Saltley Reformatory Inmates

Henry Carpenter

No. in Admissions Register:	202
Date of admission:	26 January 1861
Whence received:	-
By whom brought:	-
On what terms:	-
Friends interested in him:
Description:
Height:	-
Figure:	-
Complexion:	Fair
Hair colour:	Brown
Eyes colour:	Brown
Perfect vision?	Yes
State of health:	-
Able-bodied?	-
Sound intellect?	Yes
Use of all limbs?	Yes
Had cow or small pox?	Vaccination
Particular marks:	-
Cutaneous disorder?	No
Scrofulous or consumptive?	No
Subject to fits?	No
Age last birthday:	9
Illegitimate?	No
Birthday:	-
Birth place:	-
Has resided:	Lower Rushall Street, Walsall
Parish he belongs to:	Walsall
Customary work and mode of life:	Running the street
Schools attended:	-
By whom and where employed:
State of education:
Reads:	Imperfectly
Writes:	Imperfectly
Cyphers:
General ability:	-
Offence:	Stealing an iron weight
Circumstances which may have led to it	Not under control of mother. Father dead
Date of sentence:	14 January 1861
Where convicted:	Walsall Police Court
Where imprisoned:	-
Sentence:	14 days prison, 3 years at Saltley
Previous committals and convictions:	Larceny
Father's name:	-
Occupation:	-
Residence:	-
Mother's name:	Mary Carpenter
Occupation:	-
Residence:	Lower Rushall Street, Walsall
Father's character:	-
Mother's character:	-
Parents dead?	Father
Survivor married again?	No
Parents' treatment of child:	Neglected
Character of parents	Good
Parents' wages:	-
Amount parents agree to pay:	1s a week
Superintendent of police (to collect payments):	J W Cater, Police Officer, Walsall
Relatives to communicate with:	-
Person making this return:	J W Cater, Police Officer, Walsall
Estimate of character on admission:	-
Character on discharge:	-
When and how left the Reformatory:	-

Notes:

19 January 1861 There is a report of his offence in the Walsall Free Press and General Advertiser Saturday 19 January 1861 p.4 cols.3-4: WHAT'S TO BE DONE WITH THE CHILDREN? - Henry Parker, John Green, Henry Carpenter, and James Baker, were each charged with stealing a weight, the property of Mr. Clerk. Prisoners were all boys, the oldest not being, apparently, more than fifteen years of age, whilst the youngest might pass for nine or ten. Mr. Clerk was sworn, and deposed to being told by police constable Ward, on Saturday last that he had lost a weight. He could swear to the weight produced. It was a half a pound weight. Within the last month he had lost several weights. Ward, deposed that on Saturday evening, about six o'clock, he was on. duty in Goodall Street, when he received information that the prisoners had stolen a weight. He took them into custody, and on the way to the police station one of them gave him the weight, and all of them acknowledged participating in the theft. He then informed Mr Clerk of the robbery. Mr. Cater stated that Carpenter and Parker, especially the latter, were known to the police. He also spoke to the great annoyance and loss which the depredations of such lads as those in the dock, caused to the shopkeepers. Parker's brother was now in Saltley Reformatory. The parents of Green, Carpenter, and Baker wished their children sent to a reformatory, but were unable to pay for them. The Bench dismissed Baker, and the others were remanded until Thursday to give time for enquiries to be made with a view to their admission into a reformatory.

In the same newspaper, same page col.4, there is a follow-up: WHAT IS DONE WITH THE CHILDREN.- Henry Parker, John Green, and Henry Carpenter, remanded from Monday last, were again brought up, and formally sentenced to fourteen days imprisonment, after which Parker and Carpenter to be sent to the Saltley Reformatory for three years, and Green for the same period to the school frigate, lying off Liverpool [the Akbar training ship]; the parents of each to pay 1s. per week towards the maintenance of the children.

15 January 1864 Discharged on expiration of term

March 1867 Heard of in prison

January 1868 At Walsall, doing well

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