James Target

341

Maureen Withey on 12th November 2019

Surrey Assizes. James Target and George Withers were indicted for stealing, at St. George's, Southwark, on the 13th of August last, a mare, the property Mary Burridge.-it appeared in evidence that, in the night of the 10th of August, the mare in question was stolen from a field near the prosecutrix, who resides at Tisbury, in Wiltshire. On the 13th of the same month the prisoner Target brought the mare and a pony to the Obelisk livery stables, St. George's-fields, in order that they might be disposed of, and left them there. Shortly afterwards he returned with the other prisoner, a youth of about nineteen, and took the mare away; and on the 18th of August he sold her, for the sum of six pounds, to a pork-butcher who resides in Aylesbury-street, Clerkenwell. On the next day, information of the robbery having been given to the London Magistrates, the prisoners were apprehended. The prisoner Target, who had lived in the prosecutrix's neighbourhood, now without hesitation confessed the fact of the robbery, and endeavoured to implicate his companion; but there being no evidence against the latter he was acquitted, but the former was found Guilty. Sun (London) 14 Dec 1825. The notorious James Targett, of Hindon, was convicted Monday se'enight, at the assize of Kingston upon-Thames, for stealing a mare, the property of Mrs. Burridge, of Tisbury, in August last. He had also, at the same time, stolen a horse from Mr. Thomas Williams, of the same parish. Devizes Gazette, 22 Dec 1825. National Archives – Petition record - HO 17/53/118 - Date -1825 Dec to 1842 June Prisoner name: James Targett. Court and date of trial: Surrey Assizes 1825. Crime: Stealing a mare. Initial sentence: Death, commuted to transportation for life. Annotated (Outcome): 'The prisoner has received a conditional pardon'. 'Nil'. Petitioner(s): Two petitions from the convict; 41 people of Hindon, Wiltshire. Grounds for clemency (Petition Details): The convict has been 'made free in Botany Bay'; he has three sons in military service; he has an aged sister who is anxious to see him; the prosecutrix is dead but her representative is willing to give consent to free pardon; the prisoner is asking for absolute pardon to return; he has a wife, six children, an aged mother and sisters who are distressed. Other papers: Letter from John Bennett transferring one of the petitions. Letter from A Gough, a relation, asking for details of Targett's fate.