Mary Foster

341

Maureen Withey on 30th January 2023

Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 30 January 2023), September 1808, trial of MARY FORSTER (t18080914-14). MARY FORSTER, Theft > theft from a specified place, 14th September 1808. 555. MARY FORSTER was indicted for feloniously stealing in the dwelling house of Francis Rogers on the 24th of February , three gowns, value 30 s. two petticoats, value 10 s. two shawls, value 20 s. two handkerchiefs, value 1 s. 6 d. two pair of stockings, value 2 s. two caps, value 2 s. a ring, value 2 s. a pair of earrings, value 9 s. a watch value 3 l. a bat, value 2 s. a feather, value 1 s. eight guineas, two half guineas, a seven shilling piece, a crown piece, a half crown, and a bank note, value 1 l. the property of Joseph Noble . JOSEPH NOBLE . Q. Where do you live - A. In Palace yard ; Mr. Rogers was the housekeeper, the house is pulled down; I had only the shop . Q. Did Mr. Rogers live in the house in February last - A. Yes, and his wife and family. His Christian name is Francis. Q. Was the prisoner, Mary Forster , at any time in your service - A. Yes, about six weeks; she came about Christmas. Q. Did she lodge in your house - A. Sometimes she lodged with us and sometimes she lodged with a gentlewoman in Mill bank; she was always with us in day time. Q. When did she leave you - A. On Wednesday the24th of February, about four o'clock in the afternoon. Q. Had you discharged her - A. No, I did not know of her leaving me. Q. Did you pay her by the week - A. We had not made any agreement with her what we were to pay her. Q. Did you miss any of your property that day - A. Yes, that day only; I came home about six o'clock from my work; I was not at home when she went. Q. Did you lose any thing from any place - A. I had got a little bureau with a drawer in it, which I always kept locked, and I carried the key in my pocket. I found the drawer had been opened by some means or other, and the contents taken out; the lock had been forced open. Q. How was it when you went out to work that day, do you know whether it was safe when you went out - A. It was safe on the over night; I did not see it in the morning: I had looked at it the over night, it was safe then. Q. What did you lose from that drawer - A. Seven guineas, two half guineas, a five shilling piece, a half crown, and a silver watch; they were all safe in my drawer on the over night; I had looked at them. Q. Did you ever see any of the things again - A. No, nor did she ever come back again; I did not see her till she was apprehended. Q. What shop was it - A. An oyster shop. Q. Did you sleep there - A Yes. Q. You did not find the watch again nor the money - A. No. MARY NOBLE . Q. You are the wife of the last witness - A. Yes. Q. Do you recollect the 24th of February, the time when your husband came home and found he had lost some of his property - A. Yes, I was at Mr. Carter's coffee house, at the house of commons. I went to help the cook there, I was sent for. Q. What time in the afternoon was it - A. Between four and five o'clock. Q. In what state did you find your things when you came home - A. The prisoner had left a young woman in the care of the room. Q. When you came home did you find any of the things out of their place - A. Yes, I found my gowns were taken out of the drawers. Q. Were the drawers open - A. Yes; I had left them unlocked; I missed three gowns, two petticoats, two caps, two shawls, one white handkerchief, one gold ring, a pair of earrings, two pair of stockings, one seven shilling piece, one pound note, one guinea, a black beaver hat and a feather; the hat was taken out of the hat box. I had seen them all that afternoon, just before I went from my home. Q. Who did you leave at your home when you went out - A. I left Mary Forster in the care of my place, nobody else. Q. Did you know that Mary Forster was to go away - did she tell you that she was to leave you that day - A. No; she never came back again. Q. How soon after that did you see any of your things that you had lost - A. I never saw any till the day I apprehended her, the first of September last. Q. That was more than seven months - this was in February, was it not - A. Yes. Q. Did you then see any thing that belonged to you - A. Yes, I saw the black beaver hat, it was upon her head; it is in the possession of Mr. Gillmore. JOHN GILLMORE . I am an officer belonging to Queen square office; the prisoner was delivered into my custody by a man of the name of Lloyd, at a public house near our office, on the 1st of this month; at the time she was delivered to me she had this hat upon her head; nothing else was found upon her; I asked the prisoner what she had done with the rest of the property; I told her she might tell me or let it alone which she thought proper; she said she had sold them at different places; one of the gowns she had sold on board the Victim, where she had been concealed, and she had been part of that time at Gravesend; when she was examined before the magistrate she confessed to every article except the ear rings; she said the prosecutor was very right about every thing but the earrings, she knew nothing about them nor did she know that she had seen them. Q. to prosecutrix. Look at that hat - A. That hat is mine; I put my little boy's buckle into the hat band; it was a little rusty; I took some sand and scratched it the band and hat I know; I had it just as I was married; about seven or eight months altogether. Q. Did you see all them articles before you went out to Mr. Carter's - A. Yes; the money in the drawers I saw in the morning; I took some of it out to go to Covent garden market. I saw it every day there. Q. What might be the value of all the things, the gowns, petticoats, and other articles, without the money - were they worth one pound altogether - A. The clothes were worth four pounds. JOHN LLOYD . Q. Were you the officer that took the prisoner - A Yes, I took her in Broad street, Bloomsbury, she had the hat on; Mrs. Noble challenged the hat, and I took it off her head; the prisoner said it did belong to Mrs. Noble; Mrs. Noble was present at the time I took her; she asked her what she had done with the silver watch, she said she had not got it; the money she acknowledged; she named about eleven pounds five shillings that she lost in all; she said the watch she tied to her petticoat strings, it dropped down in the coach, and she lost it. The prisoner said nothing in her defence, nor called any witnesses to character. GUILTY - DEATH , aged 32. First Middlesex jury, before Mr. justice Le Blanc. ------------------------------------------------- NSW Convict Index. Mary Foster, per Indispensible 1809, Ticket of Leave, No 11/190.