Vol 14; No 18 Les Miserables - Crime & Punishment

[Les1949]

HAMPTON, AROUND AND ABOUT

Things you may not know, or didn’t know you knew!

No 18 LES MISERABLES – Crime & Punishment

This is the story of Joseph Cordery (possibly an ancestor of a former Hampton Manager!), someone no one has probably ever heard of and how his life of low-level crime, led him to the Old Bailey in the mid-19th Century. The Old Bailey (now the Central Criminal Court), was originally attached to Newgate Prison until 1902, when the prison closed, and was the location for criminal cases relating to the City of London and Middlesex – which was how come a resident of New Hampton (Hampton Hill), found himself ‘up before the beak’.


On 3rd January 1842, Cordery was tried for two separate crimes. On 10th December
Cordery was indicted for stealing 3 bushels of oats (15 kg) value 13s (65p), the property of George Grist. Cordery carried out labouring for Grist so when the disappearance of the bags of oats was reported, Police Sergeant Churchill was despatched to search his premises in New Hampton and found the bags of oats in his bedroom. When questioned, Cordery claimed to have bought them from a man in Twickenham. Grist was able to identify the make-up of the cereals as having come from his barn.

On the second offence, Cordery was indicted on 1st January 1842 for stealing 300 lbs (156 kg) of potatoes, value 9 shillings (45p), belonging to James Surman. Cordery left a clear trail, which was followed by Sergeant Churchill and P C Russell, from the potato field, through several fields, across a road towards a group of houses. Realising that were in the vicinity of Cordery’s house (Russell described him as a ‘bad character’) they entered his home and quickly discovered the potatoes, still covered in soil, under the stairs. Cordery attempted to run away but was apprehended a short distance away.

Cordery was found guilty on both counts and was sentenced to be confined for three months.

27th November 1843 and Cordery is back at the Old Bailey, and again being tried for two offences. Firstly, for stealing a washing trough on 15th October, value 3 shillings and three pence (16p), from Samuel Groom’s farm in Teddington. Once again, Cordery left tracks and Constable Collins found the tub under the stairs. On this occasion the court found Cordery ‘Not Guilty’. Unfortunately, on the second offence Cordery wasn’t so lucky. Accused of stealing four wooden boards, value 2 shillings (10p) from a house in New Hampton, the stolen items were recovered from Cordery’s house, Cordery claimed to have found them in a ditch. Cordery was found guilty and sentenced to Transportation for 7 years.

In January 1844 Cordery was in Newgate Prison and records show that Cordery was indeed transported. On 27th February 1844, Cordery was sent to Bermuda on the ‘Thames Frigate’. It would seem that Cordery did at some stage return to New Hampton, living in Providence Place (near Cross Street) in 1851, passing away in 1864.

NB; For comparison £1 in 1844 is comparable to £159 currently.

The Old Historian