Report of C. Robinson, Recorder of Dover, on 1 collective petition (100 people, from...

Report of C. Robinson, Recorder of Dover, on 1 collective petition (100 people, from the town and port of Dover, Kent) on behalf of James Husband, convicted at the Kent Assizes[?] at Dover, for a burglary, breaking and entering the dwelling house of Mrs Elizabeth Sisley a shop keeper, and stealing discount 5 guineas, 18/- in money, some foreign silver coins, value £5, a 6d, 5 teaspoons, a pair of tea tongs, a cream pot and other items of lesser value, on the night of 24 August 'last'. The case rested on the circumstances of the offence, the window through which the prisoner climbed in the house was a 'sliding window' and had no 'fastenings nor a shutter' and found the window shut exactly in the same manner as the prosecutor had left it, before going to bed at 9 o'clock, the previous evening. Evidences supplied by Robert Chalcraft, William King and Abraham Bowers. Grounds for clemency: the petitioners knowing the prisoner is insane and incapable of maintaining himself without the help of friends and likewise, his insanity renders him incapable of comprehending the nature of the offence he has committed and he and his family is in a state of distress Initial sentence: death. Recommendation: none made, however the judge states that 'three or four years ago the Prisoner was capitally convicted of a Highway robbery for the Assizes of the County of Kent, when the learned Judge who tried him, on the application from some of the Inhabitants of Dover, of which place the Prisoner's is a Native, remitted the Capital punishment and sent him for the offence to work on the River Thames, for a time which was expired sometime before this offence'.

Folios 232a-236.