Enoch Lowe - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 909 |
| Age: | 13 |
| Whence received: | H M Prison Stafford |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Pale and sallow |
| Hair colour: | Dark brown |
| Eyes colour: | brown |
| Height: | 4 ft 6 ins |
| Particular marks: | Small blue mark back of right hand |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Very thin |
| Date of admission: | 15 February 1889 |
| Late residence: | 18 Bissell Street, Walbrook, Bilston |
| Parish he belongs to: | Bilston |
| Customary work and mode of life: | None, has been running since 3 years ago |
| Whether illegitimate: | |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Very imperfectly |
| Writes: | Very imperfectly |
| Offence: | Stealing coal from a wharf |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Neglect of his parent to control him |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 25 January 1889; C Wells and C J Clarke; Bilston Police Court |
| Where imprisoned: | H M Prison Stafford |
| Sentence: | 21 days in prison, 5 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | 3 |
| Length: | 1) 6 strokes; 2) 7 strokes; 3) 7 strokes |
| For what: | 1) Stealing hay; 2) stealing coal; 3) stealing coal |
| Father's name: | Enoch Lowe |
| Occupation: | Miner |
| Mother's name: | Polly Lowe |
| Occupation: | - |
| Parents dead? | Mother |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Utterly neglected by father, who is a drunken man and who bets and take part in pigeon matches |
| Character of parents | Father apparently honest but drunken |
| Parents' wages: | 16s per week |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | Not yet assessed |
| Parents address: | 18 Bissell Street, Bilston |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | - |
| Person making this return: | - |
| Notes: | |
| 25 January 1889 There is a report of the crime in the Wolverhampton Express and Star Friday 25 January 1889 p.3 col.3: SENT TO A REFORMATORY. - Enoch Lowe (13), and Joseph Southall (13), of Coseley, were charged with stealing a quantity of coal, value 9d., the property of David Elwell, of Coseley. - Southall's mother stated that on the 22nd inst. she found that he was not at school as he should have been, and on going in search of him found that he was carrying some coal with another boy. She took him to the police station. She had had a great deal of trouble with him, and her husband had been in prison "for School Board summonses." - A Constable stated that he saw Lowe carry a piece of coal to the house of a woman named Rhoda Palmer, who gave him something for it. Witness went to the woman Palmer, and asked her about the coal. She said, '' I have only done what many others have done. I have given him 3d. for it." It appeared that there had been three convictions against Lowe, whose father could not manage him. - The Bench ordered him to be sent to Stafford for 21 days. and afterwards to a reformatory until he was 16 years of age. Southall was remanded to the Workhouse for a week, and afterwards to be sent to an Industrial School for five years. | |
| 29 January 1892 Sentence expired, discharged from Saltley | |
| 3 February 1894 The Reformatory Committee Log Book report records receipt of a letter from Lowe, Walbrook, Staffordshire | |