Catalogue description Prisoner name: William Bowers. Prisoner's occupation: General Post Letter Carrier. Court...

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Details of HO 17/75/136
Reference: HO 17/75/136
Description:

Prisoner name: William Bowers.

Prisoner's occupation: General Post Letter Carrier.

Court and date of trial: Central Criminal Court February 1838.

Crime: Embezzling letters while employed in General Post Office on 12 February 1838.

Initial sentence: One year's imprisonment.

Petitioner(s): Two petitions from Thomas Frognall Dibdin, Rector of St Mary's Bryanston Square and Vicar of Exning in Suffolk (the convict's previous employer).

Grounds for clemency: The crime is not in keeping with Bowers' character; has a wife who has just had another child and one child who has died recently of croup; he was not expected to plead guilty; he did not intend to defraud the revenue of the amount of the postage.

Other papers: Declaration of good character from: Rachel Sharman, James H Havill, William Cowell, John Falkes and Elizabeth Martin. Letter from W F Maberley that sentence is light enough. Copy of the opinion of M B Pearce, Director of the Post Office concerning Mr Bowers. Five letters from A Dibdin (the convict's previous employer). Note from the Reverend Dibdin enclosing five affidavits from Welcome Cole, Frederick Kelly, Mary Elwin, Eliza Hitchcock and William Bowers.

Date: 1838 Mar 31; 1838 July 28
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in its original department: NY 26
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Closure status: Open Document, Open Description

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