Help with Larceny :)

[Naizam]

Hello all,

I've just uncovered a misdeed perpetrated by an ancestor but am not sure what was stolen?

Edmund Roffe was sentenced to imprisonment (6 months hard labour) in Gloucestershire - I found the record on Ancestry in the England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892.

I then found the attached article on Newspapers.com. It indicates that Edmund Roffe was accused of stealing 'slates,' the property of Lord Sherborne.

What are slates? To get 6 months hard labour they must have been valuable?

[Fisherman]

Probably roofing slates
Slate from North Wales quarries as used all over the world to roof buildings.

Fisherman

[Naizam]

Thanks Fisherman, he must've stolen a lot of slate to get 6 months hard labour? I guess that fits as his occupation was a stone mason. What a way to end a career though.

[Guy Etchells]

Hello all,

I've just uncovered a misdeed perpetrated by an ancestor but am not sure what was stolen?

Edmund Roffe was sentenced to imprisonment (6 months hard labour) in Gloucestershire - I found the record on Ancestry in the England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892.

I then found the attached article on Newspapers.com. It indicates that Edmund Roffe was accused of stealing 'slates,' the property of Lord Sherborne.

What are slates? To get 6 months hard labour they must have been valuable?

He was very lucky to get such a lenient sentence, it was not long before he would have been hanged for the offence.

From https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/Punishments,_1780-1925

"The 1855 Criminal Justice Act downgraded the offence of simple larceny (theft of goods valued under five shillings) to an offence subject to summary jurisdiction, and, if they pleaded guilty, to incarceration up to six months in houses of correction or "common gaols"".

Cheers
Guy

[Naizam]

Thanks Guy - great info