Report of Lord Ellenborough and Beaumont Hotham on 1 collective petition (38 people...

Report of Lord Ellenborough and Beaumont Hotham on 1 collective petition (38 people of Colchester, Essex, including the prisoner, clergy, the mayor and magistrates) on behalf of Samuel Waterhouse, 'in the mail coach business', under sentence of the King's Bench for a perjury committed at the Chelmsford Summer [Sessions] in 1800. The dispute arose between William Waterhouse and John Skinner over a consignment of oats, there is a detailed description of this dispute in the petition. Evidences supplied by Thomas Holder, Benjamin Bunn, Daniel Sutton, Mr. Skinner, Thomas Rayner, William Jacobs, Samuel Tickess, William Waterhouse, John Hunt, brewer and Mr. Hasker, Superintendent of the Mail, General Post Office. There are covering letters to the petition from Lord Auckland and Hasker. Grounds for clemency: the prisoner was of good conduct and reputation testified by many respectable persons, had borne an 'upright and irreproachable Character', the character of a principal witness was suspect, and he was innocent. Initial sentence: [not given although the judge mentions transportation or pillory]. Recommendation: 'It remains for Your Lordship to say whether... it be advisable to recommend to his Majesty that the prayer of the petition should be granted.'[prisoner asks for a pardon]. Folios 78-89.