Robert Enshaw Wilson - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 162 |
| Date of admission: | 2 January 1860 |
| Whence received: | Stafford County Gaol |
| By whom brought: | Reverent E W Daw, Assistant Chaplain |
| On what terms: | Under committal |
| Friends interested in him: | - |
| Description: | |
| Height: | - |
| Figure: | - |
| Complexion: | Pale |
| Hair colour: | Brown |
| Eyes colour: | Hazel |
| Perfect vision? | Yes |
| State of health: | Generally very good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Sound intellect? | Yes |
| Use of all limbs? | Yes |
| Had cow or small pox? | Cow pox |
| Particular marks: | None |
| Cutaneous disorder? | No |
| Scrofulous or consumptive? | No |
| Subject to fits? | No |
| Age last birthday: | 13 |
| Illegitimate? | Yes |
| Birthday: | - |
| Birth place: | - |
| Has resided: | Clarkes Bank, Leek |
| Parish to which he belongs: | Supposed to be Macclesfield |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Worked in the silk |
| Schools attended: | - |
| By whom and where employed: | - |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Nil |
| Writes: | Nil |
| Cyphers: | - |
| General ability: | - |
| Offence: | Stealing handkerchiefs, a cap, a bag and 9s in money |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | No apparent reason |
| Date of sentence: | 21 November 1859 |
| Where convicted: | Leek Petty Sessions |
| Where imprisoned: | - |
| Sentence: | 6 weeks prison, 5 years detention at Saltley |
| Previous committals and convictions: | Stealing a watch (3 months) |
| Father's name: | Samuel Smith (stepfather) |
| Occupation: | Hawker |
| Residence: | Clarkes Bank, Leek |
| Mother's name: | Harriet Smith |
| Occupation: | - |
| Residence: | Clarkes Bank, Leek - |
| Father's character: | Considered honest and sober - |
| Mother's character: | Considered honest and sober - |
| Parents dead? | Father |
| Survivor married again? | Yes |
| Parents' treatment of child: | He had left them for 2½ years, except one month |
| Character of parents: | Good – stepfather in bad health |
| Parents' wages: | Very little, from his bad health |
| Amount parents agree tp pay: | Nothing |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | Superintendant Thomas Wollaston, Leek |
| Relatives to communicate with: | - |
| Person making this return: | Governor County Prison, Bedfordshire |
| Estimate of character on admission: | - |
| Character on discharge: | - |
| When and how left the Reformatory: | - |
Notes:
| 26 November 1859 There is a brief report of his offence in the Staffordshire Advertiser Saturday 26 November 1859 p.2 col.5: A youth of the name of Robert Henshaw Wilson, about 13 years of age, pleaded guilty to stealing two handkerchiefs, a cloth cap, a money bag, and 7s in money from the house of Mr John Ainsworth, of Leek, on the 14th inst, and was committed to Stafford Gaol for six weeks, and to a Reformatory for five years. |
| 5 April 1861 Absconded after supper |
| 6 April 1861 Fetched back from Leek |
| 5 November 1861 The Reformatory Minute Book recorded: 819. The Superintendent reported that a boy (H Wilson) [initials should be R E] absconded on the 31st October, taking a watch which he had been entrusted with to take to the watchmaker's. [The Admissions Register notes Absconded from market, taking with him Dodwell's watch which he had injudiciously sent by him to have a new glass. Dodwell did it without my knowledge.] |
| Resolved: that the usual means be adopted for his apprehension. |
| May 1862 Heard of his apprehension and committal to Parkhurst from Chester. |
| December 1863 Just out of prison; at work but character doubtful |
| January 1865 Gone to sea - nothing else known. |