Report of James Eyre on 6 individual petitions/references (prisoner, Richard Cartwright,...

Report of James Eyre on 6 individual petitions/references (prisoner, Richard Cartwright, keeper of the county gaol; John Rowland, chaplain to the county gaol; William Adams, mercer; Richard Seefon, ex-employer and Philip Pincher, rector of Bratton in Shropshire) and 1 collective petition (20 people) on behalf of Edward Clemson, servant, convicted at the Shropshire Assizes, for stealing 82 yards of flannels, 20 yards of hempen cloth, 5 iron weights, 3 planes, 1 mallet, 8 chisels, 4 files, 1 saw, 1 iron pot and 120lbs of leather, value £12 11s 6d, property of the Colebrook Dale [Coalbrookdale] Company, Samuel Darby and Company, at Melverley, on April 1791. Evidences supplied by John Aston, clerk to the Colebrook Dale Co.; Robert Harris, Edward Richards, servant to the Colebrook Dale Company; George Pugh and Richard Collins. The judge considered that the prisoner stealing from his employers warehouse a serious crime. Grounds for clemency: has a wife and 5 small children to support, offers to enlist in HM Army, first offence, previous good character, behaved well during confinement in prison. Initial sentence: 7 years transportation. Recommendation: no mercy. Folios 18-21.