Charles Ernest Kirby - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 1177 |
| Age: | 13 (born 28 December 1884) |
| Whence received: | County Hall, Coventry |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Fresh, freckled |
| Hair colour: | Sandy |
| Eyes colour: | Dark blue |
| Height: | 4 ft 9 ins |
| Particular marks: | Small dots left forearm, four more at side of dimples |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Date of admission: | 4 July 1898 |
| Late residence: | Old Yard, Foleshill, Coventry |
| Parish he belongs to: | - |
| Customary work and mode of life: | - |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Imperfectly |
| Writes: | Imperfectly |
| Offence: | Larceny of half a box of chocolate and 1 box of cigarettes, value 4s 9d, from a shop |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Sleeping out |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 29 June 1898; J C Banks and John Bell; Coventry Police Court |
| Where imprisoned: | County Hall, Coventry |
| Sentence: | 5 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | 1 |
| Length: | To come up for judgment if called upon |
| For what: | Larceny of a cap from a shop value 6½d |
| Father's name: | Edward Kirby |
| Occupation: | Iron stamper |
| Mother's name: | Mary Ann Kirby |
| Occupation: | - |
| Parents dead? | - |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | - |
| Character of parents | Good |
| Parents' wages: | - |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | - |
| Parents address: | Old Yard, Foleshill, Coventry |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | - |
| Person making this return: | James Shelley, Inspector and Clerk |
| Notes: | |
| 9 June 1898 The crime that sent him to Saltley was reported in the Coventry Evening Telegraph Wednesday 9 June 1898 p.3 col.3: FOUR BOYS IN TROUBLE. Four boys were put up in a line before the Bench, charged with stealing a box of cigarettes and half a box of chocolate. Prisoners answered to the names of James Docker, 7, Chauntry Place; Thomas Dixon, jun., 21, Silver Street; John Bagnall Jones, 20, Cope Street; and Charles Henry Kirby, Old Yard, Foleshill. Mrs. Dadley, a widow, keeping a shop in New Bulldings, had seen all four boys hanging about on Thursday. the 23rd. Subsequently she missed the goods mentioned from the shop window. She was very much put about, and did not say anything to the police until next day, when she heard the things were being sold. - Frank Cleverley, an errand boy, saw three of the prisoners standing by the shop, and one of them inside taking some things. He followed prisoners to the Pool Meadow, where he saw them eat the chocolate. Dixon gave him two cigarettes, and Kirby gave him one, but afterwards, on Kirby telling him they had been stolen, he ripped them up, and put them "down the suff." He told Mrs. Dadley of what had happened. Detective Morris proved apprehending the prisoners. The parents were called up, and questioned as to the general character of their boys. The Bench, Sod ell Kirby had been before convicted ordered him to be sent to a Reformatory, and allowed Docker, Dixon, and Jones to be bound over to come up for judgment when called upon. | |
| 15 May 1901 The Register of Boys on Licence records that Kirby was licensed to go out and work for Mr G H Farmer, Atterton, Atherstone | |
| 3 September 1901 Returned to Saltley from out on licence, conduct unsatisfactory | |
| 30 November 1901 The Register of Boys on Licence records that Kirby was re-licensed to go out and work for the Manager, Openshaw Works, Manchester | |
| 1 January 1902 The Register of Boys on Licence records that Kirby was re-licensed to go out and work for the Manager, Ashley Works, Manchester | |
| 14 October 1902 The Reformatory Committee Log Book report records that Kirby has enlisted in the Army at Preston. [When boys were given permission to enlist, permission was sought from the Home Office to formally discharge them from Saltley in advance of the expiration of their sentence. In this case, unusually Kirby is shown as out on licence until his sentence expires]. Subsequent Log book reports show him at Curragh Camp [Ireland] and Malta | |
| 28 June 1903 Sentence expired whilst out on licence in Malta, discharged from Saltley | |
| 11 August 1903 The Log Book report records receipt of a letter from Kirby, Gibraltar | |
| 12 April 1904 The Log Book report records receipt of a letter from Kirby, Gibraltar | |