time, may not be able to support his family during the rest of sentence while the prosecutor ''has not, and from his very inferior Situation in life cannot have sustained one Shilling Damages from the Supposed Injury complained of'. Initial sentence: I years imprisonment and 1 hour in the pillory before sentence expires. Recommendation: mercy.

Folios 4-7.