| No. in Admissions Register: | 344 |
| Date of admission: | 31 October 1866 |
| Whence received: | Bedford Gaol |
| By whom brought: | - |
| On what terms: | - |
| Friends interested in him: | - |
| Description: | |
| Height: | - |
| Figure: | - |
| Complexion: | Fair |
| Hair colour: | Light 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: | Burn mark on wrist |
| Cutaneous disorder? | Had itch in [can't read word] but now said to be cured |
| Scrofulous or consumptive? | None known |
| Subject to fits? | No |
| Age last birthday: | 12 |
| Illegitimate? | - |
| Birthday: | - |
| Birth place: | - |
| Has resided: | Bedford Workhouse |
| Parish he belongs to: | - |
| Customary work and mode of life: | - |
| Schools attended: | - |
| By whom and where employed: | - |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Imperfectly |
| Writes: | Imperfectly |
| Cyphers: | - |
| General ability: | - |
| Offence: | Setting fire to a bed in the workhouse |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | - |
| Date of sentence: | 15 October 1866 |
| Where convicted: | Bedford Quarter Sessions |
| Who prosecuted: | - |
| Where imprisoned: | - |
| Sentence: | 15 days prison, 12 stripes, 4 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals and convictions: | None |
| Father's name: | George Daniels (stepfather) |
| Occupation: | Bird stuffer |
| Residence: | Not known |
| Mother's name: | Emma Daniels |
| Occupation: | - |
| Residence: | - |
| Father's character: | - |
| Mother's character: | Has absconded with Daniels. Supposed to be somewhere in London |
| Parents dead? | Own father dead |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | - |
| Character of parents | - |
| Parents' wages: | - |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | - |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | - |
| Relatives to communicate with: | - |
| Person making this return: | - |
| Estimate of character on admission: | - |
| Character on discharge: | - |
| When and how left the Reformatory: | - |
16 October 1866 There is a report of the crime in the Bedfordshire Times and Independent Tuesday 16 October 1866 p.8 col.3: SETTING FIRE TO UNION BEDDING. WILLIAM PRUDDEN was indicted for setting fire to a bed in the Workhouse in the Bedford Union on the 23rd September. -The prisoner pleaded guilty. In reply to questions put by the Recorder, Mr. Rattray, the master, stated that nothing of the kind had occurred before. The boy had a mother living in London. She appeared before the Guardians about two years ago, when she stated that her boy was very mischievous and prevented her getting her living. On considering the circumstances they consented to take him. Shortly after the mother left and went to London, and was reported to have married a man with whom she was previously acquainted. The boy had committed various acts of insubordination. On this occasion he first set fire to his own bed, and then set fire to the bedding in the attic. The Recorder, in sentencing the delinquent, said he had been guilty of a very mischievous and malicious act. He had heard a very bad account of him, but he was anxious to dispose of him for his own good. Setting fire to bedding was a horrible thing to contemplate, for had it not been discovered in time, lives might have been sacrificed, as well as large amount of property destroyed ; but he was going to do that which he hoped would be beneficial to him. He must go to prison for fifteen days, and during that period be whipped, receiving twelve strokes from a birch rod ; after that he would be sent to a reformatory for a period of four years. He hoped a good whipping would act as a caution to other boys like him, and the effect of the reformatory to make a man of him by teaching him how to get his own living and make him a credit to society.
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