1831—At the County Epiphany Sessions six men were tried for destroying a thrashing machine, the property of Joseph Fretwell, of Blockley, and were indicted for a riot and assault. Mr. Godson and Mr. Lea were for the prosecution, and Mr. Strutt and Mr. Evans for the defence. There was no attempt to deny that the men did come into Mr. Fretwell’s barn, and take the machine to pieces; but on cross-examination of the prosecutor it was shown that he was just about to quit the farm, which he held under Lord Northwick, and that these men had come to take the machine down by his lordship’s orders, in order to prevent the destruction of the premises by the lawless mob who were going about the neighbourhood. Fretwell was evidently regarding his landlord with feelings of exasperation, because he had let the farm over his head. One of the men was found guilty of riot and assault, the other five of riot only. Two of them were ordered to pay a fine of £30 each, and the others of £20 each, and to be imprisoned till those fines were paid. But the money was immediately handed to them, and they were discharged from the dock.
Six men were charged with being concerned in the destruction of Mr. Baylis’s needle presses and stamps, at Tardebigg, and were sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment each.
Six other men were arraigned for going about the villages of Defford, Pinvin, &c., in a riotous manner, and obtaining victuals and drink by threats and intimidation; but the evidence only showed that they had importunately asked for relief at two or three places, and inquired of a labourer in the road whether his wheelbarrow was a “machine,” because, if it were, they would smash it! They were all acquitted.
1832—Lent Assizes—The Rev. John Lynes, Rector of Elmley Lovett, was sued for a penalty of £270 for non-residence in his parish for three months, under an act passed in the year 1817, which provided that a clergyman absenting himself for a quarter of a year should forfeit a third of the annual value of his living, and the living of Elmley Lovett was set down at about £800 a year. Mr. Jervis, with Mr. Richards and Mr. Alexander, were for the prosecution, and Mr. Campbell for defendant. A great number of witnesses were called to prove the defendant’s absence; some of them his own servants; but in the opinion of the learned judge (Mr. Justice Taunton) the absence for the entire time was not made out, and the jury returned a verdict for defendant.
At the same Assizes was tried the action of Shelton v. Steward, rival surgeons at Bromyard, and brought by the former against the latter for a libel, said to be contained in a letter published in the Hereford Times and Worcester Journal, and which was supposed to insinuate that Mr. Shelton was ignorant in his profession, and guilty of improper conduct. Verdict for plaintiff: damages, £10.
1832—At the County Epiphany Sessions, ten of the Dudley colliers were indicted for a riot, to obtain a rise in wages, in the previous December. Several parties, working in the Broad Pit Collieries (Earl Dudley’s) were ill-used by the mob for working at the ordinary wages; but Mr. Godson, who was for the prisoners, contended that their identity had not been sufficiently made out. After four hours’ consultation the jury acquitted all the prisoners. Seven of the same men were charged with an assault on one of their butties at this time, and five pleaded guilty by arrangement, and were liberated on their own recognizances. The other two were acquitted in the teeth of the evidence. Several other parties were indicted for assaults arising out of these riots, but only two, named Hill and Smart, were found guilty. Hill was sentenced to six months’ and Smart to one month’s imprisonment.
1834—At the Lent Assizes, seven men were tried before Mr. Justice Allan Park for being concerned in election riots at Dudley, breaking windows, &c., and were all found guilty. They were sentenced to trifling terms of imprisonment, excepting one man named Griffin, who had committed a serious assault on Jewkes the constable, and, therefore, was ordered to be imprisoned for twelve months.
Robert Osbaldeston was tried at these Assizes of shooting at Mr. Wood, gunsmith, Broad Street, Worcester, and was acquitted only on the ground of insanity.
Edmund Campbell Brewer, a confidential clerk in the employ of the Stourbridge Canal Company, was found guilty of forging a bill of exchange for some £13 odd. He absconded to America, and then it was found that he had embezzled £1,000 and more, belonging to the Company. Yet, upon the trial, many witnesses gave him the best of characters; and the prosecutors themselves said that his conduct had been most exemplary till this time. Mr. Eberhardt followed him to America, and apprehended him in Utica. He was sentenced to be transported for life. Great exertions were made to obtain a commutation of his punishment.
1835—At the Lent Assizes, before Mr. Justice Patteson, was tried Hill v. Hickes, an action brought by Mr. George Price Hill, a solicitor in Worcester, against Mr. Hickes, for having slandered him to his uncle at Dudley, by intimating that he was a rogue, &c. Verdict for plaintiff 40s. damages. Mr. Sergeant Talfourd was for plaintiff, and Mr. Sergeant Ludlow for defendant.