| No. in Admissions Register: | 367 |
| Date of admission: | 8 October 1867 |
| Whence received: | Warwick Gaol |
| By whom brought: | - |
| On what terms: | - |
| Friends interested in him: | - |
| Description: | |
| Height: | 4 ft 7¼ ins |
| Figure: | Slender |
| Complexion: | Fair |
| Hair colour: | Brown |
| Eyes colour: | Grey |
| Perfect vision? | Yes |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | - |
| Sound intellect? | Yes |
| Use of all limbs? | Yes |
| Had cow or small pox? | Cowpox |
| Particular marks: | Scar on little finger left hand |
| Cutaneous disorder? | Not |
| Scrofulous or consumptive? | No |
| Subject to fits? | No |
| Age last birthday: | 12 |
| Illegitimate? | - |
| Birthday: | - |
| Birth place: | - |
| Has resided: | Birmingham |
| 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: | Stealing cigars |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | - |
| Date of sentence: | 11 September 1867 |
| Where convicted: | Aston before S L Lloyd and C Ratcliff |
| Who prosecuted: | - |
| Where imprisoned: | - |
| Sentence: | 28 days prison, 5 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals and convictions: | One |
| Father's name: | Joseph Lawes |
| Occupation: | Shoemaker |
| Residence: | 89 Branston Street, Birmingham |
| Mother's name: | Maria Lawes |
| Occupation: | - |
| Residence: | - |
| Father's character: | Good |
| Mother's character: | Good |
| Parents dead? | - |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | - |
| Character of parents | Good |
| Parents' wages: | - |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | Not decided |
| 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: | - |
14 September 1867 There was a report of the crime in the Birmingham Journal Saturday 14 September 1867 p.8 col.2: A GANG OF INCORRIGIBLE YOUNG THIEVES.-On Wednesday, at the Aston Petty Sessions, before Messrs. E. S. Evans, C. Ratcliff, and S. S. Lloyd, five boys-named Alfred Downes, James Feeney, Joseph William Laws, Andrew Holsten, and William Henry Mills-were charged with having stolen a bundle of cigars, of the value of 8s. 6d., from the shop of B. Aldu, tobacconist, Hunter's Lane. The prisoners, who are well-known young thieves, sent one of their number into prosecutor's shop, where he assisted himself to the bundle of cigars and some pipes. Adjourning to a favourite retreat, they divided the cigars amongst them according to their usual fashion, and congratulated themselves at the clever manner in which they had accomplished the theft and avoided detection. Unfortunately for them, however, another boy who saw the theft gave information, and the cigars being missed by the prosecutor, the police were communicated with, and they were apprehended. There was a second charge against Downes, Laws, and Feeney for stealing three caps from a school at the Lozells, and they pleaded guilty to this as to the other charge. All five of the prisoners were under fourteen years of age, but though so young, Downes had been three times previously in custody for robbery, Mills four times, and Laws once, and were, in appearance, hardened young ruffians, having evidently commenced their career of crime at a very tender age. With the view of reforming the three-if possible-the Magistrates sentenced Downes, Mills, and Feeney each to three weeks' imprisonment, with a whipping at the end of that period, five years' confinement in a Reformatory. Holsten and Laws, not having been convicted before, were each sentenced to seven days' imprisonment, with a whipping.
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