Report of Richard Nash, late mayor of Worcester and 3 others magistrates on 2 collective...

Report of Richard Nash, late mayor of Worcester and 3 others magistrates on 2 collective petitions (the prisoners and 30 people of Southwark and another in the name of Rebecca Harley, wife of prisoner Harley, but with 29 signatures, including churchwardens and overseers of St. Olave, Southwark) and 1 individual petition (Hannah Allen Spinster, landlady of William Harley, Newington in Surrey), on behalf of William Harley, broker and navy agent and John Bender, yeoman of St. Helen, Worcester, convicted the July Quarter Sessions for the City of Worcester on 2 indictments for obtaining money on bank bills under false pretences, on 28 February 1784, from Thomas Price, a Worcester attorney. There are 2 further covering letters from Henry Thornton, MP for Southwark Borough forwarding the several petitions. There is also a letter from the prisoner to his wife Rebecca, disclosing the conspiracy of the case, accusing the prosecutor and Worcester authorities of corruption. The case also includes a letter from Reginald Tygon, chairman of the Worcestershire Quarter Sessions, stating that as the prisoners were tried before the Magistrates of Worcester City, which has a 'Distinct Jurisdiction', they must attend to the matter of reporting the case for clemency. A copy of the Bill is transcribed in the volume. Grounds for clemency: Harley and Bender did not engage in any crime of obtaining bank bills under false pretences, the petitions are signed by some of the 'Important Inhabitants' of St. Olave, the first petition was lost, the money draft was not due at the time of their committal and imprisonment had prevented them from meeting the terms of the money draft to be made payable, prisoners were treated badly during the period of committal, both had served in the navy, the prosecutor intercepted monies and letters sent to Harley and intercepted letters sent by the prisoner to his wife Rebecca, the prisoners had no counsel and were denied friends to appear on their behalf during their trial. Initial sentence: 7 years transportation to America. Recommendation: no mercy.

Folios 220-232.