CRIME IN PAST TIMES

Sent to the colonies for stealing ribbons

Quick detective work by the good citizens of Bourne when they spotted a theft taking place from a shop in the market place resulted in two teenagers being transported to the colonies for ten years.

The two lads had only just arrived in town in the summer of 1848 and were staying at Kingston’s lodging house, a disreputable establishment in West Street used by tramps, itinerants and down and outs, and finding themselves short of money, plotted to make some through theft. They therefore went into town with the intention of stealing and came across the millinery shop in the market place run by Mrs Jemima Todd which seemed to be a suitable prospect because there was no one inside.

The younger of the two, Thomas Bennett, aged 15, opened the door and went in and after looking round to make sure that the shop was empty, went behind the counter while his friend, James Baker, aged 19, kept watch outside. After a few moments, Bennett came out with his pockets bulging, shut the door and the pair hurried back to the lodging house.

Unfortunately, their actions had been observed. Mrs Hannah Barnsdale, housekeeper for Henry Bott, landlord of the Angel Inn across the road, had been watching from an upstairs window and could clearly see what had been taking place. She reported to her employer and he called Mrs Todd’s husband William, who kept the drapery shop next door to his wife’s millinery establishment, and he went off in pursuit, to be joined by Mr Bott and the town constable as he reached the lodging house.

Here they found Brown covered up in bed and claiming that he had been there since the night before but a search of the room revealed Bennett hiding under a nearby bed with the haul from the shop close at hand, consisting of nine rolls and a further 20 yards of ribbon valued at £2.

The lads were apprehended and charged with theft, appearing at the Kesteven Sessions held at the Town Hall in Bourne on Monday 16th October when the jury found them guilty. The court was also told that the pair had been convicted of a felony at Quadring, near Spalding, the previous year and had been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.

The chairman of the bench, Lieut-General Johnson, said that the two accused had evidently been living on the public for some time and as they had not taken the warning by their imprisonment, it would be for the advantage of society to send them out of the country and so he sentenced both to be transported for ten years.

James Brown, also known by the name of Baker, subsequently sailed for Tasmania in 1849 aboard the ship Pestonjee Bomamjee and Thomas Bennett, also known by the name of Tuck, sailed for Tasmania in 1850 aboard the ship Rodney. Their fate after that is unknown.

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