William George Attwood - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 1222 |
| Age: | 13 (born 31 March 1887) |
| Whence received: | Walsall Petty Sessions |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Fresh |
| Hair colour: | Light brown |
| Eyes colour: | Blue |
| Height: | 4 ft 4½ ins |
| Particular marks: | Anchor on left forearm; gravestone on right forearm |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Date of admission: | 14 April 1900 |
| Late residence: | 29 The Ditch, Walsall |
| Parish he belongs to: | - |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Schoolboy |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Imperfectly, Standard 3 |
| Writes: | Imperfectly, Standard 3 |
| Offence: | Larceny |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Father and mother both convicted of receiving the goods stolen by their children. A quantity of food was received |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 3 April 1900; B B Wheway; Walsall Petty Sessions |
| Where imprisoned: | - |
| Sentence: | 4 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | Nil - has been previously charged but no conviction. Suspected of many thefts. Has been to a truant school |
| Length: | - |
| For what: | - |
| Father's name: | William George Attwood |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Mother's name: | Martha Attwood |
| Occupation: | Housewife |
| Parents dead? | Neither |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Bad |
| Character of parents | Bad |
| Parents' wages: | Not known |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | - |
| Parents address: | 29 The Ditch, Walsall |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | Chief Constable, Walsall |
| Person making this return: | J Gore, Chief Constable |
| Notes: | |
| 31 March 1900 There is a report of a previous offence in the Walsall Advertiser Saturday 31 March 1900 p.8 col.6: BOY BURGLARS. William George Attwood (14), 57, The Ditch; Arthur Francis Cox (10), 21, Dudley Street; and Ernest Cartledge (12), 58. Sandwell Street, all schoolboys, were placed in the dock on a charge of stealing from 1, St. Paul's Close a number of household articles, including a clock, a shirt. towel, pair of pants, looking glass, etc. - George Whitehouse, wine and spirit merchant, of Springfield, Mellish Road, identified the articles (produced) as the property of his sister, Clara Whitehouse. The house from which they had been taken had been unoccupied for some years, but he himself had been in the house a couple of months ago, and when he left the house was locked securely. The previous day he went in again and found the place literally upside down, drawers and boxes emptied and turned upside down, and a quantity of broken glass scattered about. - Edward Henry Holmes, stone beer manufacturer, of 5, School Street, said he was passing up St. Paul's Street at about half-past three on Saturday, March 24th, and saw the boy Attwood catching articles that were being thrown over the wait Afterwards another boy climbed over the wall into the street, and witness called to them. They ran away, leaving the clock and several other things behind them. Witness pursued them and caught Attwood, whom he handed over to a police officer on The Bridge. - Rebecca Whelbourne. of 2, St. Paul's Close, said that on Saturday afternoon she was looking through the window of her house, which overlooked St. Paul's Close, and saw three boys in the act of carrying away goods from the house next door. She went down the yard and took possession of several garments which she had seen Attwood place on the wall, and which she subsequently handed over to Police-constable Wright. - Police-constable Wright spoke to having received Attwood from the witness Holmes. Witness took Attwood back to the house, and found that it had been ransacked. He arrested Cox and Cartlidge afterwards, the former stating that Attwood got into the house, he (Cox) followed, and handed the things through the window. - Defendants pleaded guilty, and the case was adjourned for a week for the boys to be thrashed by their parents in the presence of a representative of the Court. | |
| 7 April 1900 There is a short newspaper clipping attached to the Admissions Register, reporting the crime that sent the boy to Saltley and his father to prison. The clipping is from the Birmingham Daily Post, Wednesday 4 April p.5 col.8. However, there is a much longer and detailed report in the Walsall Advertiser, Saturday 7 April 1900 p.5 col.7: YOUNG SHARPS. William George Attwood (14). 57. The Ditch, and Arthur Francis Cox (10), 21, Dudley Street, were charged with stealing a metal clock, value 8s. 6d., the property of Samuel Adams, of 52, Upper Rushail Street, and Attwood's father was summoned for receiving the clock well knowing it to have been stolen. -Thomas Henry Bonsor, a baker, living at 98, Farringdon Street, identified the clock (produced) as his employer's property. The clock was usually kept on the shelf in the bakehouse, where witness saw it safe on leaving the previous Saturday evening. The following day witness had occasion to go to the bakehouse and there found the boy Cox standing in front of the oven. He had a bag half filled with coal by the side of him. On being asked what brought him there Cox said another lad had thrown his hat through the skylight and he had come to fetch it. Witness took Cox down the street, and then returned to the bakehouse and he then missed the clock.- Detective-sergeant Haycock said he visited Cox's house with respect to the clock, and from a statement Cox made witness arrested the boy Attwood. Witness afterwards went to Attwood's house and found the clock and various other articles (produced) stowed away under the bedroom floor. On charging the boys Attwood said both of them got into the bakehouse; he had the clock and Cox had a can and a bag of coal. Cox said that Attwood asked him to go to the bakehouse. The boy Attwood subsequently made a further statement in consequence of which witness arrested the boy's father. In the father's presence the boy Attwood said that when he took the clock home he put it on the table. His father asked him where he got it, and he replied that he had stolen it. At his father's request his mother then took the clock upstairs. - Detective Smith spoke to having visited Attwood's house in company with Sergt. Haycock. Between the ceiling of the kitchen and the bedroom floor witness found a metal teapot, a coffee pot, two salt cellars, and two china mugs - goods which answered to the description of property which the two younger prisoners were charged with having stolen last week, a quantity of twist tobacco weighing over 4lbs, and a silver drinking mug value 5s. 9d., which bore the initials of Mr. Walter Paine who had identified the mug as his property. - The boy Attwood. sworn, stated that when he took the clock home he told his father that he had stolen it, "but," now added the boy, "I don't think father heard me. for he told mother to go and place it on the box upstairs." Asked by Mr. Loxton as to what he knew of the other articles the boy said the teapot and things were placed underneath the bedroom floor by his mother, and with regard to the tobacco his younger sister took that home, but he did not know that that was kept underneath the floor. - Each of the defendants now pleaded guilty. Attwood the elder said he had previously had so much trouble with his boy that what he had done was to shield him. Cox's grandmother addressed the magistrates on behalf of Cox. She said the boy's father who was a soldier, was at the front, and the boy Cox was as good a boy as ever stepped into two shoes, but he had been led away by bad companions. - Chief-inspector Gore stated that several times the police had found Cox sleeping out at night. - Attwood, sen., was sentenced to 21 day's imprisonment with hard labour, the boy Attwood was ordered to be sent to a reformatory for four years, and Cox for a similar period to an industrial school. | |
| 9 June 1900 There is a report of his mother falling from a window (not fatal) in the Walsall Advertiser Saturday 9 June 1900 p.4 col.7: SINGULAR ACCIDENT. - On Wednesday evening, a woman named Martha Attwood, of the Ditch, Walsall, was admitted into the Walsall Hospital. It is supposed that she had jumped through her bedroom window and had sustained injuries to her back. When examined, however, by the house surgeon, it was found that she was not seriously injured, and she was only detained during the night. It is stated that she had quarrelled with her husband previous to the occurrence. | |
| 26 November 1902 Discharged from Saltley by Order of the Home Secretary on account of joining the Band of the East Kent Regiment (the Buffs) | |