Thomas Baynham

116

Tony Beale on 24th December 2020

Old Bailey Online Before Mr. Baron Gurney. 1927. THOMAS BAYNHAM was indicted for stealing, on the 16th of August , at St. George, Bloomsbury, 1 purse, value 1s.; 2 sovereigns, 3 half-sovereigns, and one 10l. Bank note, the property of George Kent , in his dwelling-house . MR. BODKIN conducted the prosecution. MARY KENT . I am the wife of George Kent , a butcher , who lives in Upper King-street, in the parish of St. George, Bloomsbury ; in August last the prisoner was our foreman , and had been in our service about four months - he had received notice to quit, and was to leave on the Saturday night. On Wednesday, the 15th, Mr. Hanson was in the counting-house with my husband - I was in the shop, taking money; Mr. Kent called me away to get Mr. Hanson a glass of wine - I had a purse, containing a 10l. Bank of England note, and some money rolled up in it - I do not know how much; there were two sovereigns and three half-sovereigns rolled up in a piece of paper, and besides that there was other money in the purse - I was absent from the shop less than five minutes; I had left my purse on a counter by the counting-house - I believe the prisoner was in the shop when I left; when I came back I missed my purse - he was there; I mentioned my loss, in his hearing, immediately; he said he was sorry, and went out with Mr. Hanson, to search for a man named Moore, at the public-houses in the neighbourhood - he said he had no doubt Moore was the thief; Moore is a poor man, who was in the shop when I left, and was gone when I returned - the prisoner had 8s. a week, with his board and lodging. LUCY JONES . I live with my parents in Great Russell-street. I was in Mr. Kent's shop on the Wednesday, and saw Mrs. Kent's purse on the shopboard; I saw the prisoner go and lay a piece of paper on the top of the purse; after that I saw him take the paper back again, and lay it where he had taken it from; I did not then see the purse - the prisoner had an apron on - I saw him shuffling in his pocket a good deal, with his hand under his apron; he was quite near the place where the purse was in then; the sheet of paper was taken away after that - after shuffling in his pocket, I saw him go backwards into the yard; he returned to the shop before Mrs. Kent - when she came into the shop, the purse was missed; Moore was in the shop at the time - the prisoner cut a piece of skin off some beef, Moore came there for it, and then went away - he did not interfere with the purse at all. Q. Did you not tell the Policeman you saw Moore take up the purse, and go out with it? A. I did not. Prisoner. She said Moore took up the purse, and dropped something at the door - master knows the same, and Mrs. Kent too. Witness. I never told any body so. GEORGE JARVIS . I am apprentice to Mr. Kent. Shortly before the purse was lost, I knew the prisoner was going to leave; and he told me two or three days before the purse was lost, that he had but one sovereign to take him into the country; he said he should try to get a sovereign, or half a sovereign, from his aunt. JOHN MOORE . I live at No. 12, Princes-street, Red Lion-square. On the day this purse was lost I went to the shop to purchase some meat - I had been a customer there many times before; I did not see the purse on the board, and did not interfere with it in any way - the prisoner served me; I had a towel to taken my meat in - no paper was used to wrap it in; I always had paper previous to that, but not then; I heard I was suspected of this, and went to Kent's directly about it. THOMAS REEVE . I am shopman to Mr. Harris, of the Strand. On Monday, the 20th of August, the prisoner came and purchased wearing-apparel at our shop, and paid me a 10l. Bank note; I gave him eight sovereigns and some silver out of it - I asked his name, he said William Williams , which I wrote on the note - the policeman has it; here is this name on it in my writing - it is the note he paid me. ANN GINARD . I keep a public-house; the prisoner lodged with me before he went to Kent's; he went from my house there - he owed me a few weeks rent; he told me he was poor, and could not pay then; he never paid me - I said he should pay me when he could. WILLIAM WILSON . I am a Policeman. I took the prisoner on the 20th of August, and told him it was on suspicion of robbing his master of a 10l. note and some sovereigns; he said he was willing to go with me; I said I must search him - he said "Well, you may search me, I have some money about me;" I found six sovereigns and 13s. on his person, and in his box in a room at Mrs. Ginard's, I found two sovereigns and two half-sovereigns screwed up in this paper; he said there were two sovereigns and two half-sovereigns in it, and that he had taken half a sovereign from it from that morning. COURT. Q. Did you find on him any of the articles he had purchased? A. Yes; I asked where he bought them - he said he had them from his aunt; I asked where she lived, he refused to tell me; when he got to the station-house, he said a woman had purchased them for him, and before the Magistrate he said he had bought them at a shop in Middle-row, Holborn (this was not taken down) I went to several shops there, but could find no person who had sold them; I afterwards found out Harris. THOMAS REEVE. This is the waistcoat and shirt I sold him. MRS. KENT. These sovereigns and half sovereigns were wrapped in paper of this kind, and in this manner; I had just taken the note, and did not know the number -I know it had no writing on the back. Prisoner's Defence. It was my own money. GUILTY . Aged 25. - Transported for Life . New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Convicts' Applications to Marry, Granted 3/3/1843 Catherine Dalton 23 bond (7yrs) per ship Isabella. to marry Thomas Baynham 34 ToL (life) per ship Andromeda (2) Rev G K Rusden East Maitland