Catalogue description Report of John Williamson, Chairman of the Staffordshire Quarter Sessions, on 1...

Report of John Williamson, Chairman of the Staffordshire Quarter Sessions, on 1 collective petition (18 people, from Horninglow and Burton upon Trent) and 4 individual petitions (Elizabeth Scattergutt, the prisoner's wife; William Sketchley, former master of the prisoner; Isaac Hawkins, a neighbour and Isaac Hawkins Browne) on behalf of Robert Scattergutt/Scattergood, labourer (currently employed in haymaking), convicted at the 'last' Michaelmas Staffordshire Quarter Sessions, for stealing 2 geese, property of John Bacon, on 24 September 'last'. The prosecution was undertaken by the 'Association of Tutbury'. Hawkin's note states that 'Mercy sometimes works a better Reformation than Severe punishment' and queries complaints against emigration when banishing 'useful Subjects for petty offences'. Grounds for clemency: has a pregnant wife and 5 children to support who will become chargeable to the parish, has an aged (widowed) mother, innocent of the crime, the geese killed by accident by the prisoner's dog (a small dog not bred for gaming), previous good character, driven to the crime by poverty, first offence and was drunk at the time of the crime. Initial sentence: 7 years transportation (petitions claim sentence refers to Africa; Williamson states it was 'to parts beyond the Seas'). Recommendation: none made (one of the petitions annotated 'nothing to be done').

Folios 215-222.