John Kirk - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 734 |
| Age: | 12 |
| Whence received: | H M Prison Birmingham |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Fresh |
| Hair colour: | Brown |
| Eyes colour: | Blue |
| Visage: | Oval |
| Particular marks: | Scar bottom of right thigh |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Date of admission: | 4 October 1883 |
| Late residence: | 8 Temple Street, Church Hill, Walsall |
| Parish he belongs to: | Walsall |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Nil |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Not at all |
| Writes: | Not at all |
| Offence: | Stealing 3 pairs of boots |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | A desire to have money to spend |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 4 September 1883; Wilson Lloyd and Frederick A Horner; Wednesbury Police Court |
| Where imprisoned: | H M Prison Birmingham |
| Sentence: | 1 month in prison, 5 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | 5 |
| Length: | - |
| For what: | - |
| Father's name: | Thomas Kirk |
| Occupation: | Iron caster |
| Mother's name: | Jane Kirk |
| Occupation: | - |
| Parents dead? | Neither |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Kind |
| Character of parents | - |
| Parents' wages: | Father 35s to 40s per week, mother nothing |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | |
| Parents address: | 8 Temple Street, Church Hill, Walsall |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | Chief Constable Gates, Walsall |
| Person making this return: | William Foster, Chief Warden in Charge, H M Prison Stafford |
| Notes: | |
| Brother of William Kirk (boy 778). Click here to go to his record | |
| 5 September 1883 There is a report of the crime in the Birmingham Daily Post Wednesday 5 September 1883 p.8 col.4: WEDNESBURY. - PRECOCITY IN CRIME. - At the Police Court, yesterday - before Messrs. F. A. Homer and W. Lloyd - Edward Bayliss (14) and John Kirk (12), both of Walsall, were brought up in custody, they having been apprehended on the completion of a term of imprisonment at Stafford,. charged with having, on the 28th July, stolen a pair of boots from the shop of Joseph Hewitt, boot and shoe dealer, Union Street, Wednesbury, and with having, on the same day, at the Delves, stolen a breakfast from a boy named Thomas Dewsbury, the son of a labourer living in that locality, and also with having assaulted the lad. It appeared that as Dewsbury was on his way to work on the morning of the day named he was met by the prisoners and three other boys, all of whom joined in an attack upon him, and knocked him into the ditch and took his breakfast, which they divided (or "halved," as the lad put it) between them. The same afternoon three pairs of boots C were stolen from Mr. Hewitt's shop, and just at the time of the robbery one of the prisoners was seen standing outside. A day or two later the prisoners were arrested at Walsall on a charge of stealing pigeons, and it was then found that Bayliss was wearing one pair of the stolen boots, that another of the five boys was wearing a second pair, and that one of the party had pledged the third pair in Walsall. - Superintendent Halland said the boy who was found to be in possession of the second pair would not be out of prison for another month. - There were six previous convictions on record against Bayliss, and four against Kirk.-The prisoners were sentenced to one month's imprisonment each, to be followed by live years' detention in a reformatory. | |
| 5 March 1887 Licensed to work for Mr J Marsden, Mount Street, Walsall | |
| 19 April 1887 The Reformatory Log Book records receipt of a letter from Kirk, same address | |
| 3 October 1888 Sentence expired, discharged from Saltley whilst out on licence | |