Noah Heritage - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 1034 |
| Age: | 15 (born 28 April 1878) |
| Whence received: | H M Prison Warwick |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Fresh |
| Hair colour: | Dark brown |
| Eyes colour: | Brown |
| Height: | 4 ft 6 ins |
| Particular marks: | Impediment in speech |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Date of admission: | 17 June 1893 |
| Late residence: | The Union Workhouse, Warwick, 10 months previously in the Wandsworth Workhouse |
| Parish he belongs to: | Boy says he was born in Scotland |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Never did any work, except at the Warwick Workhouse where he was employed in the garden |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Very imperfectly |
| Writes: | Very imperfectly |
| Offence: | Stealing 4s 6d from a shop at Coton End, Warwick, at 4 am |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Bad example of parents |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 29 May 1893; S W Stanton and R H Lyttleton; Warwick Petty Sessions |
| Where imprisoned: | H M Prison Warwick |
| Sentence: | 10 days in prison, 5 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | None, but has absconded from the Workhouse 4 times, and was so absent when this offence was committed |
| Length: | - |
| For what: | - |
| Father's name: | Noah Heritage |
| Occupation: | Stone mason |
| Mother's name: | Antonia Heritage |
| Occupation: | - |
| Parents dead? | Neither |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | - |
| Character of parents | Father has been several times convicted |
| Parents' wages: | - |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | - |
| Parents address: | unknown in both cases |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | - |
| Person making this return: | - |
| Notes: | |
| 26 July 1884 His father had been in trouble, as reported in the Atherstone, Nuneaton, and Warwickshire Times Saturday 26 July 1884 p.6 col.1: DESERTION OF A WIFE AND SEVEN CHILDREN. - Noah Heritage, stonemason, no fixed residence, was charged with neglecting to maintain his wife and seven children, on the 6th October last, whereby they became chargeable to the common funds of the Warwick Union. - Mr. Garnham, Master of the Workhouse, said that the wife and seven children of defendant were admitted to the Workhouse on the 6th October last, and had since been chargeable to the common funds of the Union. He was a pensioner, receiving 7s. per week, and was a stonemason by trade. Since leaving his wife he had been travelling about the country, and on Tuesday last was admitted into the vagrant ward of the Workhouse, and he was then given into custody. - The defendant pleaded that he had been travelling in search of work, which he had been unable to get. - Mr. Garnham stated that some years ago the defendant left his family in a similar way, and they then became chargeable to the Clapham Union, from which Union they were transferred to Warwick. - The Magistrates were of opinion that defendant ought to have contributed something towards the maintenance of his family, and they therefore sent him to gaol for 14 days, with hard labour. | |
| 29 May 1893 The boy's crime was reported in the Coventry Evening Telegraph Monday 29 May 1893 p.3 col.2: A BOY HOUSEBREAKER. At the Warwick Borough Police Court to-day - before Alderman S. W. Stanton (in the chair), Councillor Coltart, the Hon. R. H. Lyttelton, and Mr. J. Thacker - Noah Heritage (15), an inmate of the Warwick Union Workhouse, was charged with stealing 3s. 6d. from a till in a general grocery shop kept by Charles Copsey, at Coten End, Warwick. Prosecutor said on coming downstairs between four and five o'clock in the morning of Friday, the 19th inst., he found that a back window had been broken, and the shop till emptied of about 3s.6d. in money. Benjamin Ayton, employed at the tram stables, opposite prosecutor's shop, said he saw the prisoner looking into the shop window early in the morning of the 9th inst, and about a week later saw him come out of an entry close by and go away in the direction of Leamington. Police-constable Mason said as the result of enquiries he went to the Workhouse, and asked the prisoner what he had done with the money he had in his possession a few days previously. Prisoner replied that he had given to an aunt who had purchased various articles (handkerchiefs, &c, produced) from him. This statement witness found to be untrue, and in reply to further questioning, prisoner admitted having broken into the shop and taken the money from the till. He also informed witness that he had stolen a pair of stockings off a line. At Alderman Stanton's request Mr, Garnham, master of the Workhouse, stepped into the witness-box, and made a statement which was to the effect that the boy was a member of an unfortunate family, whose criminal propensities appeared to be hereditary, as only a short time ago a brother of the prisoner was convicted by the court of criminal acts. During his experience of 30 years, continued Mr. Garnham, he had never met with such a boy as the prisoner, who several times had escaped through the windows of the Workhouse, returning at night to steal food from the food bags in the men's quarters and then making off again. Alderman Stanton said the Bench would do all they could to make prisoner a respectable man, and would send him to prison for 10 days, after which he would be sent to a reformatory for five years, It would, therefore, rest with himself as to whether he grew up a blackguard or a respectable member of society. | |
| 26 March 1894 The Medical Officer reported: Strumous disease, much better by 2 April | |
| 17 March 1896 The Register of Boys on Licence records that Heritage was licensed to go out and work for Mr Kent, Olton, Birmingham | |
| 19 April 1896 Returned to Saltley, after absconding whilst on licence | |
| 2 June 1898 Discharged from Saltley on account of emigrating. Left Liverpool on board SS Parisian for Winnepeg via Quebec | |