| No. in Admissions Register: | 205 |
| Date of admission: | 18 March 1861 |
| Whence received: | Birmingham Gaol |
| By whom brought: | - |
| On what terms: | - |
| Friends interested in him: | |
| Description: | |
| Height: | - |
| Figure: | Slight |
| Complexion: | Pale |
| Hair colour: | Brown |
| Eyes colour: | Hazel |
| Perfect vision? | Yes |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Sound intellect? | Yes |
| Use of all limbs? | Yes |
| Had cow or small pox? | Vaccinated |
| Particular marks: | Pock pitted and scars and marks on body |
| Cutaneous disorder? | No |
| Scrofulous or consumptive? | Delicate looking |
| Subject to fits? | No |
| Age last birthday: | 12 |
| Illegitimate? | No |
| Birthday: | - |
| Birth place: | - |
| Has resided: | 132 Brearley Street, Birmingham |
| Parish he belongs to: | |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Glass button making |
| Schools attended: | None |
| By whom and where employed: | |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Not at all |
| Writes: | Not at all |
| Cyphers: | - |
| General ability: | - |
| Offence: | Stealing 12 lbs of iron |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Bad company |
| Date of sentence: | 29 January 1861 |
| Where convicted: | Moor Street |
| Who prosecuted: | - |
| Where imprisoned: | - |
| Sentence: | 21 days prison, 5 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals and convictions: | Stealing a pair of boots (1 day and whipping) |
| Father's name: | Elijah Burkitt |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Residence: | 132 Brearly Street, Birmingham |
| Mother's name: | - |
| Occupation: | - |
| Residence: | - |
| Father's character: | - |
| Mother's character: | - |
| Parents dead? | Mother |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | - |
| Character of parents | - |
| Parents' wages: | 3s per day when in work |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | Will probably be ordered to pay 1s 6d or 1s per week |
| Superintendent of police to (collect payments): | G Glossop, Moor Stree |
| Relatives to communicate with: | - |
| Person making this return: | T C S Kynnersley |
| Estimate of character on admission: | - |
| Character on discharge: | - |
| When and how left the Reformatory: | - |
30 January 1861 There is a report of his crime in the Birmingham Daily Post Wednesday 30 January 1861 p.3 col.5: STEALING SCRAP IRON. - Two lads, named Samuel Birkett [surname spelled thus], aged 13 years, and John Shaw, 12, were charged with stealing a quantity of scrap iron, the property of William Hopkins, On Monday morning last. Police constable Knight said that about three o'clock on Monday morning he saw the prisoner Birkett standing with some scrap-iron outside the palings of Mr. Heath's coal-yard, and Shaw was inside the palings, handing over some iron. Mr. Shaw had let the upper yard to Mr. Hopkins, who kept some scrap-iron there, and whose property the iron found in the possession of the prisoners was. Sergeant Teggins said that last summer Birkett had been flogged and sent to gaol for stealing a pair of boots, and that Stow had only come out eleven days ago from serving a term of three months for sleeping out of doors. The prisoners were each sentenced to twenty-one days' imprisonment, after which they were to be sent to a Reformatory School for five years,
13 February 1864 Absconded
26 May 1864 Brought back from Chesterfield
18 May 1865 Emigrated to Canada
June 1866 In Birmingham at work shoemaking
January 1867 Wrote from the Implacable training ship
HMS Implacable, Devonport, Devon
Dear Sir, I write to let you know that I am now on board HMS Training Ship Implacable, 24 guns, at Devonport, but I shall not be there much longer for I go up to pass for Rating on the first of May
Dear Sir, I often told you that I should like to join the Navy. I have done so and have no cause to be sorry yet, and I do not think that I ever shall be, for it is a profession that I always thought I should like, and so I do, and mean to stick at it. I hope you will please to excuse me not writing to you before, for it was intention not to write until I left England, for I did not like the thought of letting you know that I am only a 2nd class Boy, for I wanted to be more than that before I let you know that I was in the Navy.
Dear Sir, I shall not say any more in this letter, for I am thinking perhaps you may have left the School.
From Sam Burkitt, HMS Implacable, Devonport, Devon.
Please to write soon. Excuse bad writing for I expect my boat to be called away every minute.
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