from the Gale 19th Century British Library newspapers database:
Northern Echo (Darlington, England), Saturday, September 22, 1900; Issue 9530.
A DISHONEST SOLICITOR
William George Collingwood, up to recently chief assistant solicitor to Sheffield Corporation, was yesterday at Sheffield committed to trial charged with forging a cheque for £6500, forging signatories to a deed of conveyance, and stealing four sums of money entrusted to him to pay stamp duties. The alleged frauds were not discovered until Collingwood left the service of the Corporation early in August, and he was subsequently arrested on Derby Racecourse.
The Leeds Mercury (Leeds, England), Saturday, December 8, 1900; Issue 19558.
SEVEN YEARS FOR A SOLICITOR
William George Collingwood (33), late assistant-solicitor to the Corporation of Sheffield, was indicted for emzelling £55 7s 8d, for forging and endorsement for £6500, and for stealing a sum of £20 7s 8d, the defalcations extending from May 25 1898 until May of the present year. Prisoner pleaded guilty. Mr Scott Fox, QC, and Mr Ellison were for the prosecution, and Mr Mellor for the defence.
Mr Scott Fox said that the prisoner, in his capacity of Assistant-Solicitor to the Sheffield Corporation, was intrusted with cheques drawn by the City Accountant from time to time for public purposes. Under these circumstances, he obtained a cheque for £6500. In April, 1899 ,prisoner exchanged this for a draft made payable to Mr A. Kay, who was the person entitled to the sum, at the proper time. Prisoner forged Kay's endorsement, and recieved the whole of the £6500, which he had appropriated to his own uses. Some of the notes had been traced, many of them to racecourses.
On prisoner's behalf, Mr Mellor pleaded eloquently. He said Collingwood was still a young man, possessed of considerable ability and with friends who would give him another start in life, in another country, when he came out of prison. His wife and three little children were left penniless, and his own name would be removed from the roll. Prisoner had been coveyancing clerk to the Town Clerk of Cardiff from 1890 to 1893, and in that year receieved and appointment in the Town Clerk's office at Plymouth. Here he got into financial trouble, and afterwards went into practice at Bristol, and then he came to Sheffield, where he got a salary of £400 per annum.
His Lordship said it was his duty to protect public bodies like the Sheffield Corporation from the dishonesty of their own trusted servants, and prisoner would be sent to penal servitude for seven years.
