Some Selected Reports from The Windsor and Eton Express
10th November 1827
M.Clymer
Broker &c. 89 Thames Street
Begs to return his sincere thanks to the inhabitants of Windsor, Eton, and their Vicinities, for the liberal support they have given him since his commencement in business, and to inform them he has Removed to no. 89 Thames Street, where he hoped, by strict attention , to merit a continuation of their favours.
Windsor and Eton
The ball at the Town Hall, on Thursday, given in honour of the Princess Augusta's birth-day, boasted of a very large assemblage of the nobility and gentry of the town and neighbourhood, amounting to upwards of 120; - among whom were the Hon.Miss.Townsend, Lady Boston, Lady Pultney, Lady Robinson, Sir.J.Gore and Lady, Mrs.Dawson and family, Mrs.Harford and family, the Officers of the 2d Life Guards and 21st Royal North British Fusileers, &c. &c. The display of beauty and fashion was most brilliant. It was not till a late, or rather early hour, that the spirit of the company began to wane, - and the pleasure of tripping on the "light fantastic toe" ceased its charm.
Thursday being the anniversary of the birth-day of her Royal Highness the Princess Augusta, was celebrated in this town by the bells of the Castle and parish church ringing merry peals throughout the day. A public dinner was given in commemoration of the event, provided in excellent style at the Hope Inn, by Mr.Clark, which was attended by a very numerous and respectable company. Thomas Jenner, Esq., the Mayor, took the chair. Many loyal and appropriate toasts passed on this joyful occasion, and some admirable singing kept up the conviviality of the evening till a late hour.
On Monday last, W. De St.Croix, Esq., was appointed Chapter Clerk to the Deans and Canons of Windsor; and on the same day Mr.Thomas Batcheldor was appointed Clerk to the lands and manors; also, lately, by the Rev. the Provost of Eton College, Registrar to Eton College.
On Tuesday last, William Parsons, aged about 19, labourer of Old Windsor, was committed to Reading gaol, by the Rev.W.Roberts, to be tried at the next assizes, for a most atrocious case of assault on Elizabeth Parsons, aged 13, his own sister.
On Tuesday last, the Commissioners appointed under the parliamentary grant for the improvements at Windsor Castle, had a meeting with Viscount Goderich.
We erroneously stated last week (the paragraph was copied from an Oxford paper), that the Rev.J.B.Sumner, of Mapledurham, had been appointed to the bishopric of Sodor and Man. This diocese was offered to Mr.Sumner, but he respectfully declined the honour.
On Tuesday night a fat Southdown sheep, the property of Mr.Banister, butcher of Reading, was stolen from him field, in Red-lane. The offender has not yet been discovered.
Aylesbury
It is expected that the Second Regiment of Bucks Yeomanry will be reviewed by the Duke of Wellington about the middle of December. The officers and privates composing the regiment have received an intimation that they are to be prepared for such an event.
John Clarke and Richard Goodchild, who were tried and convicted at the last Sessions for this county, were sent off to Woolwich on Monday, and placed on board a convict ship to undergo their respective sentences - the first of transportation for life, and the other for seven years.
A lad named Thomas Small was convicted before the Rev.Mr.Ashfield, at the Magistrates chamber, Aylesbury, on Monday, in the penalty of 20s and costs, for having let off squibs in the street, and being unable to pay he was committed to prison for fourteen days. The penalty for selling fireworks is �5; and discharging them 20s as above stated.
The theatre at Aylesbury was opened on Monday evening with "She Stoops to Conquer," and the "Beehive." We noticed last week that there had been an accession of several new performers to Mr.Jackman's company; amongst them are Miss Daniels, Mr.Green, Mr.Edwin, and Mr.Perry.
On Saturday night last, a thief entered the garden of Mr.Treacher, of the Swan and Castle Inn, Buckingham, and stole thereout nearly 30 pounds of fine grapes, to gather which the vine was torn from the wall and wantonly broken; a number of lettuces were also intentionally destroyed.
Commitment of Utterers of Base Coin
The short account which appeared in our paper of Saturday last, respecting two men and a woman being apprehended by the constable of Stony Stratford on a charge of uttering counterfeit coin , has had the effect of bringing forward many persons who have suffered form their nefarious traffic. The following is as full account as we have been able to collect respecting the party and their proceedings in this quarter of the country. Publicity will in all probability cause other persons who have been defrauded to appear against them.
One of the male prisoners calls himself Wm.Henry Holland, and possesses a fine pleasing countenance and a fresh colour; his height is about five feet eight inches, and he had light hair; he was dressed in a black hat, velveteen shooting jacket, dark cloth trowsers, and Wellington boots, with a silk cravat, sometimes crimson, and at others orange coloured. The other male prisoner says his name is John Richards, and he is well known as a potman; he stands very upright, and is about five feet ten inches high; his usual dress is a coarse straw hat, a blue frock , orange coloured cravat, and topped boots. The female prisoner states herself to be the wife of Richards, but of that there is very general disbelief. Her dress is a straw bonnet, with coloured ribbons, a drab cloth shawl, a pink gown, and black apron. Her real name is supposed to be Sharpe.
From the accounts the prisoners have given, it seems that Richards and the female met Holland at Birmingham on Tuesday, the 23rd ult., and that they all started on the next Thursday morning under the pretence of vending wares, and arrived at Warwick the same day; they pursued their route through Banbury, Brackley, and Buckingham, to Stony Stratford, where they arrived on the Sunday evening, and took up lodgings at the Coach and Horses public-house. On the following day the two men went to adjacent villages of Wolverton, Haversham, Castlethorpe, Hanslope, and Cosgrove, and returned to their quarters at Stony Stratford in the evening, when Holland had a good deal of silver in his possession, and was enabled to give three pounds worth in exchange for two notes and a sovereign. On the Tuesday they visited Denshanger, Wicken, Leckhampstead, Nash, and Beachampton, and on Wednesday Richards and his female companion went an indirect road through Bradwell and Loughton, to Fenny Stratford, whilst Holland remained at the Coach and Horses to receive a parcel from Bimingham, which came in the course of the day; he proceeded to Fenny Stratford in the evening to join his companions, and they all made a hasty journey towards Aylesbury the next day.
Mr.Cawcutt, the constable of Stony Stratford, from circumstances that came to his knowledge, was convinced that the prisoners were carrying on the trade of uttering counterfeit coin, and used every effort to apprehend them. He obtained a Magistrates warrant, and after pursuing them two days, he took them into custody at the Harrow public-house, in Aylesbury, and conducted them back to Stony Stratford.
The three prisoners were taken before the Rev.H.L.Mansel, a Magistrate, on Saturday, who proceeded to investigate the charges against them, and although but few cases could be brought of their actually uttering base coin, yet there were many of attempts to utter, and the want of success in such attempts, may be mainly attributed to the bad execution of the coin.
The prisoner Holland was remarkably wary, but Richards, who appears to have been an easy dupe, and a mere instrument in his hands was communicative; the plan they had adopted in disposing of their coin, was - for one of the party to go into village shops for some trifling articles of grocery, &c., and tender in payment a sovereign or half sovereign, whilst the other remained at some distance. To avoid being recognized, they sometimes disguised themselves in each other's clothes.
After the first examination the prisoners were remanded until Monday, and Richards having discovered that the evidence was clear against himself, and somewhat deficient against Holland, began to think that although Holland has promised to "stand the racket," yet that he must stand the trial, and consequent punishment, and when he was asked on his second examination if he had any thing more to say, he made a confession of various circumstances, and amongst others, stated, that the parcel which Holland received on the Wednesday preceding contained counterfeit coin, and that it was secreted at the Harrow public-house, at Aylesbury. The constables were accordingly dispatched to search for this parcel, which was discovered in the roof of an outbuilding, and contained three sovereigns, 20 half sovereigns, and 20 sixpences, all counterfeit.
There being no evidence to sustain a charge against the female, she was allowed to depose to these facts against Holland, and not being able to find sureties for her appearance at the Session, she was sent to Aylesbury gaol. Holland and Richards were committed to take their trials for uttering counterfeit coin.
It is due to Mr.Cawcutt, the constable, to state, that he evinced the greatest activity in pursuit of the offenders; and that it is mainly owing to him that this traffic of the party is for the present stopped.