Catalogue description 1 petition for the removal of the prisoner from Robert Thorp, clerk of the Peace for the...

1 petition for the removal of the prisoner from Robert Thorp, clerk of the Peace for the County of Northumberland concerning George Main convicted at Northumberland Summer Assizes held on 3 August 1821, for cutting and maiming Isabella Main, his wife. There are [2 x] 'List of Criminal Lunatics in the Gaol at Morpeth' dated 8 August 1823 and 31 January 1825 from John Blake, Keeper of Morpeth Gaol, Northumberland. The Morpeth gaol is not suitable for keeping the prisoner confined. The lists give details of character for the prisoner. There is a letter in reply to the petition stating that the prisoner (on receipt of the warrant for removal) will be removed to the Bensham Lunatic Asylum' in Durham; a covering letter from John Blake; a medical certificate from J Hawdon, surgeon -the prisoner only shows signs of insanity when in the presence of his wife; and a letter from Charles M A Monck. There are also references in the reports and correspondence to Robert Milburn, tried at the Northumberland Assizes in 1823 for the murder of his mother - one return from Blake marked - Dead. Initial sentence: death, respited at HM pleasure. Annotated: 'August 10 1823: the male criminal ward at Bethlem is at present full but as soon as a vacancy comes, these cases with some others in other counties will be brought under Mr P's [Robert Peel's] Considn [consideration] + he will select that whh [which] under all the Criminal Males appear the most urgent case' and 'warrant for removal prepared November 1825'. Fl10