James Tams

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Dianne Jones on 25th September 2023

1866, 27 April: After serving 1 month 10 days in separate confinement at Stafford jail, he was admitted to Millbank prison, Westminster, London. Listed as inmate #1785, labourer, aged 19, single, Church of England and semi-literate; family – Mary Tams, care of Ann Emery, New Street, Longton. Previous convictions – one felony, 5 summary. Behaviour “good” (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951; Millbank Prison; Register of Prisoners, 1865-1866). “After a sentence of transportation was handed down, the prisoner entered into a separate stage where he was placed into an individual cell, isolated from others, apart from brief periods of exercise and attendance at chapel. However, no communication of any kind with other prisoners was permitted at any time. The philosophy behind this penal methodology had its provenances in the religious, monastic traditions; i.e., that in the isolation of his cell the malefactor would be able to contemplate the errors of his way, unadulterated by the negative influences of former contemporaries, and be reformed.” (Edgar, 2018, pp39-40) When first put into practice, the mandated period of separate confinement was 18 months. By the late 1840s, authorities had conceded that such conditions of imprisonment were “injurious to many prisoners’ mental health” and the stint was reduced to 12 months. Periods of separate confinement were reduced further “as a prisoner displayed good behaviour tendencies” (Edgar, p40). Millbank, Pentonville, Wakefield and Mountjoy in Ireland were the “Probation” or “Separate” prisons, as were some local jails. --0--

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Dianne Jones on 25th September 2023

--00-- JAILS: 1866, 22 February: James Tams [incorrectly listed as James Sams] was admitted to Stafford Gaol, Gaol Road, Stafford; inmate #36, 19 years old, born 184736, labourer, sentenced to 10 years’ PS (UK, Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951 for James Tams, Stafford Gaol, Register of Prisoners, incorrectly labelled as 1869-1874). --0--

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Dianne Jones on 25th September 2023

NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF TRIAL: From the Staffordshire Advertiser, 10 March, 1866, p7: “SHOP ROBBERY AT LONGTON. BENJAMIN HAYNES, 41, miner. SAMUEL TAMS, 30, potter, JAMES TAMS, 19, labourer, and JAMES HATTON, labourer, were indicted for stealing, the 26th January, two rolls of holland, the property of Mr. John Ward. The prosecutor is a draper at Longton, and on the day named, between five and half-past five in the evening, he missed the two rolls of holland from his counter. He gave information to the police, and the property was traced to the possession of the prisoners, who had endeavoured to dispose of it. James Tams pleaded guilty, and said the others had nothing to do with the robbery. The jury, however, after hearing the evidence, thought otherwise, and returned a verdict of guilty against all the prisoners. Haynes and Charles Tams [sic] had both undergone four years’ penal servitude, and Hatton had been previously convicted. There were other indictments against all the prisoners, and the Court sentenced them to ten years’ penal servitude each.” (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000252/18660310/111/0007) FOOTNOTE: All four men were transported to WA. The Tams brothers went first, in April 1867, aboard the Norwood. Benjamin Haynes and James Hatton were sent aboard the Hougoumont in October 1867.

218

Dianne Jones on 25th September 2023

TRIAL: 1866, 6 March: Convicted at the Stafford Adjourned General Quarter Sessions, Staffordshire, and sentenced to 10 years’ penal servitude for larceny and (six) previous convictions for felony (England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 for James Tams; England, Staffordshire, 1866). --0--