| No. in Admissions Register: | 263 |
| Date of admission: | 16 October 1863 |
| Whence received: | Stafford |
| By whom brought: | - |
| On what terms: | - |
| Friends interested in him: | - |
| Description: | |
| Height: | - |
| Figure: | - |
| Complexion: | Fresh |
| 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? | Cowpox |
| Particular marks: | Burn on right arm |
| Cutaneous disorder? | No |
| Scrofulous or consumptive? | Not apparent |
| Subject to fits? | No |
| Age last birthday: | 11 |
| Illegitimate? | Not |
| Birthday: | - |
| Birth place: | - |
| Has resided: | Burslem |
| Parish he belongs to: | - |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Potter |
| Schools attended: | - |
| By whom and where employed: | - |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Not at all |
| Writes: | Not at all |
| Cyphers: | - |
| General ability: | - |
| Offence: | Stealing a dress and other property |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Bad company |
| Date of sentence: | 25 September 1863 |
| Where convicted: | Fenton, before B Rose |
| Who prosecuted: | - |
| Where imprisoned: | - |
| Sentence: | 21 days prison, 4 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals and convictions: | Stealing clothing (21 days) |
| Father's name: | John Downs |
| Occupation: | Potter |
| Residence: | Burnt? Bank, Burslem |
| Mother's name: | Eliza Downs |
| Occupation: | Charwoman |
| Residence: | Church Street, Burslem |
| Father's character: | Bad – deserted his family |
| Mother's character: | Bad – cohabits with one James Mycock |
| Parents dead? | Neither |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Bad |
| Character of parents | - |
| Parents' wages: | 15s a week |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | 1s 3d |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | P Povey, Burslem |
| Relatives to communicate with: | - |
| Person making this return: | - |
| Estimate of character on admission: | - |
| Character on discharge: | - |
| When and how left the Reformatory: | - |
8 August 1863 There is a report of his previous offence (but is incorrect about his going to a reformatory for it) in the Staffordshire Advertiser Saturday 8 August 1863 p.7 col.6: JUVENILE THIEVES.-Joseph Downes and James Bell, two lads each about eleven years of age, were charged with stealing a pair of trousers, at Burslem. the property of James Steele, a collier. Downes, who was described as a particularly bad, idle lad. is a stepson to the prosecutor, and lodged in the same house. On the morning of the 31st July he got up and stole the trousers from his father's bedroom. It turned out that the theft must have been concerted, inasmuch as the other prisoner, who subsequently pledged the trousers at Mr. Turner's, pawnbroker, Tunstall, was waiting outside the prosecutor's house when they were stolen. Both prisoners were convicted under the Juvenile Offenders Act, and sentenced to 21 days' imprisonment each; Bell to be once whipped, and his companion to be transferred to a reformatory for four years.
26 September 1863 There is a short report of the crime in the Staffordshire Advertiser Saturday 26 September 1863 p.8 col.6: TWO YOUNG THIEVES.-At the police-court held at Fenton, yesterday, before T. B. Rose, Esq., two lads, Joseph Downes, 10, and James Stacey, 11, were brought up, charged with stealing articles of wearing apparel, the property of Thomas Lockett, Victoria-street, Burslem. Downes, who had been convicted before was sent to the house of correction for 21 days, preparatory to being sent to a reformatory for four years; and Stacey was sent to the house of correction for three months with hard labour, and to be once whipped.
16 October 1867 Discharged
December 1868 Doing well at Burslem
January 1870 Doing well at Burslem
December 1870 Doing well at Burslem
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