James Summerfield - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 1221 |
| Age: | 14 (born 21 July 1885) |
| Whence received: | Walsall Petty Sessions |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Fresh |
| Hair colour: | Dark brown |
| Eyes colour: | Slate grey |
| Height: | 4 ft 6½ ins |
| Particular marks: | Large scar centre of back |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Date of admission: | 15 March 1900 |
| Late residence: | 5 Garden Street, Walsall |
| Parish he belongs to: | - |
| Customary work and mode of life: | News boy. 4 times previously charged with various offences |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Imperfectly, Standard 3 |
| Writes: | Imperfectly, Standard 3 |
| Offence: | Vagrancy |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | No parental control |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 14 March 1900; B Beebee; Walsall Petty Sessions |
| Where imprisoned: | - |
| Sentence: | 3 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | 2 |
| Length: | - |
| For what: | 1) Larceny; 2) gambling |
| Father's name: | Joseph Somerfield [surname spelled thus] |
| Occupation: | Bit filer |
| Mother's name: | Maria Somerfield |
| Occupation: | Housewife |
| Parents dead? | Neither |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Bad |
| Character of parents | Fair |
| Parents' wages: | - |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | - |
| Parents address: | 5 Garden Street, Walsall |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | Chief Constable, Walsall |
| Person making this return: | J Gore, Chief Constable, Walsall |
| Notes: | |
| Brother of George Summerfield (boy 1204). Click here to go to his record. | |
| 13 May 1899 A previous offence was reported in the Walsall Advertiser Saturday 13 May 1899 p.8 col.6: AFTER THE COCOA NUTS. James Summerfield (13), errand boy, 30, Wisemore, was charged with stealing a cocoa nut, value 3d., from a truck in the L. & N. W. Railway Yard in Station Street, on May 10th. - lsaac Bell, carman, in the employ of the company, deposed to seeing the boy against the truck where the cocoa nuts were, and seeing witness prisoner ran away throwing the cocoa nut (produced) after him. - Discharged with a caution. | |
| 29 July 1899 Another previous offence was reported in the Walsall Advertiser Saturday 29 July 1899 p.5 col.7: WAITING FOR AN EXCURSION. Henry Baggott(11), of 11 court. Green Lane, James Somerfield, 30, Wisemore, Joseph Blower, Ann Street, Patrick O'Brian, 68, Green Lane, William Mason, 2, Bull's Head Yard, each 13 years of age, were charged with being on enclosed premises for an unlawful purpose. - On Sunday, at 1.30 a.m., Police- sergeant Curtis found the boys in a closet on the premises of Messrs. Taylor. Son and Whitehouse, of Marsh Street. He had to climb a wall to get to them, and they must also have had to climb to get to the place. The boys said they were waiting for a trip to come in; one of them remarking that his sister had gone by the trip. The boys had all been at the Truant School, but after a warning from the Bench the case was adjourned for three months to see how they behave themselves. | |
| 23 September 1899 Yet another previous offence was reported in the Walsall Advertiser Saturday 23 September 1899 p.8 col.7: "A GOOD HIDING" was ordered to be given by the parents (in the presence of Chief Inspector Gore) of John Melvin, George Street Terrace; William Mason, Wisemore; and James Somerfield, Wisemore, for causing an obstruction by playing cards in Marsh Street on the evening of the 14th inst. Police-constable Riding caught them, after having previously chased them from Station Street. | |
| 8 August 1902 The Register of Boys on Licence records that Summerfield was licensed to go out and work for Mr Dakin, Normanton, near Ashby | |
| 10 February 1903 The Reformatory Committee Log Book report records that Summerfield [spelled Somerfield in the Log book], in a fit of temper, walked out of his job, but was able to reurn there | |
| 17 March 1903 Sentenced expired whilst out on licence, discharged from Saltley | |
| 16 May 1903 He was soon in trouble again, with his brother George. This was reported in the Walsall Advertiser Saturday 16 May 1903 p.5 col.7: SHARP PUNISHMENT. Patrick O'Brien, 69. Queen Street, William Mason, 20, Paddock Lane, James and George Summerfleld, of 3, Birch Street, youths, were brought up charged with stealing a box of cigarettes and two papers, value 3s 5d, otherwise receiving the same knowing them to have been stolen. - Francis Ruddell, 196, Queen Street, identified the cigarettes (produced) as the property of his father, who kept a newsagent's and tobacco shop. About 10.30 the cigarettes were safe, but some time later he heard the papers in the shop being moved about. He looked into the shop, and saw a hand drawing the cigarettes through the window, which had been broken. On rushing outside he saw the prisoners a little further up the street, and went to them. They denied knowledge of the cigarettes and papers, but he saw them looking at a window-ledge. He looked, too, and saw the stolen articles. He picked them up, and then fetched a policeman. - Detective Burrell said that when he arrested Mason he accused the two Summerfields of committing the theft. When the Summerfields were arrested they blamed O'Brien, saying that he took the cigarettes and put them in their bag. - O'Brien accused the Summerfields of taking the papers, but admitted taking the cigarettes. O'Brien, Mason, and James Summerfield were sentenced to 21 days' hard labour, and George Summerfield was sent to a reformatory for three years. | |