Joseph Leese - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 1026 |
| Age: | 9 years 10 months (born 21 May 1883) |
| Whence received: | H M Prison Stafford |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Sallow |
| Hair colour: | Light |
| Eyes colour: | Grey |
| Height: | 4 ft 2 ins |
| Particular marks: | Nil |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Date of admission: | '22 March1893 |
| Late residence: | 22 Oxford Street, Longton |
| Parish he belongs to: | Longton |
| Customary work and mode of life: | - |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Imperfectly, Standard 2 |
| Writes: | Imperfectly |
| Offence: | Stealing money |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Entire lack of parental control. Father away in Yorkshire, mother at work. The boy is evidently a thoroughly bad lad |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 9 March 1893; T Q Twemlow; Staffordshire adjourned Quarter Sessions |
| Where imprisoned: | H M Prison Stafford |
| Sentence: | 14 days hard labour in prison, 5 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | 8 |
| Length: | 1) To pay costs; 2) 2 strokes; 3) 4 strokes; 5) 6 strokes; 6) 6 strokes; 7) 6 strokes; 8) 6 strokes |
| For what: | 1) Stealing rabbit skins; 2) stealing caps; 3) stealing fowls; 4) stealing 10s; 5) stealing lamps; 6) stealing pigeons; 7) stealing 10s; 8) stealing 4s |
| Father's name: | Joseph Leese |
| Occupation: | (gone away) |
| Mother's name: | Mary Leese |
| Occupation: | Gilder |
| Parents dead? | Neither |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Appears to have been beyond his mother's control |
| Character of parents | Father gone away, mother good character |
| Parents' wages: | Small wages |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | - |
| Parents address: | 22 Oxford Street, Longton |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | - |
| Person making this return: | - |
| Notes: | |
| 25 February 1893 The crime that sent him to Saltley was reported in the Bridgnorth Journal and South Shropshire Advertiser Thursday 25 February 1893 p.8 col.1: A BOY THIEF'S SAD RECORD. At Longton Petty Sessions, Joseph Leese, aged 9, was charged with having stolen 13s. 7d. the money of William Letts, agent for Messrs. W. .H. Smith and Sons. The money was left in the office at the bookstall in the railway station at Longton, and the boy was seen by Frederick Clews running down the incline. He went to the office, and missing the money followed Leese. He caught him, and the money was found in his possession. - Superintendent Evans said the prisoner had been convicted 10 times already. His record was as follows : - February 5, 1881, stealing rabbit skins, paid costs3s. 6d; February 19, 189I, stealing two caps, 2 strokes with the birch rod; March 2, 1891, stealing two fowls, 4 strokes; March 12,1891, stealing 10s. from a till, 6 stroke; May 25, 1891, stealing keys, value 6d., 6 strokes; May 25, 1991, vagrancy on premises, discharged; January 1,1892, stealing boots, discharged; December 5, 1892, stealing pigeons, 6 strokes; February 16, 1893, stealing 10s. from a till, 5 strokes; same day, stealing 4s. from a till, 5 strokes. The last conviction was only last Thursday, and upon that occasion there were 13 similar cases which were not gone into. The lad was not 10 years old.-- The Mayor said they felt the boy was quite incorrigible, and they had decided to send him to the Sessions for trial, where perhaps they would be able to find a way of dealing with him which the Bench could not do. It may be stated that the Bench are unable to send the boy to an industrial school or a reformatory, owing to his not being of proper age, but the Quarter Sessions have power to do so; hence the Bench committed him, allowing bail. | |
| 1 February 1898 The Register of Boys on Licence records that Leese was licensed to go out and work for Mr Ray, Blurton Farm, Longton | |
| 21 March 1898 Sentence expired whilst out on licence, discharged from Saltley | |