Saltley Reformatory Inmates

William Randle

No. in Admissions Register:	630
Age:	10
Whence received:	Stafford Prison
Description:
Complexion:	Fresh
Hair colour:	Brown
Eyes colour:	Light blue
Visage:
Particular marks:	Cut over left eyebrow
State of health:	Good
Able-bodied?	Yes
Date of admission:	10 November 1879
Late residence:	Walsall
Parish he belongs to:	Walsall
Customary work and mode of life:	None
Whether illegitimate:	Legitimate
State of education:
Reads:	Not at all
Writes:	Not at all
Offence:	Stealing tobacco
Circumstances which may have led to it:	Not known
Date of sentence, by whom and court:	8 October 1879; J N Bagnall and J I Bird; Shenstone Petty Sessions
Where imprisoned:	H M Prison Stafford
Sentence:	1 month in prison, 5 years at Saltley
Previous committals:
Number:	1
Length:	3 days
For what:	Stealing money
Father's name:	William Randle
Occupation:	Miner
Mother's name:	Mary Randle
Occupation:	-
Parents dead?	Neither
Survivor married again?	-
Parents' treatment of child:	Good
Character of parents	Father's character not good
Parents' wages:	Father has deserted his wife and children. His whereabouts are not known
Amount parents agree to pay:	Mother in poor circumstances and believed to be unable to pay anything
Parents address:	11 Penkridge Street, Walsall
Superintendent of police (to collect payments):	-
Person making this return:	-

Notes:

2 August 1879 Ther is a report of his previous offence in the Walsall Observer and South Staffordshire Chronicle Saturday 2 August 1879 p.2 col.7: JUVENILE THIEVES - Thomas Harvey (9), Stafford Street, and William Randle (10), were charged with having stolen, on the 31st July, a penny from the shop till of Willies Enoch Barratt. - Prosecutor did not appear. - Randle's mother said that this boy was a terrible trial to her. He would not go to school, and lay out at nights at the forges and other places. She had tried severity and kindness, and could do no good with him. - Harvey's father said that his boy had been a good one until they had gone to live in their present house, and since then he had become connected with a lot of bad boys, who enticed him into all sorts of wickedness. - Prosecutor's wife afterwards appeared, and deposed that she caught Randle in her shop with his hand in the till. He had a penny in his hand. The other boy was outside watching. - Prisoners, were sent to gaol for three days, and ordered to receive six strokes with a birch rod administered by Sergeant Drury.

11 October 1879 The crime that sent him to Saltley is reported in the Walsall Observer and South Staffordshire Chronicle Saturday 11 October 1879 3 col.7: RUSHALL. STEALING TOBACCO. - At the Shenstone Petty Sessions, on Wednesday, before Colonel Bagnall. K. Corbett, Esq. and Captain Lightwood Birch, four boys, named William Wilkes, Henry Webster, William Randle, and Arthur Day, all of Walsall, varying from 9 to 14 years of age, were each charged with having stolen 6 oz. of tobacco, value 1s. 6d,. the property of James Bates, shopkeeper, Rushall, on Tuesday last. - Tamar Bates, wife of prosecutor, deposed that there was some twist tobacco on the counter. Wilkes came into the shop and asked how much the cigars were, and went out again, taking the tobacco with him. - Police-constable Woodcock produced the tobacco. - Mary Birkins deposed that she saw one of the prisoners go into Mrs Bates' shop, and afterwards. saw Day come out with a piece of tobacco, which he put under his coat. Day said to the others, "Come on. now: I have got it," and they then went away. - Prisoners were each sentenced to one calendar month's imprisonment, six stripes with a birch rod, and afterwards to be confined in a reformatory for five years - Colonel Bagnall remarking that they had no one to take care of them, and they would be sent to a place where they would be looked after and cared for. He expressed a sincere hope that, at the and of their term, they would be honest and industrious, and become respectable members of society.

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