Report of John William Rose, Recorder of London, on 2 individual petitions (prisoner...

Report of John William Rose, Recorder of London, on 2 individual petitions (prisoner and Thomas Lane, cooper) and 1 collective petition (12 people, including churchwardens, constables and overseers of the poor, from Greenwich in Kent) on behalf of John Hack, house carpenter and joiner, convicted at the Old Bailey in July 1786, for stealing 2 gallons of rum shrub liquor in a wooden cask, value 17/- (8/- elsewhere), property of Phillip Booth and Co. distillers based in Turnmill Street, Clerkenwell in Middlesex. He is currently on the Justitia hulk at Woolwich, and is 42 years of age. There is a covering letter from Brook Watson. Evidences supplied by --- Geary, coachmaker and ---Garter. Grounds for clemency: first offence, previous good character, has already served 3 years and behaved well during his imprisonment, ill health, has an aged mother, a wife and four children who are suffering as a result of his conviction, has received an offer to employ him from a respectable tradesman if he is released. Initial sentence: 7 years transportation. Recommendation: to give security for himself and finds another security in £30 for his good behaviour for 7 years.

Folios 223-227.