Catalogue description Folios 99-100. Letter from Thomas Bowker and Charles Smith, Justices of the Peace for...

Folios 99-100. Letter from Thomas Bowker and Charles Smith, Justices of the Peace for the Isle of Ely, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, concerning an arson attack on the premises of John Aveling, Horsegate, Whittlesey, presently occupied by James Read Malster, which destroyed a stack of straw, a hovel, granaries, part of the malting offices and storehouse, as well as a quantity of barley. The inhabitants of Whittlesey will offer a £200 reward, the County Fire Office and the Norwich Union Fire Office offer £50 each to be paid on conviction of the offender or offenders. They ask if government could add a further reward and if notice of this can be published in the 'Hue and Cry Gazette'. They request the promise of pardon to any accomplice who may lead to the actual perpetrator.