Catalogue description Prisoner name: William Robinson . Prisoner age: 23. Court and date of trial: York...

Prisoner name: William Robinson.

Prisoner age: 23.

Court and date of trial: York Lent Assizes March 1837.

Crime: Threatening to accuse of an infamous crime [extorting money from Francis Henderson of Scarborough on threat of accusation of homosexual advances].

Initial sentence: [Death] commuted to transportation for life.

Gaoler's report: 'Steady, industrious and of good character'.

Annotated (Outcome): Sentence reduced to 14 years on 10 June 1837.

Petitioner(s): Inhabitants of the Borough of Scarborough, York. Numerous signatures detached.

Grounds for clemency (Petition Details): Family dependent on his wages; sentence severe, jury recommended mercy; good character.

Other papers: Letter from Thomas Wardell, forwarding a newspaper cutting reporting on a similar case from the Yorkshire Assizes in which the accused was sentenced to only two years imprisonment, giving his opinion of Robinson's character and telling how Henderson has had accusations against him in the past and was advised by Wardell to shoot either himself or his accuser.

Letter from [Jonathon Hesp] that the prosecutor had on different occasions given the prisoner money and been in front of the Bailiff of Scarborough on other occasions because of complaints of his behaviour.

Letter from J Patterson enclosing his Report on the case containing Henderson's account of his contact with the Grocer's apprentice boy and witness statements. Patterson recommended mercy because the prosecutor, by his own account, was a man of bad character in that he was of drunken habits.

Additional Information: Ganymede hulk.