John Smith - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 939 |
| Age: | 15 |
| Whence received: | H M Prison Wakefield |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Fresh |
| Hair colour: | Brown |
| Eyes colour: | Brown |
| Height: | 4 ft 8½ ins |
| Particular marks: | Mole point of right ear and on belly below right breast |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Date of admission: | 2 November 1889 |
| Late residence: | Cripplegate, Halifax |
| Parish he belongs to: | Not known |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Labourer for excavators |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Not at all |
| Writes: | Not at all |
| Offence: | Stealing 2 ducks and 2 chickens |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Lack of parental control |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 25 October 1889; J S Highley and B W Jackson; Halifax Police Court |
| Where imprisoned: | H M Prison Wakefield |
| Sentence: | 10 days in prison, 4 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | 1 (9 September 1889) |
| Length: | 7 days |
| For what: | Vagrancy |
| Father's name: | John Smith |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Mother's name: | Fanny Smith |
| Occupation: | - |
| Parents dead? | Neither |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | - |
| Character of parents | - |
| Parents' wages: | - |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | - |
| Parents address: | Cripplegate, Halifax |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | - |
| Person making this return: | - |
| Notes: | |
| 10 September 1889 There is a report of a previous offence in the Bradford Daily Telegraph 10 September 1889 p.3 col.3: A BAD LOT. - At the West Riding Police Court, Halifax, on Monday, before Messrs W. H. Rawson and J. W. Ward, Peter Pearson, Southowram Bank; Jas. Overend, Chapel Town; Percy Sharp, St. John Street; John Ackroyd and John Smith, five lads about 17 years of ago, of no fixed abode, were charged with sleeping in a shed at Belle Vue Farm, Warley, on Sunday night. P.C. Bennett found the prisoners at 1.30 in the morning. Two men. Isaac Hanson and Samuel Midgley, also of no fixed abode, were found sleeping on the same premises two hours previous to the lads. The boy Smith was committed tor 7 days and the rest 14 days to prison each. | |
| 26 October 1889 There is a report of the crime that sent him to Saltley in the Halifax Courier 26 October 1889 p.6 col.4: WHOLESALE ROBBERY OF POULTRY. - Joseph Ackroyd (18), no fixed abode, Percy Sharp (14), St. John's-street, John Smith (16), Cripplegate, and George Ingham (14), Horsfall's-yard, were brought up on charges of stealing poultry, the prosecutors being Wm. Harrison, warehouseman, Ivy-street, Robert Wilson, greengrocer, Claremount-road, Wm. Metcalfe, engineer, Apple-street, and John Uttley, dyers' labourer, Jubilee-street. They pleaded guilty. The lad Ackroyd had been in the habit of soliciting orders for poultry, saying that he was a farmer's son, and then he and the other prisoners would rob cotes at night and supply goods the following morning. It was stated that twelve places had been robbed, and that 71 head of poultry, pigeons, &c., had been stolen All the lads had been in trouble before. Smith, Sharp, and Ingham were sent to Wakefield for ten days, afterwards to go to a Reformatory for four years. Ackroyd was committed to Wakefield for three months with hard labour.3 October 1893 The Register of Boys on Licence records that Smith was licensed to work for Mr Marsden, Bottom Siddell, Halifax | |
| 1 November 1893 Sentence expired whilst on licence, discharged from Saltley | |