William Shaw

135

C H on 14th February 2024

WILLIAM SHAW. Theft; embezzlement. 20th August 1838. Text type Trial account Defendants WILLIAM SHAW Offences Theft > Embezzlement Session Date 20th August 1838 Reference Number t18380820-1793 Verdicts Guilty Punishments Transportation 1793. WILLIAM SHAW was again indicted for embezzlement. MESSRS. PHILLIFS and BODKIN conducted the Prosecution. GEORGE VINCENT . The prisoner was in my service in January this year-down to June last year he kept a cash book in the office-in consequence of a discovery, I then made a fresh arrangement with respect to the money in the office—I then forbade him to receive money, but if money was left in my absence, it was to be placed in an iron box which I bought for the purpose—he did not account to me for 4l. 0s. 10d. received from Mr. Biggs, of Southampton-buildings—he did not inform me that he had received that sum. Cross-examined by MR. ADOLPHUS. Q. I take it for granted you return the answer you did before to the question, that you expressly for bade him to receive money on any pretence whatever? A. Yes, those were my words—the first time I heard of this 4l. 0s. 10d. being received at all must have been in February-an articled clerk, of the name of Heath, brought me the intelligence of it—he stated it as a communication derived from the prisoner—the prisoner was in my office in June, and was arrested in February-in the interval between January and February I was very much engaged in the case of Cain in this Court—one entire week, all day long I had to examine the witnesses-when the prisoner had been arrested and discharged, he came to my office, and I refused to see him—I was witting on enter into any explanation with a second person, but not with him—I bade the clerks, or anybody in the office, to speak to him, about a fortnight afterwards, as I found they were in communication with him—I have to recollection of a witness named Williams being examined At the examiner's in Chancery, in the case of Wilder and another. EDWARD ALLEN EAGLE . I am clerk to Mr. Biggs, of Southampton—I know the prisoner—I saw him on the 20th of January last, at the prosecutor's office, in Paper-buildings, Temple, and paid him 4l. 0s. 10d. on account of Mr. Biggs, for Mr. North, of Wellington—I paid it for Mr. Vincent I have a receipt for it—it was signed by the prisoner in my presence—(read—"20th Jan. 1838. Received the above for Blacklock and Co., WILLIAM SHAW. £4. 0s. 10d. "—the bill was headed, "Wm. North Messrs. Blacklock, Bunce, Vincent, and Sherwood")—I laid the money a table before him, and it remained there a few minutes before he took up—he did take it up finally. Cross-examined by MR. CLARKSON Q. You remained there two or three minutes with him talking, I suppose? A. Yes—he took up the money before I went away—I did not take Messrs. Blacklock, Bunce, Vincent, and Sherwood, to be partners—I paid it on account of Mr. Vincent—I understood Mr. Blacklock to be dead—I do not know whether Mr. Sherwood a partner or not—I was directed to pay this to the clerk for Mr. Vincent—I was directed to pay it to Shaw for Mr. Vincent by Mr. Biggs, the chancery clerk. EDWARD LEWIS MAYOR I am seventeen years of age, and am an artided clerk—this bill is my hand-writing—I made it out by the prisoner's directions—he told me to go to Mr. Bigg's chambers, and get the money ir it—I went—he asked me what person I saw—I said I saw a person in room by himself—that it was a very dirty place, and that lie said he would all next morning and pay it. Cross-examined by MR. ADOLPHUS Q. Do you know how long the bill had been delivered? A. I delivered it myself—I do not know that it had been sent before—there were four clerks in the Chancery-office at that come—one left before I delivered the bill—I believe three remained besides the prisoner—I cannot say whether they were all present when he sent me for this money—I believe it was done openly in the officer—there was no appearence of secrecy about it, but of course I did not understand, having seen in the office but a short time-if they had paid me the money I should have received it, and given it to Mr. Shaw—I cannot say where Mr. Vincent was at that time—he was not in the office—the man came with the money the morning after I went to Mr. Biggs the last time—I saw the money paid, and the prisoner gave the receipt—I remember very little about the prosecution of Cain—I am articled to Mr. Thomas Sherwood—he comes to the office now and then, and gives orders—he has not a room to himself—he sits in Mr. Vincent's office—he does not do a great deal there—he comes now and then, and stops an hour or so—he comes into the office sometimes, and tells us different things-orders us what to do about things-if he orders me to do any thing I obey him, and the other clerks obey him, as far as I know. Q. Had you any reason to suppose he was not your master, as well as Mr. Vincent? A. Not the least—Mr. Bunce comes too—he comes into the office, but never acts in the capacity of master—he taxes bills in Mr. Vincent's office. COURT. Q. Before this time did you ever make out a bill? A. I only copied different things—I had not made out a bill before this time, that I know of—I copied this one from a draft. JOHN MASCALL HEATH . I am clerk to Mr. Vincent. I remember Mr. Shaw in the office—he left about the 10th of February—after he had left some short time, I happened to meet him in Chancery-lane—he told me he had received it he sum of 4l. 0s. 10d. from Mr. Biggs, of Southampton buildings, and he told me if Mr. Vincent found it out, and asked me about it, I was to say that I had got the money—he also said he did not care about Mr. Vincent knowing about any thing more in the office—I said, "if you will send the money down to-morrow morning I will tell Mr. Vincent that you have handed me the money, and I will tell him that you received it when you were in the office"—that would have been the fact—I told Mr. Vincent of this afterwards. Cross-examined by MR. CLARKSON. Q. When did you tell him of it? A. A day or two afterwards—it was a voluntary statement of my own—it was about ten days or a fortnight after the prisoner left the office, and a fortnight or three weeks before the fire—I cannot say that I saw Mr. George Shaw at Mr. Vincent's office after that—I know Mr. westmacott—I saw him at the office after that, and before the fire—I did not know that Mr. Vincent had refused to see the prisoner, or hear from him any ex-planation—Mr. Thomas Sherwood was not in the habit of attending the office at that time—he never attended to the business of the office—he used to come there sometimes—he used to drop in once or twice a week—he has been there twice a day—he was not in the habit of coming every day—he never was in the habit of coming to attend to business—I cannot say how often I have seen him there in a week—I never counted—I was in the habit of seeing Mr. Bunce there-when he was attending at the master's office he used to come there every day—he was not in the habit of signing letters in the office-never in the name of the firm—he never signed letters, except his own private letters—he was not in the habit of seeing clients, except his own private clients—I mean they were people who had been his own clients when he was in the business they would say, "I want to see Mr. Bunce," and then he saw them—Mr. Sherwood was never in the habit of signing letters—I never remember his signing a letter—I will swear he never signed one in my presence, or that I afterwards saw—I am articled to Mr. Vincent-in January last Mr. Vincent was engaged defending a person named Cain, indicted for man-slaughter—the first time the prisoner told me of the receipt of this 4l. 0s. 10 d. was when I met him. Q. Pray, did you make an entry in the books in the office of the payment of one guinea or 1l. to Mr. Williams, a witness in the cause of Wilder and Watson? A. Yes, that cause had been in the office about three years—it was one in which the Chancery clerks in the office were principally engaged—Mr. Vincent superintended the business generally—we used to enter the disbursements in the disbursement-book, and the name of the cause in which the money was paid—Mr. Vincent used to post it up himself-among other causes was that of Wilder and Watson—I know Mr. Williams, and knew the guinea had been paid to him—I paid it myself out of the office money—there were two sums, I believe, paid to him of a guinea each—I did not pay both—the prisoner paid the other, believe—he stated to me that he did. Q. Did not he tell you, when he mentioned the 4l. 0s. 10d., that he had borrowed 1l. of that sum to pay Mr. Williams? A. No, he did not—he told me, when he was in the lock-up-house, that he had paid Mr. Williams the guinea—I went to see him in the lock-up-house—that guinea was entered in my master's books as paid to Mr. Williams—Mr. Vincent had not the opportunity of seeing whether it had been paid or not, because the books were burnt, and Mr. Williams was not in the office—he is living, but Mr. Vincent does not go to a person to whom we make payments, and ask him whether the money is paid. Q. On the 22nd of January, do you remember whether Mr. Vincent was engaged in defending Cain? A. I do not know the date—I know he did defend Cain—the prisoner used to carry on the Bankruptcy business as well as the Chancery—he did not superintend the whole business—he superintended the Common Law—he was active in all the, rest of the business—we had Very little conveyancing, but what there was he attended to—he was a good deal occupied—he used to come in between ten and eleven o'clock—I have seen him there at half-past nine o'clock—I never saw him before that-be used not to stay late—Mr. Vincent used to go away between five and six o'clock—Mr. Vincent was engaged several days in the case of Cain—I believe he came to hear the judgment on him, on the 5th of February, but be never told me so—I do not remember his going out of town that evening, saying he should return on Tuesday—he did go out of town after the sentence was pronounced upon Cain—he was in the country at the time the prisoner sent notice that he was arrested—I do not know that he had resolved not to see the prisoner after his return from the country—he had not desired the clerks not to speak to him at that time—that was between a fortnight and three weeks after he was discharged from the office—I had not been in the habit of meeting the prisoner—I never saw him but at the time named, a fortnight after he left—I am sure it was not within a week after he left—I saw him after that time, before he was taken into custody on this charge—I saw him several times, but did not speak to him—I saw him once in the Temple. Q. If Mr. Vincent wanted to find him he was very easily apprehended? A. I believe he was residing at his mother's, but I did not know where he was to be found—I believe he was to be found at his mother's—I did not see him at the office on the 8th of February, two days after he had been arrested—he did not come to the office and take his seat at the table as usual at business—he came to the office one Saturday night, the same, night as he was discharged out of custody—I do not know what day of the month that was—there is an open account between myself and the prisoner—that was the subject upon which he first spoke to me when we met—he said he had an account with me which was unsettled—I explained it to him, and he said, "I shall consider from this time that our account is quite closed," and after that, as we were parting, he spoke to me about the 4l. 0s. 10d.—I kept the cash account in the office—I had not an account of money, some of which I received from him, and some of which he received from me—I received none from him—he has received some from me, of which I had an account—he did not request me to bring the 4l. 0s. 10d., into account as he was unable to see Mr. Vincent himself—he told me not to tell Mr. Vincent about it—I cannot say whether I have said that before or not—the prisoner was not in the habit of transacting business on his own account in the office-nobody did so but Mr. Vincent—I went into the office in 1834—he never, to my knowledge, did any business in the office on his own account—he never did business for his own clients in the name of the firm—I will swear I know nothing about that—there was a book kept in the office with an account of causes, brought into the office by Shaw—that account was known to Mr. Vincent-a page of that book contained a list of causes brought into the office by Shaw—Mr. Vincent knew that—I do not know that they were called Shaw's causes—I never called them so—they were not called so—we called them by the names of the causes—I will not swear I never heard Mr. Vincent call them Shaw's causes—I might have done so. Q. How many of those causes were there about the time he was arrested? A. There were Bradley and Bradley, Wallis and Philpott, and Lee and Shaw—I believe those were all the Chancery causes—there were some writs he brought in—there might be eight or ten since he was in the office—I cannot say how many there were when he was arrested—I am not in the Common Law office—I think there were not so many as ten or twelve—there might be eight or nine—Mr. Vincent's clerks used to work them—I was not in the habit of receiving money from clients—I have received money—it was not usual for the clerks to receive money—they have done so when Mr. Vincent was out of the way—I did not know of the bill of 4l. 0s. 10d. of Mr. Bigg's till after Shaw went from the office, or that then had been such work done—it was before I went into the Chancery office—the prisoner was managing clerk, and I was a junior—that was the only instruction I got—I had to find out what I could myself—there was nobody in the office to instruct me-before this time it had been the custom to hand in to Mr. Vincent pieces of paper with sums of money received from different parties—I have done so. Q. Now after doing so, has he forgotten it, and come and asked what it was? A. Never to me—I have heard him come into the office and asked others what that money was—I have not heard him say he has lost the paper, and forgotten all about it—I have known such a thing as bills sent down to clients, and they have written up to say the money had been paid—I never heard from Mr. Vincent that he had received it and forgotten it—I never read an answer to that effect—I am not aware that the prisoner had any opportunity of accounting to Mr. Vincent, or giving any explanation, after he had been arrested. MR. PHILLIPS. Q. What time was he arrested? A. Somewhere about the 5th or 6th of February-from the 20th of January, when the money was paid, Mr. Vincent was in the habit of daily attending at the office, until two days before the prisoner was apprehended, when he went out of town—he was attending there at least for twelve days—that was known to all the clerks, and to the prisoner among the rest. MR. ADOLPHUS to MR. VINCENT. Q. I believe when the prisoner was apprehended he applied for a habeas? A. He did, and I showed cause against the motion—I did not oppose the bail—I opposed the grant on account of insinuations thrown out. COURT. Q. When you gave the instructions you spoke of in the last trial, about the receipt of the money, did you make any distinction between the prisoner and the rest of the clerks? A. No. GUILTY . Aged 35.— Transported for Ten Years. Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 9.0) August 1838. Trial of WILLIAM SHAW (t18380820-1793). Available at: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t18380820-1793?text=Cain

338

Penny-Lyn Beale on 11th May 2022

1838 - 20 August 1838. Trial. Offence; Embezzlement. 1838 - 5 September 1838. Received on board the "Leviathan" moored at Portsmouth 1838 - 4 October 1838. Received on board the "Leviathan" moored at Portsmouth. Aged; 35 years. Trade; Clerk. 1839 - Boarded the "Marquis of Hastings" 12 March 1839. V. D. L. 1839 - 2 July 1839. Put on the sick list with Erysipilas of the face and scalp [an acute, sometimes recurrent disease caused by a bacterial infection, characterized by large raised red patches on the skin.] 1839 - 12 July 1838. Died on Voyage.