Catalogue description Assignment for £3 3s by Robert Crowhurst to Thomas Mills of Withyham, gent

of a certificate issued by Thomas Burnet, knt [judge of the common pleas] (under an act 'for the better apprehending, prosecuting and punishing felons that commit burglary, housebreaking or robbery in shops, warehouses, coach houses or stables' (10 and 11 William 3) discharging Crowhurst from having to serve as a parish officer because he apprehended Richard Waters who was convicted at assizes held at East Grinstead on 6 Apr 1747 of felony and burglary in breaking and entering the house of Edward Weller of Withyham on 16 Dec 1746 and stealing possessions of Edward and Mary Weller, spinster.

Endorsed 'this is a writing called in common the hangman's bill exempting the person who has it from serving any parish offices in that parish where the fact was done. Mr Mills purchased this bill of Crowhurst for the sum of three guineas in order to exempt him the said Mills from serving the offices', George Crouch and Thomas Downingham of Nohampton, 29 Jul 1787.

A 'Tyburn ticket' was the colloquial name for a certificate granted by the clerk of the peace to a person successfully prosecuting a felon. The document exempted the person from holding a parish office J Richardson 'The Local Historian's Encyclopaedia' (1985) 83

Formerly listed as PAR 360/14/11