Jonathon Towers - Saltley Reformatory Inmate
| No. in Admissions Register: | 746 |
| Age: | 11 |
| Whence received: | H M Prison Knutsford |
| Description: | |
| Complexion: | Fresh |
| Hair colour: | Light brown |
| Eyes colour: | Grey |
| Visage: | Oval |
| Particular marks: | Scar centre of forehead |
| State of health: | Good |
| Able-bodied? | Yes |
| Date of admission: | 1 February 1884 |
| Late residence: | Farndon, near Chester, Cheshire |
| Parish he belongs to: | Aldford, near Chester |
| Customary work and mode of life: | Has worked at a farm house |
| Whether illegitimate: | No |
| State of education: | |
| Reads: | Imperfectly |
| Writes: | Imperfectly |
| Offence: | House breaking and stealing therein |
| Circumstances which may have led to it: | Associating with evil companions |
| Date of sentence, by whom and court: | 2 January 1884; J Wood; Knutsford Quarter Sessions |
| Where imprisoned: | H M Prison Knutsford |
| Sentence: | 1 month in prison, 5 years at Saltley |
| Previous committals: | |
| Number: | Nil |
| Length: | - |
| For what: | - |
| Father's name: | Charles Towers |
| Occupation: | Gardener |
| Mother's name: | Mary Towers |
| Occupation: | No occupation |
| Parents dead? | Neither |
| Survivor married again? | - |
| Parents' treatment of child: | Kind |
| Character of parents | Nothing known against them |
| Parents' wages: | 17s per week |
| Amount parents agree to pay: | Not known at the prison |
| Parents address: | Farndon, near Chester, Cheshire |
| Superintendent of police (to collect payments): | Not known |
| Person making this return: | - |
| Notes: | |
| 5 January 1884 There is a report of the crime in the Cheshire Observer Saturday 5 January 1884 p.2 cols 3-4: JUVENILE THIEVES FROM FARNDON. - Jonathan Towers and Frank Grunnor, two boys, natives of Farndon, were brought up in custody charged with feloniously breaking and entering into the house of William Holmes, butcher, Farndon, and stealing therefrom the sum of £1 10s. - Frances Holmes said: l am the wife of William Holmes, butcher, of Farndon. On the 27th ult., I went to Wrexham market and left my house locked up. I came back about half-past five on Thursday night. I missed nothing until Towers' mother came in and told me, and then I missed one sovereign and one half sovereign from the dressing-table in the front bedroom. I last saw the money on Wednesday night. I perceived by the window sills that someone had been in. I saw that on Friday morning. The window was closed again. I left it shut. I cannot swear it was fastened. - Frances Jones proved changing the half-sovereign for the prisoner Towers; also Francis Jones, landlord of the Raven Inn, Farndon, proved changing the sovereign for Grunnor. - P.S. Bradshaw said : On Friday, the 28th ult., in consequence of information I received from Mr Holmes, I went to Towers' house, and there saw the prisoner. He said, "I took the half-sovereign about 11 o'clock yesterday, and in the afternoon, as I was bringing the cows up, I met Grunnor and gave him 2s. of the money, and told him where I had had it from. We afterwards went to Holmes' house. Grunnor went through the window and fetched the sovereign, and got it changed at Jones's, The Raven. He gave me half." I received the money now produced, 12s 10½d, from the prisoner's mother, which she said she had found hidden in different parts of the house. I afterwards went in search of the prisoner Grunnor, and found him between seven and eight o'clock at night. I told him what I wanted him for. He said he had spent all the money. I found the concertina and drum now produced in the pigstye. The tambourine and fiddle were thrown over the hedge between Churton and Farndon. The prisoner had been to Chester and bought these things with the money. - This being the whole of the evidence, the prisoners were asked if they had anything to say, and both answered no. - They were committed for trial at the Sessions. | |
| 30 March 1886 Medical officer reports: Unwell from some obscure abdominal complaint, ordered milk diet and rest in bed. By 1 April it was considered best for the boy to be sent to the General Hospital, the case being obscure. Dr Richards kindly took the case under his care | |
| 4 April 1886 The Committee Log Book reports: Jonathan Towers was removed to the General Hospital on the 31st. of March on the Doctor's instructions, and is still an inmate of that institution. He is progressing slowly but still very ill (vide Dr. Wilson's report)[not attached]. | |
| 2 October 1886 Formally discharged from Saltley by order of Home Secretary on emigrating to Canada from Liverpool, with Bayliss [boy 733], Woodcock [boy 722], and Thompson [boy 739] | |
| 20 September 1887 The Log Book report records receipt of a letter from Towers in Cheshire | |
| 8 November 1887 The Log Book report records receipt of a letter from Towers, Churton, Cheshire | |
| 10 January 1888 The Log Book report records receipt of another letter from Towers, Churton, Cheshire | |
| 11 June 1889 The Log Book report records receipt of another letter from Towers, Bretton Hall, Flintshire | |