Crimeline - The Great Packington Timeline of Crime and Punishment (1750 - 1950).

1851-1900

• 1851 – Jacob Butler of Great Packington was convicted of theft and was sentenced to 6 months with hard labour.

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• 1851 - Charles Butler (56) and Jacob Butler (23), father and son of Great Packington, were charged with assaulting John Cookson with 'intent to do him grievous bodily harm'. They were remanded to the Midsummer Sessions at the Warwick Assizes.

• John was at the Old Swan Inn, Meriden, Warwickshire, when he was warned by a young lad named Taylor that Charles and Jacob Butler had asked him to assist them in 'falling upon the prosecutor [John] and giving him a good thrashing.' Taylor was told by them that he 'had nothing to fear' from assisting them, as they had weapons hidden by the road side and would kill John. Taylor refused to help them, went and told John of the danger he was in, and then immediately went home. 

• The prosecution in the case proved that John had recently been a witness is a case where Charles Butler's daughter/Jacob Butler's sister had affiliated an illegitimate child upon a young man of his acquaintance, so they had an 'ill feeling' against him.  

• On the night of the assault, when John left the Old Swan Inn around midnight, he got about half a mile from Meriden, where Charles and Jacob were on the road waiting. Joseph Steane of Great Packington had left the Old Swan Inn around the same time, and saw the Butler's attack John. He stated in court that he saw them 'kicking him severely. They knocked out some of his teeth. The elder prisoner laid hold of the prosecutor first, and began to beat him beat him with a heavy stick; both prisoners then set upon him and thew him down.' When they left the scene and Joseph got to John, he was 'bleeding profusely from a cut to the temple.' Luckily, John survived the attack. Joseph's statement was 'fully corroborated' by other witnesses and was considered 'conclusive' of their guilt. Both Charles and Jacob were found guilty of common assault and were sentenced to 6 months imprisonment with hard labour. The Judge in the case said that as it had been shown that they had laid in wait and planned the assault on Cookson, if the victim had died they would have been sentenced to hang. ​

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• 1851 - An inquest was held at the Old Swan Inn, Meriden, Warwickshire, into the death of Mary Docker of Great Packington. She set a fire in the field of her employer, Joseph Dodwell, where she had been working watching for birds in crop fields. Her dress caught alight and she was severely burned, most of the clothing on her lower half completely burned away. She was found by two men who extinguished the fire and took her body to the Meriden Workhouse. A verdict of 'accidental burning' was passed, 

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• 1858 - Herard Beaufoy, son of Great Packington farmer Mr. Beaufoy, was summoned to the Coleshill Sessions on charges of trespassing on the Packington Hall estate and poaching. Joseph Stacey, assistant Game Keeper to the Earl of Aylesford, gave evidence that he was near to some woodland and heard gunfire, so followed the sound. He found the defendant with a gun and his dog was chasing a hare in the woods. Herard was found guilty and fined 2s, 6d and costs. ​​

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• 1859 - John Lowe, a waggoner of Great Packington, was charged at the Coleshill Petty Sessions with leaving his horse and cart on the highway in Meriden, Warwickshire. 

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• 1860 - William Harding, of Meriden, Warwickshire, was charged at the Coleshill Petty Sessions with trespassing in pursuit of game on the Packington Estate. A watcher named Joseph Armes proved the case and William was fined £1 and costs. 

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• 1861 - Adin Shuttleworth was born in 1841 to John Bint Shuttleworth of Meriden (son of John Shuttleworth, farmer, and Mary Bint of Great Packington) and Elizabeth Smith of Great Packington (daughter of Peter Smith of Great Packington, cordwainer, and Mary Bedson of Great Packington). By 1860, he had moved south and was employed as a foot man in St Marylebone, London. In 1861, he was convicted of theft and was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment at Portland Prison. He had married Ann Best on 28 June 1860 at St. James Church, Paddington, London. After serving his sentence he was released, but by 1868, Adin was deceased. Ann and their 5 children (including a 7 months old baby boy) were admitted to the Holborn Workhouse on 2 December 1868 and were described in records as 'destitute'. Their stay was brief, being discharged on 9 January 1869 on Ann's request. Ann later remarried. 

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• 1861 – Three ‘tramps’ called Florence Sullivan, Patrick Sullivan and Thomas Jones, and were convicted of refusing to work at the Meriden Union Workhouse. They were each sentenced to 28 days in prison with hard labour and were severely reprimanded.

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• 1862 - A year after selling off all of his farm stock and personal belongings at auction, Thomas Mayou o f Great Packington was convicted of stealing 9 sheep from Henry Cryer of Fillongley, Warwickshire. Thomas went on to sell the sheep at Smithfield Market, Birmingham, Warwickshire, for 48s each. The sheep were identified later by Mr Cryer's shepherd due to their markings.

• Thomas was sentenced to 3 years penal servitude in Portland Prison, Dorset. He had recently been married and had a young son. After Thomas’ release from prison, he moved with his wife and son to Staffordshire, where they had more children and lived the rest of their lives. 

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• 1863 - J. Sheasby of Great Packington, journeyman baker, was declared bankrupt.

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• 1864 - George Hughes, labourer, and Julia Jeffries, servant, of Milk Street, Birmingham, were charged at Birmingham Police Court with breaking into the house of John Williams of Great Packington and stealing clothing valued between £4 and £5. They had sold some of the items to a lodging house keeper, but were discovered with most of the stolen property and were taken into custody and reprimanded by the Magistrates until the owner was found. They were committed to the Birmingham Assizes for trial. 

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• 1864 - According to an article in the St. James's magazine, ‘poachers come from many a long mile to Packington, but the keeper says he can breed enough partridges, hares and pheasants for them and my lord as well. This, however, is not allowed to interfere with the law, and poachers often go from Packington to Warwick much against their will.’

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• 1864 - That same year, in one sitting of the Coleshill Petty Sessions, there were 2 cases of poaching on the Packington estate. A labourer named Robert Oreton was charged with night poaching on the testimony of Charles Bint, one of the estate game keepers. Charles gave evidence that he was walking towards his home about 9pm and heard a rabbit squeal. He went towards the sound and saw Robert taking a rabbit out of a trap, which Robert threw away when he saw Charles approaching. Robert was sentenced to 21 days in the House of Corrections and to find £5 t0 guarantee his good behaviour and that he would not have another offence within the next 12 months. Fortunately for John Allan, labourer, who was also charged with trespassing, there was not enough evidence to proceed with the trial and his case was dismissed. 

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• 1866 - George Grosvenor and George Harding from Birmingham, Warwickshire broke into Hermitage Farm, Great Packington, Warwickshire and stole goods belonging to the occupier, Mr Nicholls. This included a coat, boots, two hams and a bill hook. They pleaded guilty when tried at the Coleshill Petty sessions and were committed to the next Assizes. 

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• 1867 – Fire broke out at Outwoods Farm, later suspected to be arson. The fire was put out by the Coleshill Volunteer Fire Brigade with help from neighbours and men from other nearby parishes. A £50 reward was offered for information in the case, with contributions of £30 from the Police, £10 from the owner of the farm Mrs Riley, and £10 from the Earl of Aylesford. 

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• 1867 - Stone throwing was reported at a property in Great Packington over a series of nights, resulting in 22 panes of glass being broken and causing great anxiety to the occupiers. Local Police set up overnight watches to deter the culprit. 

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• 1870 – Samuel Woodier from Coventry, Warwickshire was charged with trespassing on the Packington Estate for poaching and for assaulting a gamekeeper and two of his watchers.

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• 1870 – William Harrow was charged with trespassing on the Packington Hall estate to poach game and was fined 40 shillings and 23 shillings in costs. 

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• 1876 - Thomas Docker of Meriden was charged at the Coleshill Petty Sessions with attempted 'carnal knowledge' [rape] of a 10 year old girl from Great Packington. The Coleshill Chronicle reported on the case, calling Docker a 'an old and repulsive-looking fellow' and commended the child's widowed mother for bringing the matter before the magistrates. The evidence given in court was to a room cleared of women and children and the paper wrote that it was 'wholly unfit for publication.' John was sentenced to 2 months with hard labour. 

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• 1877 - Edward Wilson Bennett Jr. of Great Packington was fined for trespassing and ferreting in Corley, Warwickshire in April 1877.

• In 1878, Edward Bennett Downes was born to Sarah Ann Downes in Fillongley, Warwickshire. Edward Wilson Bennet Jr., 1 of the 9 children of Great Packington's Edward Wilson Bennet Snr. and his wife Elizabeth Bennett nee Bennett (married paternal first cousins), is the most likely candidate for the father, though evidence is circumstantial. His poaching conviction places him in Corley, where Sarah Ann Downes was residing during the window of conception. Edward Wilson Bennett Jr's brothers can be discounted as they had moved away from Warwickshire, the baby was given the names Edward and Bennet and his father was reportedly a carpenter, a cooperating occupation.

• Sarah Ann Downes had previously had another son out of wedlock in 1875.  A bastardy case for the child was charged against Isaac Thurn, a labourer from Ansley, Warwickshire, at the Coleshill Petty Sessions. She stated that the babies father Isaac was her maternal first cousin who had courted her for 2 years and had promised to marry her. When she told him about her pregnancy he said that 'he would not be tied to one woman' but acknowledged that he was the father. Isaac was ordered to pay 2s per week and costs of £2 8s 6d. The baby sadly died in infancy. Sarah Ann later married Frank Thomas Biffin in 1884.

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• 1878 – Joseph Tebbutt from Coventry was charged with gross cruelty to a horse in Great Packington and was fined 1 pound, 1 shilling and 6 pence.

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• 1879 – Amos Brittain of Allesley Village, Warwickshire, was charged by George Smith of Great Packington with neglecting his work. He was ordered to pay 5 shillings and 6 pence in damages.

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• 1879 – Henry Silvester was born in 1836, the illegitimate son of Mary Silvester and an unknown father. In 1841 she married a Great Packington man, William Keatley, and her son began using Keatley as his surname. He lived with his mother, stepfather and their children during his childhood. He married Elizabeth Price at St Mark's, Birmingham, Warwickshire, on 5 July 1857. 

• In 1879, Henry Silvester alias Keatley was found guilty of breaking into a building in Great Packington and stealing nine half pounds of butter. He was sentenced to nine months imprisonment with hard labour at Warwick County Gaol.

• Henry's entry for this imprisonment in the Home Office Calendar of Prisoners records that he had been charged with other offenses previously, although not in the Great Packington area. In 1877, he was imprisoned for 6 months with hard labour for 'assaulting and beating a child' at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire. In 1878 he was imprisoned for 2 months with hard labour for trespassing in pursuit of game (poaching).

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• 1880 - In July, Henry Silvester alias Keatley (see 1879 on this Crimeline) was sentenced to another 9 months for theft. The Police Gazette reported that: 'Bow- street, July 30. The whole of the property reported in Police Gazette 26th instant, as stolen by means of burglary, from the Clock Inn, Bickenhill, has been recovered, and a well known thief named HENRY SYLVESTER, alias KEATLEY, committed for trial at ensuing Assizes, on the charge :— he is about 48 years of age, 5 feet 8 inches high, fresh complexion, brown hair, and long beard, and slightly pock pitted. He was convicted at Midsummer Sessions 1879, at Warwick, for housebreaking, and sentenced to 9 months imprisonment, has been in the army. Information to Mr. Supt. Yardley, Solihull, Warwickshire.' The Calendar of Prisoners also recorded his trade as a stoker. 

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• 1880 - 17-year-old Joseph Todd, who was employed on the Packington Estate, was charged in May at the Coleshill Petty Sessions with being drunk whilst in charge of a horse on the highway. Police Constable Moreton proved the case, giving evidence that he had seen Joseph at about 5pm in the afternoon galloping on the horse and then falling off. When Joseph stood up from the fall, he was so drunk that he 'could not stand' and was 'insensible'. Joseph pleaded guilty and was fined 5s with 18s 6d costs, and promised not to do it again. He also promised to pay even though he had only been married for 1 week and had no home or goods to distrain (pay in kind)! He was warned that if he did not pay the fine he would be sentenced to 14 days in prison. He was also admonished for endangering his own life and the lives of other people travelling on the road. 

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• 1880 - John Deebank and Harry Hastings, both from Coleshill, were charged with common assault on John Aston at Great Packington, Warwickshire. The case against them was dismissed, with John Deebank paying costs. 

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• 1880 - Arthur Pegg, horse dealer, was charged at the Westminster Police court on a warrant of stealing a horse belonging to the Earl of Aylesford, worth £250. The Earl was not present in court, but had submitted information to be read out in court by the chief clerk. He deposed that a chestnut mare named Morna was sent to Arthur Pegg's stables to go on sale for a price of at least £250. The Earl had instructed that 'the said Arthur Pegg was immediately on the sale being effected to hand me the money, and was previously to inform me who the purchaser was; any offer for the purchase of the mare was first to be submitted to me for my approval.' Whilst awaiting a sale the Earl agreed to lend the horse to a friend, but when his butler went to Arthur's stables, he admitted that he had already sold the horse. No information had been sent to the Earl in order to agree the sale and the money was not to be found. Arthur was alleged to have kept the proceeds of the £200 sale. Arthur was remanded and committed to the Old Bailey for further trial. The case was heard at the Old Bailey on 13 September and the Earl's Butler, James James, gave evidence: 'I have been Lord Aylesford's butler for some years—on 21st May I received instructions from him, in consequence of which I went to Pegg's stable, having sent a message the day before in reference to the mare Morna—I saw Pegg, and said that Morna was to go as ordered the previous day for a friend to ride, and asked why she had not been sent on the previous day—he said that having shown her for sale on the previous day he could not allow her to leave the stable—I said that I had his Lordship's instructions to take her away, but he said that she was sold, with the exception of passing the veterinary surgeon—no amount or purchaser's [n]ame was mentioned—I went next day to hear the result, and he said that she had passed sound, and all that remained was for him to deliver her and receive the cheque—I said I would come on the following day, and I wished for the cheque as he received; it, and that Lord Aylesford wished me to get his account, and that I was instructed to bring away all the harness, clothing, and saddlery, and asked him to fix his own time next day for that puprose—he said that he would meet me at 12 o'clock, but in the morning I received a telegram from him saying that he was called from home, and could not keep his appointment, but would see me at Lord Aylesford's house at 4 o'clock—I tore the telegram up—I waited till 5 o'clock, and he did not come, and then I went to his stable and waited some time without seeing him—I went again next morning, and after waiting some time saw him, and he fixed 4 o'clock next day, when he would have his bill ready—I went the two following days without seeing him, and afterwards made frequent appointments with his man—I brought away all Lord Aylesford's property which I could find; and a few days afterwards I found the stables empty, not shut up, but disused—that was a few days after 19th May—I went repeatedly afterwards, but never saw him till he was in custody on 6th August—I never received the cheque or the money—he never told me to whom the mare was sold, but I ascertained it from inquiries I made.' Despite this evidence, the accused received a good character and was found not guilty. 

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• 1881 – Henry Silvester alias Keatley (see 1879 and 1880 on this Crimeline) was indited for a burglary at Blabers Hall, Fillongley, Warwickshire. He was found guilty of breaking into Edward Smith's property through a window, with a chisel, and stealing a pair of boots, 10lbs of cheese, 37 eggs, 7lbs mushrooms and some cooked meat. It was also reported that during his arrest he threw a bunch of skeleton keys into the river Tame, missing from the property. A chisel was found on Henry's person and this was compared to marks on the broken window and were found to match the tool. He confessed to the theft and wrote in a statement that he ate the meat then sold the other items to Margaret Ramsey, who he lodged with in Birmingham, Warwickshire, at her boarding house. He also wrote that he had stolen 6 fowls from Stechford, Warwickshire the previous fortnight and he sold the stolen birds to her. He committed the thefts knowing that she would purchase the plunder from him. Henry was found guilty at the next Quarter Sessions and was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. Local newspaper The Atherstone, Nuneaton, and Warwickshire Times reported on the case and called Henry, aged 49, an 'old burglar'! 

• Margaret Ramsey was also arrested for receiving stolen goods, but as nothing was found in her property, she was discharged from custody. The Magistrates cautioned her that if stolen items had been found she would have been committed to trial alongside Henry.

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• 1881 - William Terheege of Great Packington took Andrew Anderton of Meriden, Warwickshire, to court for unpaid wages for tree felling. He won the case.

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• 1882 – Heneage Finch, 7th Earl of Aylesford was summoned to Coleshill Police Court by James Mullins, Excise Officer of Coventry, on charges of using a carriage at Great Packington without a license and for keeping a male servant without a license, contrary to Inland Revenue rules. The Earl did not appear himself in court, either personally or by counsel, and Police Constable MacDonald was required to call out 'Earl of Aylesford' 3 times outside the court before the case could proceed. The Earl was fined £20 for each case and the Judge said that 'a person in the position of the Earl of Aylesford ought to set a better example.'

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• 1883 - Henry Silvester alias Keatley (see 1879, 1800 and 1881 on this Crimeline) was convicted of stealing fowls in Fillongley, the property of Harry Mayou. On account of his previous convictions, he was sentenced to 7 years penal servitude (convict labour). 

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• 1885 - Henry Terheege, a labourer from Great Packington, was convicted of being drunk on the highway, having been found by Police Constable Franklin 'in a ditch just off the road' with 'his trousers round his ankles, in a beastly form but very peaceable.' Henry pleaded guilty and said that it was his first offence and hoped it would be his last. He was fined 1s and 13s 6d in costs only, in the hope that it would be a warning to him.  

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• 1887 - Thomas Wall, a carpenter from Corley, Warwickshire, was summoned by John Henry Greaves, a farmer from Corley, to Coleshill Petty Sessions for an alleged assault in January 1887. Edward Wilson Bennett from Great Packington was a witness in the case, and said that he was with Thomas and  William Courts walking home from the Bull and Butcher Inn, Corley Moor, Warwickshire. When they met in the street, Thomas Wall asked John Greaves to move out of the road 'and he [Greaves] immediately turned round and struck him a blow in the mouth.' When Edward tried to intervene he claimed that the defendant also struck him and pushed him into the snow. The Bench dismissed the summons after the prosecution and defence gave wildly different accounts of the incident.

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• 1887 – Thomas Swan, a farm servant from Great Packington, was convicted of being drunk on the highway and on a Sunday. It was reported by Sergeant Walker that Thomas had been 'abusive to persons who passed, fell down in the road, vomited, and was in a beastly state.' He was fined £1.

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• 1887 – Robert Thompson, a carpenter and joiner who lived at Forest Hall in Meriden was convicted of stealing five domestic fowls and three pigeons from Joshua Blackwell, a miller who lived in Great Packington.

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• 1889 – There was a break in at St. James Church, Great Packington, Warwickshire, which was the eighth church in the district broken into in two weeks. The church was ransacked and a bottle of communion wine was stolen, but the gold communion plate was not found by the thieves. The Coleshill Chronicle reported on the crime and called it sacrilege.

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• 1889 - Albert Keatley, a labourer from Great Packington, Warwickshire, was charged at Coleshill Petty Sessions with common assault on Alfred Mills and his wife Ellen Mills nee Keatley at Meriden, Warwickshire, He pleaded not guilty of assaulting Alfred Mills but claimed self defence against Ellen Mills, who was his sister, and said that she hit him first and made his nose bleed by a 'blow stuck with her fist'. It was reported in The Coleshill Chronicle that there was a 'family grievance' between the siblings which had existed since their mother died, about the care of their infirm father. Mrs Seth Barton, a neighbour of the Mills, was called as witness and said that she saw Albert strike Alfred and threaten his sister with 'bad and filthy language.' The Bench refused to give time in Albert's case but he was found guilty and fined 2s 6d in each case and 28s costs, totalling 33 s.

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• 1891 - Henry Silvester alias Keatley (see 1879, 1881, 1883 on this Crimeline) was charged with setting fire to the hearse-house at the Meriden Union Workhouse, where he had recently been an inmate. At about 1.30am, Henry Warman, a wagoner for Old Hall Farm, Great Packington, was passing the Workhouse on his way to Birmingham, Warwickshire, with a load of potatoes and saw the blaze. He woke the Master of the workhouse and they, with neighbours and inmates, extinguished the fire with buckets of water. The hearse and building roof were destroyed causing damage of about £60. Police searched the grounds and found foot prints going across the garden to where a fence had been broken down.

• Henry had just been discharged from the Workhouse into employment and when he was arrested on suspicion of the arson, he was found to have a chisel, four boxes of matches and several loose matches in his pockets. The footprints were compared with the boots worn by Henry and were found to match exactly. He was committed to the Assizes for trial. 

• At the Assizes, Henry was found guilty and was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. When the 1891 census was enumerated he can be found incarcerated in Wormwood Scrubbs Prison, Hammersmith, London. His wife Elizabeth Silvester nee Price recorded herself as a widow in the 1891 census, and was living with two of her and Henry's children in Ladywood, Birmingham, Warwickshire. She also reported that she was a widow in the 1901 and 1911 census returns. 

• When both the 1901 and 1911 census was enumerated, Henry was recorded as an inmate in the Meriden Union Workhouse. He died in 1918, with his death recorded in Meriden.

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• 1894 - Walter Freer and William Freer, labourers from Great Packington, were summoned to the Solihull Police Court for assaulting Frederick William Mills, farm labourer, at the Malt Shovel Inn, Stonebridge, Warwickshire. William Freer struck Frederick with his fist and they were all ordered by the public house landlord to leave. Outside, Walter Freer hit Frederick with a stick. They were fined 10 shillings each and 17 shillings costs. 

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• 1896 - Thomas and William Adcock of Great Packington were summoned to Handsworth for unlawfully selling milk which was 12% of water to Henry Thomas Barnett, milk salesman, of Coleshill Street, Birmingham. Barnett had initially been summoned for selling the milk then proved that he had bought the milk from the defendants through an agent. He had a written guarantee certifying the milk to be absolutely pure and attached to the churn was a label guaranteeing it to be genuine. Barnett gave evidence to prove that he did not tamper with the milk after he received it at Perry Barr Station, and his statement was corroborated by a boy who was with him on the morning in question. ​The Bench remarked that it was a hard case, as the defendants were responsible for the milk until it was delivered to Barnett at Perry Barr, as they paid the carriage at their own risk. They were fined £1 11s.

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• 1898 – Elizabeth Smith of Great Packington was fined for allowing a dog to be at large while unmuzzled.

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• 1899 – George Terheege, an assistant gamekeeper, of Great Packington was declared bankrupt.