By John Slaughter
This article was published in the April 2016 edition of Soul Search, the Journal of The Sole Society
In the December 2013 and April 2014 journals I reported on some of the Sauls that had fallen foul of the justice system in England and Wales. The details had been taken from the findmypast website and supplemented by information from our own resources. Since that time findmypast have released further records so it is time for an update.
Francis Wilson Saul
Francis Wilson Saul was convicted at Kendal, Cumberland on 30 May 1904 of being drunk and disorderly in the workhouse and breaking a window. He was sentenced to 21 days imprisonment and was discharged on 18 June 1904. He came before the Court again in September 1906 for neglecting to maintain his child and this time received a prison sentence of one month.
Two years later he is charged with an assault and received another prison sentence of 21 days. A newspaper report states that he assaulted a cyclist, Janet Rodick of Sandside. She stated that she was cycling down Kirkland when Saul stepped off the footpath and made some remark about not being able to get across the road on account of cyclists. Saul claimed that he was drunk and did not remember the incident.
On the 1911 census Francis is in lodgings in Kendal and living with his wife Mary Jane and their son Frederick (presumably the child he was accused of neglecting to maintain in 1906).
Francis Wilson Saul was the son of Thomas Wilson Saul and Sophia Thornbeck of Kendal.
James Saul
An habitual criminal, James Saul came before the Courts on several occasions. He was convicted at Norwich on 5 September 1835 of stealing nine silver tea spoons from the house of John Sharpe of North Walsham. Two months later he is convicted of burglary at the house of Richard Salmon of Worstead and stealing a cloth coat, two waistcoats and various other items. Then in February 1837 he broke into the house of Edward Hooker of North Walsham and stole a metal-cased watch, five sovereigns and various other monies and articles.
On the last occasion his habitual criminality led to a sentence of 14 years and transportation to Van Dieman’s Land. We know that he travelled on the Lord William Bentnick and arrived in Van Dieman’s Land in 1838.
John Saul
Admitted to the House of Correction at Wakefield on 13 June 1854 was a John Saul, described as 18 years old and an edge tool grinder. He had pleaded guilty to stealing just over six shillings, the property of Duncan Wright from the person of Charity Wright at Sheffield on 12 June 1854. He received a sentence of 6 months. I think John was the son of Robert Saul and Jane Farrow of Sheffield. If correct his father had died in 1850 and his mother died 8 years later. I can not find John subsequently.
Joseph Saul
Joseph Saul was convicted on 15 October 1855 of stealing one drake at Leamington, Warwickshire, the property of George Bullard. He was sentenced to seven years penal servitude. The reason for his harsh sentence is explained by his list of previous convictions. In 1849 he was charged with stealing lead, though on this occasion acquitted. In 1851 he received a 21 day jail sentence for an assault and on two separate occasions in 1854 was convicted of stealing lead and assaulting a constable and received further jail sentences of 28 days and 27 days respectively. Joseph served his time in several prisons, Warwick, Leicester and finally Dartmoor, from where he was released on licence on 14 October 1861.
Joseph appears to be the Joseph Saul on the 1851 census, aged 25 years, residing in the household of his widowed mother Mary at 13 Satchwell Street, Leamington. His mother died in 1852.
Joyce Saul
Joyce Saul of Horley was 16 years of age when she was sentenced to 16 days jail in September 1849 for stealing peas. She was the daughter of Thomas Saul and Sarah Page of Horley. In 1853 she married Thomas Colin.
Sarah Jane Saul
Sarah Jane Saul was just 12 years of age when she was convicted in April 1843 on a charge of larceny and sentenced to seven years and transportation (she had apparently previous convictions). Her mother Mary Saul submitted a petition on her daughter’s behalf on 2 June 1843 pleading for clemency and that she should not be transported. In the mother’s petition she states that she resided at 12 Cambridge Street, Plymouth, that the child’s father was serving on the ship of war named Thunderer and that she was bringing up her three children. She describes that on the 12 April 1843 she went out and to try and prevent her daughter leaving the house with another girl of roughly the same age, she removed her clothing (as far as decency permitted) and her shoes and stockings. She claims that a son of Mr Hodge then lent her a frock and skirt (the girl then apparently left the house). On her return Mr Hodge claimed the clothes but after the circumstances were explained to him he said he would forgive her. However instead he sent for a policeman and the child was taken into custody.
Reading between the lines it would appear that Sarah Jane was charged with the theft of the clothes and found guilty. Mary Saul states in her petition that her daughter’s young age meant that she could not speak or defend herself at the trial. The petition appears to have been successful as we know that Sarah Jane received a free pardon on 20 November 1844. It appears highly likely that she is the Sarah Jane Saul who died in Plymouth in 1853.
Thomas Saul
Tried at the Old Bailey on 18 September 1848 for larceny, Thomas Saul, was found guilty and sentenced to seven years and transportation (he had previous convictions). He stole, together with Richard Bailey, 180 rabbit skins from a fur skin dresser in Whitechapel which they then tried to sell in Petticoat Lane. Thomas was sent to Bermuda on 8 February 1849 and received his discharge in February 1854. Prison records state that at the time of his trial Thomas was aged 24 years, married to Elizabeth (22), a cooper by trade and resident at 6 Spring Gordon Street, Whitechapel. Despite this I cannot identify his origins.
Thomas William Saul
Thomas William Saul appears regularly in the prison records for Kendal between 1903 and 1912 for various offences of being drunk and disorderly, stealing, begging and lodging out (which I take to be living on the streets). He received various terms of hard labour. From his age and place of birth recorded in the records he must be the Thomas William Saul born in 1879 in Kendal to George Saul and Alice (neé Burton). In the 1891 census he is resident in the Kendal workhouse with his mother and younger brother Henry and his mother is still at the workhouse in 1901, now described as a widow. I can not find Thomas William on either the 1901 and 1911 censuses.
Walter Saul
Was convicted on 21 October 1911 of stealing, with others, 97 lbs of oats and 10 lbs of crushed oats. He received a sentence of 6 weeks hard labour. Described as 35 years of age and a coachman, he appears to be the Walter Frederick Saul who married Margaret Hopkins and on the 1911 census was resident at Halton, Lancashire with Margaret and daughter Mary Kathleen.