| No. in Admissions Register: | 239 |
| Date of admission: | 19 August 1862 |
| Whence received: | Stafford |
| By whom brought: | - |
| On what terms: | - |
| Friends interested in him: | - |
| Description: | |
| Height: | - |
| Figure: | - |
| Complexion: | Fair |
| Hair colour: | Light brown |
| Eyes colour: | Grey |
| Perfect vision? | Yes |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Sound intellect? | Yes |
| Use of all limbs? | Yes |
| Had cow or small pox? | No |
| Particular marks: | Lost little finger of right hand |
| Cutaneous disorder? | Yes |
| Scrofulous or consumptive? | Not |
| Subject to fits? | No |
| Age last birthday: | 13 |
| Illegitimate? | No |
| Birthday: | - |
| Birth place: | - |
| Has resided: | Ryecroft Hill, Rushall |
| Parish he belongs to: | Preston, Cirencester |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Miner |
| Schools attended: | None |
| By whom and where employed: | - |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Not at all |
| Writes: | Not at all |
| Cyphers: | - |
| General ability: | - |
| Offence: | Garden robbing |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Bad company |
| Date of sentence: | 19 July 1862 |
| Where convicted: | Rushall, before J C Bealey |
| Who prosecuted: | - |
| Where imprisoned: | Stafford |
| Sentence: | 1 month prison, 2 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals and convictions: | Two |
| Father's name: | Richard Merchant |
| Occupation: | Miner |
| Residence: | James Street, Ryecroft, Walsall |
| Mother's name: | - |
| Occupation: | - |
| Residence: | - |
| Father's character: | “Never attends any place of worship.” Not in any way respectable as a working man |
| Mother's character: | - |
| Parents dead? | Mother |
| Survivor married again? | No |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Father often beats him for misconduct and thieving |
| Character of parents | Good health |
| Parents' wages: | Might earn 15s per week, if he worked whole time, One child |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | Says he can only pay 6d per week, but is thought able to pay 1s per week |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | W Price, Inspector of Police, Rushall, Walsall |
| Relatives to communicate with: | - |
| Person making this return: | W Price |
| Estimate of character on admission: | - |
| Character on discharge: | - |
| When and how left the Reformatory: | - |
26 July 1862 There is a report of the theft in the Walsall Free Press and General Advertiser Saturday 26 July 1862 p.4 col.6: GARDEN ROBBERS -John Jones, collier, and his son William, aged sixteen, together with a lad named John Merchant, aged fourteen, were charged at the Rushall court-house, on Saturday last, before J. E. Bealey, with having, on the 17th instant, stolen a quantity of cabbage from the garden of Charles Knight, at the Butts. From the evidence it appeared the elder Jones had sent his son and the lad, Merchant, into the garden to cut the cabbage while he remained outside and received them. The Bench, not wishing to deal too harshly with the prisoners, treated the case as one of wilful damage, and sentenced the father, who was severely reprimanded, to pay a fine of 5s. and costs, and discharged the son. The lad, Merchant, who has been several times before the Bench for petty thefts, was sentenced to one mouth's imprisonment, and two years in a reformatory.
18 August 1864 Left and returned to his father on expiration of his term
December 1866 Not heard of
January 1868 Heard of at Brownhills. Doing well
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