Jane Brooks

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C H on 21st February 2024

Old Bailey Online JANE BROOKS. Theft; grand larceny (to 1827). 12th September 1787. Text type Trial account Defendants JANE BROOKS Offences Theft > Grand larceny Session Date 12th September 1787 Reference Number t17870912-101 Verdicts Guilty Punishments Transportation 771. JANE BROOKS was indicted for stealing, on the 6th of August , four linen waistcoats, value 8 s. four linen shirts, value 12 s. two pair of nankeen breeches, value 9 s. one pair of linen sheets, value 12 s. three linen stocks, value 3 s. one pair of boots, value 3 s. and three pair of cotton stockings, value 3 s. the property of Thomas Dodson . THOMAS DODSON sworn. I have been robbed three times of my clothes; I lost the things mentioned in the indictment on the 6th of August; I was absent from home; I went out in the morning; I belong to the Post-office ; I came home about one; I am a housekeeper; I had left my wife and children at home, but my wife was ill at the point of death; I have six children; when I came home, I was informed I had been robbed, and that my property was at Justice Hyde's; when I came there I swore to the property, that is all I know; my wife died the next day. THOMAS DODSON , the younger. How old are you? - Going on eleven. Do you know the nature of an oath, my boy? - Yes, Sir. What will happen to you if you speak false and tell a lie? - I shall go to Hell, Sir. Do you know that you are liable to be punished by law and sent to prison, if you speak falsely? - Yes. Court. Give him the book. THOMAS DODSON , Jun. sworn. Now tell us nothing but the truth, tell us what you know of the taking these things? - I saw this woman coming out of the passage with the things in her hand; I was at the door, I think it was about one o'clock in the day-time, a little before my father came home; I was at the door on the outside; I did not see her go in. Had she any thing when she came out? - She had her apron full of things. Did you see what the things were? - I saw nothing but the boots and the waistcoats. Could you see them in her apron, as she came out? - Yes. What did you do when you saw her? - I did not stop her till she had got almost to the corner; then I run after her, and told her the things were my father's. What did she say to that? - She did not speak. What did she do with the things? - She said she had done nothing at all; she had them in her apron. What did you do with her? - I laid hold of her to bring her back, and Mr. Edmunds came up to assist me to bring her back. What did she say for herself? - She said, I was a cruel creature. Were the things brought back with her? - Yes. STEPHEN EDMUNDS sworn. I saw the lad take hold of this woman; he said she had got his father's property, and I took hold of her and brought her back. Did you see the property in her possession? - Yes. What was done with it? - It was left till the officer came. Who was it left with? - We none of us left it. What became of the property? - I went with her to Justice Hyde's. In whose care was the property left? - In the custody of the officer. - WATERS sworn. The property was lying on the ground by the side of the woman; I took the care of it. To Edmunds. Was it the same property you stopped with the woman? - Yes. Court. Now let the prosecutor say, whether it is his or not. Dodson. I know them all. Have they any marks? - Some have, and some have not; the stockings have no marks, but I know them well; I am quite sure they are my things. PRISONER's DEFENCE. I was going to Chelsea to see two children at nurse, and I was seized exceedingly ill; I had lately come out of a fit of illness; I went into the house, and there I saw a woman; I asked her if she would let me go backwards into the yard; I think she said she belonged to the house; she told me, yes; when I came back, she had a bundle in her lap, and she told me she was going to move to the next street; she asked me to assist her to take the things, which I agreed to, and she put them into my lap; I went as far as the door, and there I stopped a bit; the woman I missed; and while I was beating about for her, a child came up to me and stopped me; I was not off the threshold of the door, before I missed the woman; and immediately the child came up to me, and said, they were his daddy's boots; the woman gave them to me; she was a lusty, tall woman, with a light coloured gown, and a Bath cloak; the child brought me back, and called another gentleman; I believe, I do not know; I cannot say I recollect the gentleman; the child was at the door, and spoke to me, but I do not recollect the gentleman. GUILTY . Transported for seven years . Tried by the first Middlesex Jury before Mr. RECORDER.

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Eric Harry Daly on 5th January 2013

Jane brooks was tried 3 times for theft http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17830226-26-defend337&div=t17830226-26#highlight http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17860222-72-defend807&div=t17860222-72#highlight It was only the third time she was sentenced to transportation. http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17870912-101-defend956&div=t17870912-101#highlight Cohabited with Joseph Paget who arrived as a convict on the Scarborough, she died 8 Jan 1797 and is buried in the Sydney Old Cemetary.