Report of William Mainwaring on: 1. 1 individual petition (Ann Battersby, prisoner's...

Report of William Mainwaring on:

1. 1 individual petition (Ann Battersby, prisoner's wife) on behalf of Richard Battersby, convicted at the Westminster Quarter Sessions on 1 July 1790, for stealing woollen cloth, value 10d, property of John Kay, tailor, on 25 June 1790. Evidences supplied by Bloomer Kay and Edward Smith. Crime committed when the prosecutor was reading the bill outside the playhouse on Drury Lane. Grounds for clemency: served for 7 years in HM. Navy with an 'irreproachable character', promise of future good behaviour, and offers to serve again in HM. Navy. Initial sentence: 7 years transportation. Recommendation: no mercy, the judge considered the prisoner a 'known common Pickpocket and one of that desperate Gang of Pickpockets, who infest the Playhouses'. He goes on to say such persons are not admitted to HM. Navy and those that have been (accidentally) admitted generally then escape.

2. 1 individual petition (prisoner) on behalf of Thomas/William Owen, convicted at the Westminster Quarter Sessions on 5 January 1785, for stealing a silk handkerchief, property of John Barke, in the Strand on 3 January 1785. Evidences supplied by John Barke and David Barnes, watchman. The judge considered the prisoner lived in an area known for thieving and his mother a very bad character. Grounds for clemency: is repentant, has served 4½ of his sentence, youth (only 17 at the time of his trial), his mother (a widow) has been reduced from a robust woman to a weak state unable to procure subsistence for herself or to assist her son, he has before served at sea and offers to do so again, promises future good behaviour. Initial sentence: 7 years transportation. Recommendation: speaks against mercy,

Folios 411-418.