Hugh Hammill

341

Maureen Withey on 19th June 2021

Lancaster Assizes. Bank Prosecutions. — This morning the Grand Jury brought into Court forty true bills which they had found against prisoners charged with offences against the Bank of England; and a little after one o’clock twenty-one prisoners were arraigned at the bar, all of them, except one, on two indictments; the one charging the offence of uttering, which is capital, and the other limiting it to unlawful possession, which subjects the party to the term of transportation for fourteen years, The following twelve persons accepted the mercy of the Directors of the Bank of England, and, pleaded to the minor offence, were severally acquitted upon the charge which affected their lives; George Cowen, 30, Catherine Quinn, 42, Hugh Hammill, 49, Isabella Hammill, 34, Margaret Kelly, Mary Burns, 42, Mary Pimblott, 34, Margaret Penryhn, 20 , Hannah Whiteley, 25, Catherine Hilton, 20, Thomas Entwistle, 40, and Richard Ridings, aged 61. Mr. Justice Bayley, after a short address to the prisoners, in which he pointed out the mischiefs which arose to society from the dissemination of forged notes, and the necessity of checking offences so dangerous a nature, sentenced each of the prisoners to transported for the term fourteen years. Westmorland Gazette, 7 Apr 1821.