On 30 July 1803, Richard was “committed by the worshipful Robert Claxton Esq, Alderman, being charged on the oath of George Taylor and Richard Giles” to Newgate Gaol in Bristol. Three months later, in October 1803, Richard was convicted in Bristol Quarter Sessions of larceny involving the theft of 6 gallons of brandy. He was 26 at the time of his conviction.
For many years the nature of his offence was unknown, however witness statements for the trial have thrown some light on the circumstances of the charges. The following is a transcript of the statement made by Richard Giles (a work colleague) and George Taylor (Richard's employer). Taylor and Giles made the statement to Robert Claxton JP at the Assembly Coffee House in Bristol on 29 July 1803 (original spelling is retained):
City of Bristol and County of the same City, to wit.
THE Information of Richard Giles, A Labourer and of George Taylor, Asembly Coffee House on the Key.
Taken on Oath this twenty ninth Day of July in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and three before Robert Claxton Esq being One of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace of and for the City of Bristol and County of the same City.
The Informant Richard Giles on his Oath saith that a great many times prior to the 4th day of March last, one Richard Woodbury who worked with the informant for the other Informant Taylor, hath stolen cole wood1 and other things from the said George Taylor and particularly between the fourth and twelfth days of March the said Richard Woodbury drew off from a cask of brandy that was in the said George Taylor’s cellar about thirty bottles of brandy (illegible) and sold it to several people and converted the money to his own use. And also Informant George Taylor on his oath saith that he suspected that the (accused?) had over gauged the cask of brandy above mentioned and on causing the cask to be fresh gauged he discovered that six gallons of the said brandy had been stolen and that the said six gallons of brandy is of the value of six pounds.
Served before (signed) Rob Claxton
(His mark) Geo Taylor
1 Possibly “coal wood” or charcoal – used in the distilling process
Reference: JQS/P/198. Bristol Record Office, UK.
Richard's conviction and sentence of transportation for 7 years was noted in the local paper along with others tried and convicted at the October Quarter Sessions at Bristol in October 1803 (Felix Farley’s Bristol Journal, 29 October 1803, p3, col 5).
Acknowledgement: This page was made possible through research by Peter Bennett, genealogist from Hampshire UK, and with the assistance of Graham Tratt from the Bristol Record Office, UK.
Page created on 3 March 2013.