Saltley Reformatory Inmates

Joseph Bird

No. in Admissions Register:	306
Date of admission:	22 June 1865
Whence received:	Stafford
By whom brought:	-
On what terms:	-
Friends interested in him:	-
Description:
Height:	-
Figure:	-
Complexion:	Fresh
Hair colour:	Brown
Eyes colour:	Brown
Perfect vision?	-
State of health:	Good
Able-bodied?	Yes
Sound intellect?	Yes
Use of all limbs?	Yes
Had cow or small pox?	Cowpox
Particular marks:	None
Cutaneous disorder?	No
Scrofulous or consumptive?	Not apparent
Subject to fits?	None
Age last birthday:	15
Illegitimate?	-
Birthday:	-
Birth place:	-
Has resided:	Wednesbury
Parish he belongs to:	Wednesbury
Customary work and mode of life:	-
Schools attended:	-
By whom and where employed:	-
State of education:
Reads:	Imperfectly
Writes:	Imperfectly
Cyphers:	-
General ability:	-
Offence:	Larceny
Circumstances which may have led to it:	Parents' bad conduct
Date of sentence:	21 March 1865
Where convicted:	Wednesbury before J Lolley and J Marshall
Who prosecuted:	-
Where imprisoned:	-
Sentence:	3 months in prison, 3 years at Saltley
Previous committals and convictions:	Four – larceny and vagrancy
Father's name:	James Bird
Occupation:	Furnaceman
Residence:	Workhouse Lane, Wednesbury
Mother's name:	Elizabeth Bird
Occupation:	-
Residence:	-
Father's character:	-
Mother's character:	-
Parents dead?	Neither
Survivor married again?	-
Parents' treatment of child:	-
Character of parents	Nothing known against them
Parents' wages:	£2 to £2 10s a week
Amount parents agree to pay:	I am of opinion they ought to pay not less than 2s 6d per week
Superintendent of police (to collect payments):	J T Holland, Wednesbury
Relatives to communicate with:	-
Person making this return:	J Lolley, Toll End, Tipton
Estimate of character on admission:	-
Character on discharge:	-
When and how left the Reformatory:	-

Notes:

2 June 1860 There is a report of an earlier offence in the Staffordshire Advertiser Saturday 2 June 1860 p.7 col.5: Joseph Bird, of Wednesbury. was charged with stealing two brass taps, the property of Thomas Hughes The prisoner was apprehended by Sergeant Carroll, on the 18th May. with the taps in his possession; but the owner not then being known he was discharged, after having been kept in custody several days. After the prisoner had been discharged, it was discovered that the taps belonged to the landlord of the Talbot Inn. where the prisoner had been, and was relieved on the day he was apprehended. The prisoner was again taken into custody, and pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to a month's imprisonment with hard labour.

29 August 1863 Another previous offence was reported in the Staffordshire Advertiser Saturday 29 August 1863 p.7 col.4: OLD IN CRIME.-A lad named Joseph Bird, who, though only 14 years of age, had been in prison five or six times, was charged with having been on premises with intent to commit a felony. Thomas Newton, living in King Street, found the prisoner on his premises on Sunday night, and he attempted to climb the wall when detected. He was sentenced to a fortnight's imprisonment and a flogging.

3 January 1867 Licensed

19 October 1867 Shortly after leaving the reformatory he was in trouble again, as reported in the Staffordshire Advertiser Saturday 19 October 1867 p.6 col.6: A HEARTLESS ROBBERY. JOSEPH BIRD, 18. puddler, was indicted for stealing £5, the moneys of Mary Keay, at Wednesbury, the 20th ult. The prisoner is a lad of bad character, and on the 19th of September, when he had not long been out of a reformatory, the prosecutrix, an old blind woman, a grand-aunt of his, took him to stay at her house, and while there got up in the night time, forcibly took the money in question from a box in a chest of drawers in his room, and went away. He was found guilty. It was stated that he had been in custody eleven times on charges of felony. He was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. Upon leaving the dock he commenced crying bitterly, and, turning to the prosecutrix, said, "Thank you, aunt. Seven years!"

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