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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: jacquelineve on Thursday 30 March 17 13:18 BST (UK)

Title: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: jacquelineve on Thursday 30 March 17 13:18 BST (UK)
 
 My g.gran and her twin brother were constantly in court during the 1880's, and I must admit that

I have to chuckle each time I read about them,but,I doubt if I would find it so amusing if it were

a close family member carrying on like that today.

Jackie
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Milliepede on Thursday 30 March 17 13:21 BST (UK)
I only have white sheep  ;D
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: RJ_Paton on Thursday 30 March 17 13:31 BST (UK)

 My g.gran and her twin brother were constantly in court during the 1880's, and I must admit that

I have to chuckle each time I read about them,but,I doubt if I would find it so amusing if it were

a close family member carrying on like that today.

Jackie

Time does tend to put a gloss on these things but the good thing about "black sheep" is that they tend to get into far more different records and sometimes help to breakdown brickwalls
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: giggsycat on Thursday 30 March 17 13:33 BST (UK)
"I only have white sheep"  ;D

How long have you been colour blind Millie?  ;D
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: jacquelineve on Thursday 30 March 17 13:52 BST (UK)

  Well my g.gran was all colours!!

According to one report,after resisting arrest and assaulting police..said she was" as black as liver

all over" and " my arms are like a pickled cabbage"

Jackie
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Ellenmai on Thursday 30 March 17 13:54 BST (UK)
As Falkyrn has said finding your Black Sheep records can lead to some very interesting information. My Great Grandfather regularly appeared at the local magistrates court, so much so I have now compiled a rogues gallery for him. The records have given me vital information for places he lived and worked plus family members names.  :)
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: philipsearching on Thursday 30 March 17 14:52 BST (UK)
"I only have white sheep"  ;D

How long have you been colour blind Millie?  ;D

Millie - you are missing out on so much fun!  :D  Naughty ancestors make my day (to be fair, so does finding an ancestor who led a decent industrious life)
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Ellenmai on Thursday 30 March 17 15:00 BST (UK)
It's amazing how the Newspaper reporters embellished a good old drunken punch up. One title they used in 1903 was 'Worshippers at The Shrine of Bacchus' Some of the fines and costs were exorbitant and I wonder where Great Grandpa William found the money when he had a wife and seven children to keep. :-\
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: jbml on Thursday 30 March 17 15:08 BST (UK)
I only have white sheep  ;D

No black sheep in my family, either, but for a rather different reason I fear. When they come to sort the sheep from the goats ... we're all goats!  ::)
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Erato on Thursday 30 March 17 15:15 BST (UK)
"Oct.16, 1651
We present Joane Andrews, the wife of John Andrews for an infamous scould and a breaker of the peace and for Conteming Authority in abusing the Governor. It is ordered by this court that Joane Andrews is either forthwith to pay forty shillings fine, or else to receive corporall punishment by having 25 stripes upon the bare skine. John Andrews stands bound for his wifes appearance at the next court in the bond of tenn pounds, for her good behaviour.

And that was just the beginning.  John and Joane [my 8x great grandparents] were convicted over and over again for blasphemy, drunkenness, theft, disturbing the peace, assault, suspected adultery and general misbehavior.  They represented the dark side of the Puritan migration to New England.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mainegenie/ANDREWS.htm
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: pendlelad on Thursday 30 March 17 16:10 BST (UK)
My 4x Great grandfather Joseph Stretton went to prison for 3 months for stealing items from an auction house along with another man in 1850. Joseph's brother William  was transported exactly 5 years before for robbery at the SAME building!
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: ThrelfallYorky on Thursday 30 March 17 17:48 BST (UK)
Baaaaa! Sadly, mine mostly seem to have been sheep of a pallid hue. None really stood out from the herd, alas for record-seeking.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Jebber on Thursday 30 March 17 17:58 BST (UK)
I only have white sheep  ;D

You obviously still have to uncover your black sheep ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Lisajb on Thursday 30 March 17 18:06 BST (UK)
Job Tandy nicked a tree "from the pleasure garden of the Duke of Beaufort".

He had a few run ins with the law and was transported eventually.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Milliepede on Friday 31 March 17 14:18 BST (UK)
Quote
You obviously still have to uncover your black sheep ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I would love to ;D but it's probably the one I've been searching for over 8 years.  His fleece is very woolly, certainly pulled it over my eyes  :D
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Guyana on Friday 31 March 17 18:09 BST (UK)
Got one or two Herdwick-coloured in my lot. One was excommunicated by Lichfield Cathedral Consistory Court.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: greyingrey on Saturday 06 May 17 20:18 BST (UK)
The black sheep I've found so far don't really amuse me because their offences weren't those of the "cuddly rogue" type...but they're too far back to be shocked by or ashamed of. One left a man gurgling with blood (disturbed by police) after a night's drinking. The victim had a very unusual surname & there's a poster on this site searching that surname, so I thought I'd contact them. The victim turned out to be their ggg uncle & they hadn't known of the case. I still treasure their reply...."Don't worry...he was just as bad himself".

I've got a friend who , despite extensive research, found no black sheep at all. Eventually, she did find a couple who'd been put on trial for the murder of one of their children (poisoning). However, they were found not guilty & it was determined that the child had swallowed the poison by accident. Nevertheless, she refuses to accept this, as she says this is the  first interesting incident she's found !
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: eadaoin on Saturday 06 May 17 23:22 BST (UK)
Well - my father was jailed, but it was for political reasons - so we think of him as a white sheep!

I think great-uncle Richard was patchy light-grey, but I think a fine was about as bad as he got!
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Sloe Gin on Sunday 07 May 17 00:27 BST (UK)
This is a favourite of mine, particularly because of the judge's remark at the end.


Stephen Wood, hawker (on bail) was charged with stealing a horse, value £10, the property of Charles William Wall, at Lichfield on October 18th.  Mr Boddam prosecuted, and Mr Kettle defended.  The prosecutor, who is a boatman, living at Alrewas, bought a horse at an auction sale at Lichfield, and afterwards took it to a hotel in that city.  The prisoner came there after him, and arranged to buy the horse from him.  They went into the hotel, and at prisoner’s request prosecutor made out a receipt for £10, the amount arranged to be paid for the animal.  The receipt read, “Bought, brown cob of C.W. Wall, at £10.  Received £1.”  The receipt bore a stamp, but it was not cancelled.  Wood paid £1, and asked prosecutor to accompany him to the Smithfield, where he said he would pay him the remaining £9.  On the way to the Smithfield prisoner asked to be allowed to get on the horse’s back.  Prosecutor consented, but held the bridle.  Suddenly, however, prisoner snatched the bridle out of his hand, and then galloped away.  He was followed to Birmingham, and arrested at 32, Summer Hill Street by Detective Taylor.  Prisoner then said that he had bought the horse, and was willing to pay for it as soon as he had the money.  Wall could not get blood out of a stone. – Mr Kettle submitted that the transaction was a bona fide one, and that the prisoner intended to pay for the horse when he had sold it. – His Lordship said the trick was a very old one, and it had been held, as long as two centuries back, that it was a theft to obtain anything by a trick.  – The jury found the prisoner guilty, and his lordship, in sentencing him to six months hard labour, said that if the prisoner had stolen the horse from a field in an honest way, so to speak, his offence would not have been so bad, but he had tried to defeat the law by a trick.

(17 Dec 1889, Birmingham Daily Post)
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Rosinish on Sunday 07 May 17 01:19 BST (UK)
This is a favourite of mine, particularly because of the judge's remark at the end.

"if the prisoner had stolen the horse from a field in an honest way, so to speak, his offence would not have been so bad, but he had tried to defeat the law by a trick"

 ;D  I'm sure there are many honest thieves  :D

That quote was brill, made me laugh.

Annie

Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Rosinish on Sunday 07 May 17 01:44 BST (UK)
One of my Black Sheep....

This was in connection with the stolen whisky from the sunken SS Politician, 5th Feb 1941 between the islands of Eriskay & South Uist (Scotland).

"A case of whisky was found in the croft garden of Mrs Flora MacIntyre, 81, who became “severely distressed” on being apprehended, while three cases and 100 loose bottles were discovered buried in Donald Cumming’s stockyard. He claimed they had been put there while he was away at sea — what’s known in Scottish law as the “big boy did it an’ ran away” defence.
When the Eriskay ferry was called on by customs to intercept a boat believed to have been involved in the looting, it mysteriously failed to appear. By the time the customs officials turned up the next day, the vessel had put to sea, supposedly on a fishing trip."

He was an 'honest thief' as it now belonged to the sea  ;D

Annie
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: a chesters on Sunday 07 May 17 04:18 BST (UK)
OH has two black sheep in her line, both convicts transported to Australia from Ireland.

He was transported for stealing cows, in company, and she was transported for stealing from he mistress.

At this stage, I am lily white :'( :'(
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: 3sillydogs on Sunday 07 May 17 08:56 BST (UK)

At this stage, I am lily white :'( :'(


Oh they're there, they'll reveal themselves in good time ;D ;D

Both my grandmothers would have been considered scandalous in their day, they did add some colourful history to the tree though. ;D ;D

Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: a-l on Sunday 07 May 17 09:16 BST (UK)
Sloe Gin that has to be the best ever quote !  :D :D :D
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: jacquelineve on Sunday 07 May 17 09:25 BST (UK)

  Brilliant!!

Another one of mine assaulted someone with his "billycock"

Jackie
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: a-l on Sunday 07 May 17 09:33 BST (UK)

  Brilliant!!

Another one of mine assaulted someone with his "billycock"

Jackie
Sounds painful  :D
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Andrew Tarr on Monday 08 May 17 09:43 BST (UK)
Another one of mine assaulted someone with his "billycock"

It's a variety of hat.  Doesn't sound like a very vicious weapon though.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Galium on Monday 08 May 17 10:40 BST (UK)
This one isn't exactly a black sheep, but this will from someone in my husband's tree, from 1699 dishes the dirt on the testator's wife thus:
(this comes after generous bequests to his brother and sisters, nephews and nieces and their children, and a cousin)

Item I give unto my wife Elizabeth Towers she having been unconstant and dishonest towards me And unto her illegitimate daughter Theodosia (whom I herby clearely disowne to be my daughter and am fully satisfyed she was not gotten by me) the sum of one shilling apeice and noe more in full of all their claimes and demands whatsoever out of my Realle and Personall Estate resolving that they shall  never have noe further or other part thereof



(He seems to have been a very particular man: he also left money for gloves for all the mourners at his funeral; black for the men and white for the women.)
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: jbml on Monday 08 May 17 14:07 BST (UK)
Another one of mine assaulted someone with his "billycock"

It's a variety of hat.  Doesn't sound like a very vicious weapon though.

Reminds me of a case in the late 70s or early 80s, where a man walked into a Post Office and announced "I have a P45 in my pocket - give me everything in the till"

Charged with robbery, his rather ingenious (but ultimately unsuccessful) defence was that a P45 is a tax form, and thus announcing that he was in possession of a tax form and demanding money was not capable of being demanding money with menaces (for how can you menace someone with a tax form?) and thus the act of handing over the takings had been a voluntary one in the nature of a gift ...
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: 3sillydogs on Monday 08 May 17 14:09 BST (UK)


Imaginitive defense, did it work I wonder ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Mart 'n' Al on Monday 08 May 17 16:26 BST (UK)
I am horrified to admit that I have a bit (well, a lot?) of admiration for my GG G/F who needed four constables to get him to the lockup, drunk, on the night before he died in custody next morning, according to the 1889 newspaper inquest report.

I am ashamed that in 1891 my second great granduncle was fined 10/- and costs 'for having driven a bicycle on the footpath'.  And it was reported in the local paper.

Martin
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Jbo11 on Tuesday 12 December 17 01:18 GMT (UK)
Hi, I was just wondering who the "Mr. Boddam" might be in this? Might be a relative of mine so I'm very curious! very funny story though!

-J
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Johnf04 on Tuesday 12 December 17 02:46 GMT (UK)
One of my 3 x great grandfathers, Abner LUCAS, was convicted of assault, in Staffordshire in 1820. In November 1819, he and some others had thrown rocks at a Yeomanry cavalry patrol in Burslem.
He served 2 years in jail, and later moved to County Durham, where he married and became a successful businessman. One of his sons, John, was mayor of Gateshead.

A newspaper article, in 1961, discussing old Gateshead, mentions Abner's arrival in Eighton Banks, and his establishment of a brickworks there. The article says "What brought him to this North-East village may never be known......"
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Guy Etchells on Tuesday 12 December 17 07:52 GMT (UK)
Another one of mine assaulted someone with his "billycock"

It's a variety of hat.  Doesn't sound like a very vicious weapon though.

Tell that to Oddjob! ;)
Cheers
Guy
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Gillg on Tuesday 12 December 17 11:31 GMT (UK)
My great-grandfather left his country village to find work in London and became a policeman there.  Sadly he was dismissed the force 2 years later for "stealing strawberries" and slunk back to the village, where he spent the rest of his short life.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: iolaus on Tuesday 12 December 17 11:52 GMT (UK)
I have someone who murdered someone with an axe and then tried to hide it by burning down the house he was in - but left the axe in the persons head! - how dull can you get

Of course it has to amuse you (although it wouldn't if it wasn't so long ago) - have to say his death was later recorded as he was murdered himself - and I'm not really surprised
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: cristeen on Tuesday 12 December 17 11:52 GMT (UK)
My 4xG grandfather was tried in 1850 for causing a riot involving over three hundred people, including pistol firing & stone throwing. His younger brother had been arrested for throwing a punch at a constable and sentenced to 3 months but without a trial, hence the riot. While the constables were sheltering in a local inn, the handcuffed brother escaped!
My 4xG grandfather was acquitted, one of his main witnesses being a widow whom he married at Gretna Green 6 weeks later, no perjury there then:) His brother was found a few months later and sent to Carlisle to serve his time. The trial reports were extensive and provided great background on several family members and other locals
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Rishile on Wednesday 13 December 17 11:00 GMT (UK)
I have a few black sheep but the best one is a murderer who killed his wife with a machete then went after his daughter.  The housekeeper hid the daughter in the tunnels under the house (used by the father for smuggling) but the daughter got lost in the labyrinth and was never found.  Apparently, on a clear night you can still hear her calling.  My ancestor blamed his very drunk friend, then tried to escape but was found and hanged.

Rishile
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: radstockjeff on Thursday 21 December 17 14:20 GMT (UK)
Not so much a "black sheep" as a local character  my great grandfather, Henry Gane Rogers (my avatar).Known locally as Mad Harry.

Reputed to have driven a trotting pony and 4 wheel buggy from Clandown to Bath (a distance of about ten miles) using fine thread as reins, for a wager, which he won.

In company one day in Bath, which included an Inspector from the Somerset and Dorset Railway, when he boasted that he had travelled into Bath that day without paying a rail fare. When callenged by the inspector he said, "Well of course I didn't pay a rail fare, I came by pony and trap."

Frequently in trouble with the local constabulary for "furious driving of a horse drawn vehicle", with subsequent appearances before the local bench.

Often in financial difficulties with his business he eventually became bankrupt and on the death of his wife left the area, in 1903 to live in Coventry, returning only once to Bristol to see one of  his sons, before his death in 1923.

Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: coombs on Thursday 21 December 17 14:27 GMT (UK)
Black sheep enhance the family documents and biographies, that is my motto. The ones who were sent abroad, the ones always up in court, in prison. My ancestor Richard Richardson was a sod and always up in court, poaching, assault etc.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Nifty1 on Saturday 23 December 17 11:21 GMT (UK)
I have two late uncles who were caught by police when they tried to steal a van with a load of televisions in it in the mid to late 1960s. They did not realise that there were police officers  amongst the van’s cargo and they were arrested. They had a stay in Oxford prison for there trouble. How can I substantiate this story? I think that it took place in London or the Home Counties to the west of London.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: LizzieW on Saturday 23 December 17 14:08 GMT (UK)
I've a 2 x g.g.aunt who was deported for stealing rather a lot of food, drink etc.  "11 lbs weight of beef, 2 quarts of wine, 2 bottles, 2 basins, 1 lb of butter and 4 lbs of bread".  I guess she was going to sell it because there's no way one person could eat all that meat and bread. IWorse was that she dragged her mother into her crimes by giving her the goods so her mother was charged with receiving stolen goods and sentenced to 6 months hard labour - at the age of 66.  It wasn't my 2 x g.g. aunt's first offence either, previously she had stolen more clothes and bedding than one family could want.

Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: coombs on Saturday 23 December 17 16:01 GMT (UK)
In 1940, my great, great grandmother's brother committed suicide while in court.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Rena on Saturday 23 December 17 20:22 GMT (UK)
I don't know about family black sheep amusing me, but an amateur reseacher on a--y who has now got as far back as me has apportioned a ream of 19th century Scottish criminal cases to my ancestor  :D

I'd already looked at those cases but it isn't clear if the defendants are the same person, as ages aren't given.  Then again, in one generation, as well as other JTs born,  there were three JTs born in the same village within 2 years of each other, there still wouldn't be clarity of which JT son of JT was the culprit in any one case. Especially as the village produced many males having the same career of "carrier"
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: StevieSteve on Saturday 23 December 17 23:31 GMT (UK)
How about we all make a New Year's Resolution to not corrupt every thread into "Look at these bozos on Ancestry. "

Instead, let's corrupt them by completely changing the original  question. So: is anyone ashamed of any of their long-dead relations? And if so, why?
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Rena on Sunday 24 December 17 01:14 GMT (UK)
How about we all make a New Year's Resolution to not corrupt every thread into "Look at these bozos on Ancestry. "

Instead, let's corrupt them by completely changing the original  question. So: is anyone ashamed of any of their long-dead relations? And if so, why?

That seems to be a dig at me.  I'm not ashamed of any of my ancestors whether they were saints or otherwise - I merely admitted I wasn't sure and I certainly wouldn't describe anyone as a bozo.

I do admit to being amused to find my OH had a smuggler in his line but am now rather irritated because I haven't yet discovered the whereabouts of his court case. -
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Palladium on Sunday 24 December 17 01:37 GMT (UK)
I wasn't happy to find my g'grandfather in court for beating his children. But finding my g'father and his brothers in trouble for petty crimes and being drunk was a hoot... :)
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Johnf04 on Sunday 24 December 17 07:42 GMT (UK)
There's nothing one can do, to change the past....so feeling ashamed about the behaviour of ancestors is pointless.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Guy Etchells on Sunday 24 December 17 09:24 GMT (UK)
They don't amuse me and I don't feel ashamed of them but they do interest me as do all my ancestors.

We can't change the past good or bad it is what it is.

Cheers
Guy
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: clairec666 on Sunday 24 December 17 10:35 GMT (UK)
The only troublemaker I've found among my ancestors is my g-g-g-grandfather, a baker, who was fined for selling underweight loaves of bread. Several decades later, his son was convicted of the same offence. (Maybe he inherited his father's scales..... or his unscrupulous nature.)

The newspaper archives are a great source of information. They really help bring your tree to life. I've come across some real horror stories - murder, child abuse - from more distant relatives. I'm glad Elijah-the-loaf-fiddler is the only ancestor (that I know of!) who's been up to no good.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Bearnan on Sunday 24 December 17 15:08 GMT (UK)
We call ours bad boy Benjie......3 x great uncle Benjamin Spilsbury alias Edward Kelly alias Thomas Harper, he felt the hand of the law few times. Having seen his photo I don't think I'd have liked to get on the wrong side of him. ::)

Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Ayashi on Sunday 24 December 17 16:38 GMT (UK)
My 4xgt grandfather, a mariner, got drunk and ended up in a fight with two of his shipmates - it ended with him grabbing the handspike and hitting one guy over the head so hard it shattered his skull and caused a brain haemorrhage. Luckily the guy survived. Mark was held in Newgate Prison for something like 19 weeks before being tried at the Old Bailey.

The notes are online and it was helpful in identifying his christening, particularly the bit about being called a "Scotch bastard"! I won't say I think he was a rogue, but it makes for one of the more interesting parts of my tree.

Mark was found not guilty, presumably on grounds of provocation, and although I felt rather sorry for him from some of what was said I think I would have hanged him if I'd been on the jury  :-\
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Guyana on Tuesday 26 December 17 20:55 GMT (UK)
Can I claim my MiL, for riding a bike without a rear light, during the War?
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Rena on Tuesday 26 December 17 21:16 GMT (UK)
Can I claim my MiL, for riding a bike without a rear light, during the War?
:D :D :D :D

Coversely, we heard a knock on our door one evening during WWII - Our mother answered to find it was the warden informing us there was a chink of light showing between our black out curtains.  She gave a classic example of "scurrying" to amend the situation.

Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: ThrelfallYorky on Wednesday 27 December 17 15:45 GMT (UK)
There is this: if you have ancestors who have featured in Court, and I mean the criminal rather than the royal ones, it must make it a bit easier to find them. As far as I know, none of mine have, so in the 1861 census, when several are missing, it's a nuisance to try to seek them out.
It also makes a change from my unrelenting trudge of carpenters / farmers/ tradesmen, and gives you far  better stories to hang on your trees.
You are fortunate, those of you with Crimrelatives!!
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Gillg on Wednesday 27 December 17 16:52 GMT (UK)
And if your ancestors were sent to jail, there will be a record of their height, build, hair and eye colour and ability to read and write in.  So now I know what one of my dodgier ancestors looked like back in the early 19th century.  He was jailed twice - once for poaching and once for neglecting his family.  His 10 year old son Dennis was also sent to reform school for stealing.  You can see his picture and details here:-
http://vcp.e2bn.org/prisoners/2043-1811-dennis-fairey.html
Can't help feeling that he was trying to help out for his rather large family, as it was around Christmas that he stole the fruit and bread.  He looks as though butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.
 
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: RW1 on Saturday 30 December 17 15:41 GMT (UK)
My great-great aunt married a guy who drugged her on their wedding night and stole all her jewellery.....

Oh, and he was already bigamously married to someone else!
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Ayashi on Saturday 30 December 17 15:52 GMT (UK)
A lot of effort to go to to nick jewellery!
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: chinapaddy on Sunday 31 December 17 18:14 GMT (UK)
I got one  ;D The son of my 4x GG Grandfather....
He was a music teacher in England that 'eloped' with his very young student. They were eventually caught and he absconded to USA. Went to the trouble of changing his name to Arthur Clifton, presumably to avoid his pursuers and had a 'bounty' on his head of 100 pounds :-X
Quote
Philharmonic Society Minutes: Meeting, December 12, 1816
December 9, 1816
I beg you will inform the Gentlemen of the Philharmonic Society that I withdraw myself as a Member from
that Society; Wishing them
all, Health and Prosperity
--
December 12, 1816
It was moved by Mr. Webbe and seconded by Mr. Neate that 'This Society with feelings of the utmost
indignation of the discovery that Mr P. A. Corri has been guilty of atrocious conduct which [makes] him at
on
ce a disgrace to his profession, and to Society at large, anxiously hasten to express their horror of having
associated with such a man, and do formally expel him from their Body for ever.' [Read to the members of
the Philharmonic at General Meeting: Janua
ry 15, 1817; Entered into minutes.]
Advertisement in
The Euterpiad, 1822
ADVERTISEMENT, 100 REWARD
Whereas, Philip Anthony Corri, musical composer and teacher, left this country about five years ago for
New York, and his personal abode is desired to be k
nown to the advertiser, but not for any hostile purpose,
this is to give notice whoever will, within six months from this date, furnish satisfaction to Mr. Harmer,
solicitor, Hatton Garden, of the present residence of the said Mr. Corri, so that an intervi
ew may be
obtained with him, shall be paid a reward of 100.
N.B. It has been reported that the above
-
named P. A. Corri, after his arrival at New York, proceeded to
Philadelphia, thence to Baltimore and there married a Quaker lady. It has also been asserted
that he is
returned to England. The said P. A. Corri has a sharp, Italian visage, sallow complexion, black curly hair,
black eyes, and is bald on the crown of the head. He is forty years of age, five feet eight inches high, and
has a soft voice and a gent
lemanly manner. London, June 17, 1822.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: tillypeg on Saturday 13 January 18 15:41 GMT (UK)
Why not wash your black sheep down the plug hole with this bar of soap?   ;D ;D
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Redroger on Tuesday 16 January 18 17:14 GMT (UK)
Mainly black sheep in my tree. The only two potential white sheep are both clergymen.My great grandfather was "dismembered" from a Baptist group i the 19th century for "Fornication and drink" It obviously means he was removed from group membership and not chopped into little pieces as he was removed again, this time for drink only as he had married my great grandmother just in time!!
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Nats185 on Tuesday 19 October 21 22:00 BST (UK)
I got one  ;D The son of my 4x GG Grandfather....
He was a music teacher in England that 'eloped' with his very young student. They were eventually caught and he absconded to USA. Went to the trouble of changing his name to Arthur Clifton, presumably to avoid his pursuers and had a 'bounty' on his head of 100 pounds :-X
Quote
Philharmonic Society Minutes: Meeting, December 12, 1816
December 9, 1816
I beg you will inform the Gentlemen of the Philharmonic Society that I withdraw myself as a Member from
that Society; Wishing them
all, Health and Prosperity
--
December 12, 1816
It was moved by Mr. Webbe and seconded by Mr. Neate that 'This Society with feelings of the utmost
indignation of the discovery that Mr P. A. Corri has been guilty of atrocious conduct which [makes] him at
on
ce a disgrace to his profession, and to Society at large, anxiously hasten to express their horror of having
associated with such a man, and do formally expel him from their Body for ever.' [Read to the members of
the Philharmonic at General Meeting: Janua
ry 15, 1817; Entered into minutes.]
Advertisement in
The Euterpiad, 1822
ADVERTISEMENT, 100 REWARD
Whereas, Philip Anthony Corri, musical composer and teacher, left this country about five years ago for
New York, and his personal abode is desired to be k
nown to the advertiser, but not for any hostile purpose,
this is to give notice whoever will, within six months from this date, furnish satisfaction to Mr. Harmer,
solicitor, Hatton Garden, of the present residence of the said Mr. Corri, so that an intervi
ew may be
obtained with him, shall be paid a reward of 100.
N.B. It has been reported that the above
-
named P. A. Corri, after his arrival at New York, proceeded to
Philadelphia, thence to Baltimore and there married a Quaker lady. It has also been asserted
that he is
returned to England. The said P. A. Corri has a sharp, Italian visage, sallow complexion, black curly hair,
black eyes, and is bald on the crown of the head. He is forty years of age, five feet eight inches high, and
has a soft voice and a gent
lemanly manner. London, June 17, 1822.


Hello chinapaddy! Just wanted to add that Domenico Corri is also my 4x great grandfather! Would love to chat it that's possible on here?
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Nifty1 on Saturday 23 October 21 20:18 BST (UK)
I have two late uncles who were caught by police when they tried to steal a van with a load of televisions in it in the mid to late 1960s. They did not realise that there were police officers  amongst the van’s cargo and they were arrested. They had a stay in Oxford prison for there trouble. How can I substantiate this story? I think that it took place in London or the Home Counties to the west of London.

I did it. Not televisions. That quoted is what my cousin told me.  It was reported in the Maidenhead Advertiser in the mid 1960s. Funny thing is, I noticed that one of the men charged was the man who signed as Informant on my father's death certificate. Father obviously knew a few dodgy characters, he would be an obvious link between the perpetrators of the lorry full of brass plumbing fittings valued at £6,000 - £10,000 being stolen from a pub car park at Loudwater and driven to my uncles comparatively secluded country property.

In nearly twenty years of FR I have all but brought many of my ancestors to life. My maternal gf was a quite wealthy cafe proprietor, he was also a compulsive gambler also a greyhound and race horse owner who was obviously dabbling in the black market during and after the war. He and his second son were in Home Guard. Part of their  duties was to guard the bonded warehouse where US Lend Lease material was stored. I do so wonder where the American car (of the same type used as Staff Cars for high ranking officers that my grandfather used to be chauffeured around in during the post war years) came from.

The cousin who told me is/was Norman Kirtland.
I have been trying to contact him, No reply. How can I check his well being ? There is no reply from his phone or e-mail.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: brigidmac on Saturday 23 October 21 21:16 BST (UK)
my great grandfather was caught selling pictorial postcards of an indelicate nature

it was 1906 and a relatively new crime and he'd been selling them legitimately in  the midlands but dundee shopkeepers didnt like them

it amuses me to look at postcards of this era

some of them cost a lot on ebay

described as artistic by one newspaper + travesty of modern art by another !
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: ThrelfallYorky on Sunday 24 October 21 14:56 BST (UK)
.... and yet the "Willendorf Venus", a very buxom, stylised prehistoric stone figure, is banned as "pornographic" by at least one site!
Compared to many "twerking" female celebrities, she's positively modest!
TY
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: HappyGoLucky33 on Sunday 24 October 21 16:48 BST (UK)
I have a black sheep in mind but he was so dark he never turns up in the records!
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Nifty1 on Sunday 24 October 21 21:36 BST (UK)
He was a sheep that is on record:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsVLIiI8Vfo
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: mckha489 on Sunday 24 October 21 21:44 BST (UK)
He was a sheep that is on record:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsVLIiI8Vfo

“This video contains content from WMG, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.”

Hate it when that happens!
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Erato on Sunday 24 October 21 21:58 BST (UK)
Yeah, I'm in one of those countries that's always blocked, too.

I love my black sheep because they make it into the newspapers.  I haven't found any violent offenders but I do have sheep that range from petty pilfering through small scale embezzlement to safe cracking and professional, career horse thievery.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: brigidmac on Sunday 24 October 21 22:53 BST (UK)
Its a video of lou reed walk on wild side.great song.
I was blocked too but saw the title 
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Nifty1 on Monday 25 October 21 04:11 BST (UK)
He was a sheep that is on record:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsVLIiI8Vfo

“This video contains content from WMG, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.”

Hate it when that happens!

Sorry about that.
I could try posting another another link but it might not have the same impact without the video.
In the first instance, anybody curious enough can check if they can get it another way by searching
‘ take a walk on the wild side ‘





Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: jbml on Wednesday 11 January 23 21:20 GMT (UK)
My black sheep great great grandfather really troubles me.

His wife obtained a judicial separation from him in 1907 (a very rare and unusual thing for someone of their standing in those days) and the case caused such a sensation that it was reported extensively in the local newspapers. The evidence puts a lot of (unpleasant) flesh on the bare bones of the man.

What troubles me, though, is that her evidence to the magistrates includes that "there was a certain matter that he said, if she ever mentioned it to anyone he woudl cut her throat". Charming.

But what WAS that matter?

Fast forward 4 years, the 1911 census. He is living in a boarding house, and reports "one living child". (We KNOW he had one who died in infancy too ... but you can imagine the boarding house keeper saying "hey, William, how many children you got?" and he said "one", so that's what the boarding house keeper put on teh census return.)

HOWEVER ... my great great grandmother was living with the one child still living (my great grandfather). And the census return which HE signed said that she had THREE children  still living, one dead.

I have birth and death certificates for my great grandfather and the child who died in infancy ... but the registers contain NOTHING about the other two. So I'm guessing that as soon as they were born my great great grandfather (who was in and out of work due to his drinking, and surely couldn't afford to support four children) took them and left them at teh workhouse door. Or rather ... that's what he SAID he was doing with them.

But did he??

I've got this uneasy suspicion that this was the "matter" referred to in the 1907 court case; and that whilst this is what he told his wife he was doing, it's not what he ACTUALLY did. Because why would giving up children he couldn't afford to support for adoption be SO terrible that he would threaten to cut her throat if she so much as mentioned it?

At the time, though, he was working as coachman and gardener at a rather grand house, and they were living at the lodge.

As gardener he'd have access to burial tools, and to parts of the grounds that nobody but he would ever have reason to dig in.

And I strongly suspect that somewhere in the grounds of that grand house, there are two shallow graves containing the remains of two newborn infants ...
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: coombs on Wednesday 11 January 23 22:29 GMT (UK)
My black sheep great great grandfather really troubles me.

His wife obtained a judicial separation from him in 1907 (a very rare and unusual thing for someone of their standing in those days) and the case caused such a sensation that it was reported extensively in the local newspapers. The evidence puts a lot of (unpleasant) flesh on the bare bones of the man.

What troubles me, though, is that her evidence to the magistrates includes that "there was a certain matter that he said, if she ever mentioned it to anyone he woudl cut her throat". Charming.

But what WAS that matter?

Fast forward 4 years, the 1911 census. He is living in a boarding house, and reports "one living child". (We KNOW he had one who died in infancy too ... but you can imagine the boarding house keeper saying "hey, William, how many children you got?" and he said "one", so that's what the boarding house keeper put on teh census return.)

HOWEVER ... my great great grandmother was living with the one child still living (my great grandfather). And the census return which HE signed said that she had THREE children  still living, one dead.

I have birth and death certificates for my great grandfather and the child who died in infancy ... but the registers contain NOTHING about the other two. So I'm guessing that as soon as they were born my great great grandfather (who was in and out of work due to his drinking, and surely couldn't afford to support four children) took them and left them at teh workhouse door. Or rather ... that's what he SAID he was doing with them.

But did he??

I've got this uneasy suspicion that this was the "matter" referred to in the 1907 court case; and that whilst this is what he told his wife he was doing, it's not what he ACTUALLY did. Because why would giving up children he couldn't afford to support for adoption be SO terrible that he would threaten to cut her throat if she so much as mentioned it?

At the time, though, he was working as coachman and gardener at a rather grand house, and they were living at the lodge.

As gardener he'd have access to burial tools, and to parts of the grounds that nobody but he would ever have reason to dig in.

And I strongly suspect that somewhere in the grounds of that grand house, there are two shallow graves containing the remains of two newborn infants ...

Quite a story. My ancestor Richard Richardson was from Essex. He was in and out of prison a lot, today he would have been given his own parking space.  ;)
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Kiltpin on Thursday 12 January 23 11:03 GMT (UK)
This is quite a long story, but I shall attempt to shorten it. 

The backstory - 

My relatives had lived in the British community in India for about 200 years. Unlike most Brits there, they were poor and usually had to take whatever work they could get. Although living in Bombay, my (I will call him uncle) got a job as warder at Madras Central Prison - some 800+ miles away. 

The Central Prison housed some of the most violent prisoners in the whole of India. Warders always moved about the prison in a "unit" of 4 men. All were armed with a billy club (18"-24", teak, with brass cap and bands, handcuffed to their wrist). 

1st - dealt with the prisoner,
2nd - guarded the 1st,
3rd - had the keys,
4th - guarded the 3rd. 

The incident - 

An incident/murder was happening in one of the larger cells. My uncle's unit was sent to deal. The incident was in fact staged, so that the prisoners could attack the warders in an enclosed space. My uncle was a 2nd. Upon entering the cell, the most notorious and violent prisoner attacked 1st. The prisoners tear and shred their own cloths down to individual strands to re-make them into ropes, which they use as a garrotte. Within a moment, the prisoner had the garrotte round 1st's neck and was starting to strangle him. 
My uncle struck the prisoner on the head and stopped the attack. The blow was probably fatal, but we will never know. One blow, as a defence, was legal and standard practice. Unfortunately, the red mist came down, and my uncle did not stop. He beat the prisoner's head to a pulp. 
There was an official enquiry and in spite of glowing tributes from all colleagues and superior officers, my uncle was sentenced to life imprisonment. 

The middle bit -   

In the normal course of events, that would have been the end of the story, but Hitler invaded Poland and the Empire needed soldiers. My uncle was offered "wartime parole". As soon as hostilities ceased, he was to report back to prison. A parole board would then adjudicate as to how much time might be allowed off his sentence for war service. 
My uncle was a natural leader and rose to sergeant within months. He was being considered for a field commission when the war ended. He was in Bombay, from where the troop transports were leaving for England. He found a sergeant of his size from an English regiment, got him drunk, exchanged uniform jackets, stole his ID and at the last minute got on board the ship. During the journey, he organized daily keep fit, quizzes, a choir, impromptu entertainments, juggling lessons, handwriting improvement, readings from the classics (and debate afterwards). Suffice to say, the troops were kept busy! 
They landed in Southampton and troop train to Birmingham. Discharged, with the wrong name, but a free man. 

The aftermath - 

After all the troops were gone, he was left in the station, in a country he had never been, with only a few pence to his name. He went to the tea kiosk and spoke to the young lady. They were married two months later. Went to work at Dunlop and retired as Senior Foreman. She died just after their 50th anniversary. He changed his name by deed poll back to his birth name before his marriage. He still had his army pay book in his real name.   

If I had not been told by my mother, I would never have found all this out. 

Regards 

Chas
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: jbml on Thursday 12 January 23 14:37 GMT (UK)
That's quite some story, kiltpin.

Have you managed to obtain any documents that corrobrate it all?
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Kiltpin on Thursday 12 January 23 17:56 GMT (UK)
I have seen his birth entry, Madras prison service new warder general instructions card, his army ID and pay book, marriage certificate where his name is his birth name and "Formerly  Xxxx Xxxx" and finally his death certificate in his own name. His eldest son has/had the other Sergeants pay book - just the cover in the name of Xxxx Xxxx. 

He and my mother were very, very close - they were the only churchgoers in the family, they did a daily crossword together. When he was in prison, she wrote letters to him almost daily. I truly cannot see her lying to me about something that had happened 60 years before.   

Regards 

Chas
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: jbml on Thursday 12 January 23 20:50 GMT (UK)
That sounds like pretty solid corroboration to me.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Davedrave on Thursday 12 January 23 21:00 GMT (UK)
All of my ancestors whose misdemeanours I know of committed their offences in the 1830’s and 1840’s. In Chelmsford, William Sayers stole a lot of sheep fleeces from his employer and the reports of his ludicrous behaviour afterwards are pretty amusing (hiding soaking wet trousers in a box under his bed, for example, which left a tell-tale pool across the floor).

In Leicester William Jarvis and his family sound like the neighbours from hell and apparently came up before the bench about once a month. I don’t think I’d like to meet them. Their exploits included kicking a harmless neighbour’s fireplace in because he’d “wrong poisoned” them and inciting a dog (not theirs) to bite one of the policemen severely, then escaping naked down the street, and (on a different occasion) drunkenly disturbing the local chapel congregation. A ten year old Jarvis, who was clearly concealed after hours in the factory he worked at to admit a thief, was let off despite his cock and bull explanation.

A Jarvis married a Hunt. The Hunts don’t seem to have been violent, and the cheeky repartee of William Hunt, charged with  neglecting his family, is pretty amusing, as is the way his son was found hiding in bed (abetted by his mother) when apprehended for a theft.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Biggles50 on Thursday 12 January 23 22:08 GMT (UK)
Great Great Great Uncle

In and out of Jail in his teens.

Convicted of Burglary, sentenced to Death, commuted

On release committed a crime, back inside for 18 months

In court again for Highway Robbery, guilty, sentenced to Death, commuted to Transportation to Australia.  After six years Pardoned, conditionally.

Stayed in Australia where he found himself in Court another 15 times before he died in the 1890’s.
Title: Re: Your Blacksheep-Do they amuse you?
Post by: Redroger on Sunday 15 January 23 17:39 GMT (UK)
Sounds very similar to my great great uncle who was convicted of Highway robbery in 1832, and was sentenced to death commuted to life transportation. Interestingly he got married the day after the robbery, but I have found no children. His wife had two with a new partner some years later, who took our surname, but cannot be his!(150 years before sperm freezing!!
It was government policy to commute capital sentences on people guilty of capital offences when no violence was used. One way of populating the colonies with fit young males I suppose.