Now the story as reported was not unusual, and consisted of a rather nasty opportune assault and theft in a public place.*
Pick any newspaper for any decade, and there are a depressing long list of similar crimes, which in the 19th century were usually dealt with in a harsh way.
All of which meant that I didn’t give much thought to the story of the young woman, who was assaulted and robbed by two young men in the May of 1854.
But I was drawn back partly because I felt ashamed at dismissing what was obviously an awful experience, partly because the woman was on her way to Chorlton-cum-Hardy and finally out of curiosity at the fate of the two who committed the crime.
The newspaper account ended with the committal of the two, to the sessions at Preston
And that would have been that, but for the simple inclusion of the names of the thieves, which in turn led to the discovery of the sentencing of the two.
The crime had taken place on the Saturday, the two were committed on the Monday, and on Monday May 22nd they were up in front of the magistrates and were charged with “Larceny from the Person” and sentenced to “4 months” with “1 week in Solitary Confinement and once whipped”.
During the sessions, the magistrates saw 155, cases, most were for different gradations of larceny, with a few for obtaining money or goods under false pretences, three for counterfeiting silver coins, and five for Riot.
The longest sentence was for 2 years, with most being given between three and four months incarceration.
In the case of William Barlow and Robert McMillan, both got four months in prison, with a week in solitary and both were whipped.
This marks them out from the other larceny cases and might reflect the nature of their crime, but we don’t have any details of what the magistrates said.
But the five committed for Riot were acquitted.
Sadly, so far I have been able to track what happened to our two after their appearance, and nor do we have a name for the young woman.
Location; Manchester
*Highway Robbery, Manchester Guardian May 10th, 1854
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| The crime, May 10th 1854 |
All of which meant that I didn’t give much thought to the story of the young woman, who was assaulted and robbed by two young men in the May of 1854.
But I was drawn back partly because I felt ashamed at dismissing what was obviously an awful experience, partly because the woman was on her way to Chorlton-cum-Hardy and finally out of curiosity at the fate of the two who committed the crime.
The newspaper account ended with the committal of the two, to the sessions at Preston
And that would have been that, but for the simple inclusion of the names of the thieves, which in turn led to the discovery of the sentencing of the two.
 |
| The sentence, May 22nd 1854 |
During the sessions, the magistrates saw 155, cases, most were for different gradations of larceny, with a few for obtaining money or goods under false pretences, three for counterfeiting silver coins, and five for Riot.
The longest sentence was for 2 years, with most being given between three and four months incarceration.
In the case of William Barlow and Robert McMillan, both got four months in prison, with a week in solitary and both were whipped.
This marks them out from the other larceny cases and might reflect the nature of their crime, but we don’t have any details of what the magistrates said.
But the five committed for Riot were acquitted.
Sadly, so far I have been able to track what happened to our two after their appearance, and nor do we have a name for the young woman.
Location; Manchester
*Highway Robbery, Manchester Guardian May 10th, 1854
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