Rebecca Monksfield

Level 347

Maureen Withey on 9th January 2024

Tasmanian Convict Records. Conduct Record. https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON40-1-7$init=CON40-1-7P59 No 114. Rebecca Monksfield, per Eliza 1830. Tried Middx 10 Sep 1829, 7 years. See record for details. Description Record. https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON19-1-12$init=CON19-1-12P344JPG Rebecca Monkswell. No 114. Trade, Childs Shoe maker. 5Ft 1 ¼. Age 18, Native place, Hackney Road, Middx. Dk brown hair. Lt blue eyes. Several records showing her admission to the Female House of Correction on different occasions in 1833 and 1834. Marriage Permission. https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON52-1-1P041 245, Joseph Johnson, per Sir Godfrey Webster, and 114, Rebecca Monksfield, per Eliza. Permission refused, 27 Dec 1834.

Level 347

Maureen Withey on 15th February 2021

Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 15 February 2021), September 1829, trial of REBECCA MONKSFIELD JANE MULLINS (t18290910-123). REBECCA MONKSFIELD, JANE MULLINS, Theft > simple larceny, 10th September 1829. 1653. REBECCA MONKSFIELD and JANE MULLINS were indicted for stealing, on the 8th of August , 17 pairs of shoes, value 3l. 8s. , the goods of Thomas Deeble Dutton . THOMAS DEEBLE DUTTON . I keep a shoe warehouse in the Borough . On the 8th of August I received information, and missed eighteen or twenty pairs of shoes - I had known Monksfield for two years; she used to bring a few pairs of shoes of her own manufacture to my shop, for sale two or three times a week. MARY BURNESS . I live in Cock-alley, Norton Falgate, and know Monksfield by her coming down that alley to see Mullins. On the 8th of August I was in Camberwell-road, and saw the two prisoners together, a good way from Mr. Dutton's shop - they asked me where I was going; I said I was going home - Monksfield said she was going to the shop to get some shoes to bind; Mullins and I waited - Monksfield went to the shop and brought out six pairs of shoes, and gave them to us to mind, on the step of a door; she said she had to go back in half an hour - that was some distance from the shop; I did not see the shop - she then brought out some more, and put them altogether in her lap; and as we were coming over London-bridge, Monksfield said, "Mullins, how you tremble, if there is any thing amiss I will take it all on myself" - we went home and counted the shoes on the bed; there were seventeen pairs, which she said she had from Mr. Dutton's to bind - they were bound, and I said they did not want binding; she said they did - we then went out with them, and she pawned some; she said she wanted 1l. 12s. to get a young man out of prison - she pawned one pair at Mr. Cotton's, and one pair further on, and then we stopped at the corner of Old-street, and she said she pawned some, but I do not know how many - I pawned one pair at the corner of Long-alley, and gave the money to Mullins; I went to pawn another pair in Aldersgate-street, and there I was stopped. Cross-examined by MR. LEE. Q. How long have you known Monksfield? A. About two years - we were at a considerable distance from the shop; I did not see it - we watched her as far as we could see; as we were coming past the shop, she said that was Mr. Dutton's - I thought it must be wrong when I saw the shoes were bound; it was the first time I had been with her - Monksfield was at the door when I was taken; I did not partake of the produce - Monksfield bought a penny pie, and gave us some of it; I met them casually on the road. JOHN JOHNSON . I received information from Burness' father went to a house in Shepherd's-court, and saw Monksfield, and took her - Mullins was there on a bed; I took them to the watch-house, and told Monksfield it was my duty to ask a few questions, and that what she said might come in evidence against her - she then said she had got six pairs from Mr. Dutton's; had given some of them to the witness, some to Mullins, and she had pawned some herself. Cross-examined. Q. Where was Monksfield? A. Behind a bedstead - she went into hysterics; I put her into a chair, and told her not to be frightened, nobody would hurt her - Birch was below stairs when I took her; she said she was pregnant. JOSEPH BIRCH . I went with Johnson. I said to Mullins, "I suppose you know our business?" she said, "No, I don't" - I said it was about some shoes; she then began crying, and said she knew, and that she had pawned one pair - Monksfield had been denied by the woman of the house; but Mullins said she was concealed up stairs. Cross-examined. Q. Did you go up stairs where Monksfield was? A. Yes - there was no violence used towards us. GEORGE CHAMP . I live in Aldersgate-street, and am a pawnbroker. Burness came in and asked 4s. on a pair of shoes - she said they belonged to her father, who was a shoemaker; I asked if he made them - she said Yes; I knew that to be false, as I knew they were Northampton shoes, and I gave her into custody. JOHN BUNCE . I received Burness in charge with this pair of shoes. FRANCIS COTTON . I am a pawnbroker. I took in these shoes on the 8th of August, but I do not know of whom. RICHARD BARREN . I am a pawnbroker. I have three pairs of shoes, all pawned by Monksfield, at different times - the last two pairs on the 8th of August; I questioned her, and she said they belonged to her father - I examined them, found Mr. Dutton's name, and gave information. Cross-examined. Q. How often have you seen Monksfield. A. About four times - they were pawned in the name of Monksfield and Sharter, and different addresses, which raised my suspicion; I found the label on a pair which had been pawned on the 27th of June, which I examined when she left the last pair. MATTHEW POULTER . I am a pawnbroker, and live in Holywell-lane. I have some shoes pawned by Monksfield, on the 8th of August, in the name of Rebecca Towers . Cross-examined. Q. You knew her name was Monksfield? A. Yes - when she gave me the name of Towers, I asked if that was her name; she intimated she wasmarried, and her husband was a shoemaker - I took in two pairs. HENRY ATTENBOROUGH . I am a pawnbroker. I took in these shoes of Burness on the 8th of August, between ten and eleven o'clock, in the name of Davis. MR. DUTTON. This pair of shoes were given up to me at Guildhall; these I have brought to match - this pair have my own writing in them. MONKSFIELD - GUILTY . Aged 18. Transported for Seven Years . MULLINS - NOT GUILTY . --------------------------------------------------- National Archives. HO 17/54/271829 Sept Prisoner name: Rebecca Monksfield otherwise Rebecca Monkfield. Prisoner age: 18. Prisoner occupation: Shoemaker. Court and date of trial: Old Bailey September Sessions 1829. Crime: Stealing shoes - 'several pairs' from Mr Dutton of Surrey, her employer. Initial sentence: Seven years transportation. Gaoler's report: Not known here before. Annotated: Ordered onboard transport for Van Diemens Land. Nil. Petitioner(s): Joseph Monksfield otherwise Joseph Monkfield, the prisoner's father, with William Sawyer (churchwarden, St Leonard, Shoreditch) and six inhabitants of Shoreditch. Copy of the first petition. Grounds for clemency: Duped into the crime by designing females; first offence; only 17 years old.

Level 38

Patricia Welsh on 14th January 2013

Folio 25: R Monksfield, aged 17, convict, taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, hysteria; put on sick list 8 February 1830, date of discharged unknown. Folio 25: [the above] three women were affected with hysterical paroxyims of great severity, in two of the cases followed by compleate mania requiring the restraint, weather being intensly hot at the time and was evidently the exciting cause. Their cases I deem it unnecessary to detail at length.