21 October 1830: William Smith stands trial for the theft of William Taylor’s hat during a Monday all-nighter at the Labour In Vain pub in Hull
Hull Packet. 1830/10/26. Hull Sessions. Hull. Get it:
.Unedited excerpt
The excerpt in the book is shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.
William Smith (20), charged with stealing a hat the property of Wm. Taylor. The prosecutor stated that on Monday night, the 12th inst., having passed the evening at the Labour-in-Vain, at South-end, late at night he got sleepy and laid his head upon the table. He did not wake until five o’clock on the following morning, when he missed his hat. There were many people in the room. On Tuesday morning, while passing along Whitefriargate, he met the prisoner, upon whose head he recognised his own hat; prisoner had at the time another hat under his arm. Witness procured a constable and gave him in charge. He said he had bought the hat and could take him to the shop.
Thomas Snodgrass, the next witness, gave his evidence with peculiar naiveté. He said that, at five o’clock on the Tuesday morning, he went into the Labour-in-Vain, to take a gill of ale, which was not unusual with him at that early hour, as, being a roper, he frequently rose to his work at three. On going into the room, he saw a number of persons, some asleep and some awake. He took not particular notice of them as he concluded they had been “adrift” all night. Presently he saw the prisoner take up a cap and a hat, and as he (witness) thought he could have no business with both, he “did” notice “his” motions. At last he threw the cap down and put the hat on his head. Witness said, “You look best in the hat, but it’s not your own.” Prisoner turned it round and round on his head many times, and seemed to like it, and at last walked off. Shortly after, the prosecutor waked up, and said he had lost his hat, and appeared to be in very great trouble, upon which witness acquainted him with what he had seen. The witness concluded his evidence by informing the bench that when the matter was “overhauled” before the magistrates the prisoner said that he was “fresh” at the time and took the hat by mistake, but that he was willing to pay the man. It was, evidently, the witness said, a drunken “consarn” in fair time, and as the man was willing to pay, he thought the court could not do better than look over it. To this ill-timed piece of advice the Recorder replied by requesting the witness to go about his business; informing him that he was sent for to give his testimony and not to take part in the judicial proceedings of the court.
The next witness, James Haller, constable, took the prisoner into custody at the request of the prosecutor. He said he would take them to the shop where he bought it, but witness thought the shortest way of deciding the affair was to bring him at once before the magistrates. On coming near the door of the Mansion House, he threw down the hat and ran off, but was overtaken in Salthouse Lane and brought back.
Guilty but recommended to mercy by the prosecutor on the ground that he supported an aged mother. To be imprisoned and kept to hard labour two calendar months.
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- Alcohol (drug) (62) W/G ·
- Alcoholism (12) W/G ·
- Beer (36) W/G ·
- Hat (5) W/G ·
- 📌Kingston upon Hull (74) W/G ·
- Labour in Vain (3), a Hull pub, later the New Bridge Inn (1866) and Tiger No. 6 W/G ·
- Pub (20) W/G ·
- Theft (11) W/G ·
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Via Leeds Riot Map:
A great number of the tickets were overstamped “Men only”, and the door stewards were commanded to not allow any woman not holding one thus stamped; this was because the organisers knew that the suffragettes could disguise themselves to make them appear fully respectable members of a Liberal audience. Meanwhile, in Victoria Square, a large meeting of unemployed took place by the Leeds Permanent Committee on Unemployment, chaired by a man, Mr. Kitson. As the PM Asquith approached the Coliseum, some 600 or so men moved up the hill to where Ms Baines was declaring that unemployment was “more a woman’s question than a man’s, for it was the wife that had to meet the landlord’s demand for rent”. Precisely what happened next, and what was intended, remains unclear. The press, in the form of the Evening News and the Leeds Mercury, agreed that Ms Baines was heard to say “Break down the barricades and compel a hearing”, but it is not clear if this was intended as an explicit incitement to the men to interpret her literally. Whatsoever, there was a rush of people which was subsequently interpreted as a riot, although the only recorded damage was a broken pane of glass. It seems one stone was thrown which a policeman claimed had hit him, but no injury was recorded, to him or anyone else. In Leeds, Kitson and five suffragettes were arrested. Trial proceedings dragged on into the next year and the excitement subsided, but Jennie Baines is recorded the honour of being the first suffragette to be imprisoned after conviction.
Who was Vera Lambert? Who was Mr Kitson? Presumably no relative of Lord Airedale. I hope I’ve tagged the right Gladstone.
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