Saltley Reformatory Inmates

John Pitt

No. in Admissions Register:	389
Date of admission:	10 December 1868
Whence received:	Stafford Gaol
By whom brought:	-
On what terms:	-
Friends interested in him:	-
Description:
Height:	-
Figure:	-
Complexion:	Fresh
Hair colour:	Brown
Eyes colour:	Hazel
Perfect vision?	Yes
State of health:	-
Able-bodied?	-
Sound intellect?	Yes
Use of all limbs?	Yes
Had cow or small pox?	Cowpox
Particular marks:	Burn marks on arms
Cutaneous disorder?	No
Scrofulous or consumptive?	No
Subject to fits?	Yes(?) [looks like ‘yo']
Age last birthday:	11
Illegitimate?	-
Birthday:	-
Birth place:	-
Has resided:	Bilston
Parish he belongs to:	Bilston
Customary work and mode of life:	None
Schools attended:	None
By whom and where employed:	-
State of education:
Reads:	Not at all
Writes:	Not at all
Cyphers:	-
General ability:	-
Offence:	Stealing 4s
Circumstances which may have led to it:	-
Date of sentence:	10 November 1868
Where convicted:	Wednesbury before J Marshall and H Williams
Who prosecuted:	-
Where imprisoned:	-
Sentence:	1 month prison (hard labour), 5 years at Saltley
Previous committals and convictions:	-
Father's name:	Joseph Pitt
Occupation:	Collier
Residence:	Windmill Yard, Oxford Street, Bilston
Mother's name:	Jane Pitt
Occupation:	-
Residence:	-
Father's character:	Bad
Mother's character:	Bad
Parents dead?	-
Survivor married again?	-
Parents' treatment of child:	Bad – ill fed and beaten if he did not take home what he begged
Character of parents	Perhaps 12s per week – not well able to work (has been hurt in the pits) – but is drunken
Parents' wages:	-
Amount parents agree to pay:	-
Superintendent of police (to collect payments):	Superintendent Holland, Wednesbury
Relatives to communicate with:	-
Person making this return:	-
Estimate of character on admission:	-
Character on discharge:	-
When and how left the Reformatory:	-

Notes:

14 November 1868 There is a report of the crime in the Staffordshire Advertiser 14 November 1868 p.7 col.7: JUVENILE THIEVES - John Pitt (11). Charles Scottock (8). William Bayley (9). and Joseph Fletcher (8). were charged with stealing 4s., the property of Joseph Rowler. shopkeeper, of Moxley. The prosecutor and Edward Riley proved the case. It was stated that the lad Bayley had been convicted of stealing a pair of boots, and Pitt of breaking into a hovel and firing at a train. Scottock's parents were present, and said their boy was in bed at the time of the robbery. but the prosecutor said he saw him about the door of the shop when he went into the cellar, though he could not say he was actually concerned in the robbery. Scottock was discharged. the evidence not being sufficient. Pitt and Bailey, having been previously convicted, were committed to prison for a month each, at the termination of which period the former will be sent to a reformatory for four years and the latter for five years.-Scottock was further charged with stealing a sovereign, the property of lsrael Butler. The evidence was very weak, and the case was dismissed, the magistrate ministering a severe reprimand to the parents for not taking better care of the youth.

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