Father sent to prison for neglecting children
AT THE Borough Police Court today (Wednesday) before the mayor (Cllr Chrimes) and other magistrates, James Collier 16a Back Providence Place, was summoned by Richard Daybell, Inspector NSPCC, for having neglected and ill-treating his four children, Henry, James, Alice and Pearson between February 1 and July 23.
Defendant pleaded guilty.
Mr Whitfield, for the prosecution, stated that the NSPCC had acted very leniently in not bringing the case up earlier, giving defendant time to amend. Continuing Mr Whitfield stated all that defendant wanted was that the children should be admitted into Dr Barnado's Home, thereby relieving him of all responsibility. The children were examined and were all filthy and suffering from some contagious disease. The children were all underweight and more especially the eldest child.
Help had repeatedly been given by Colonel and Mrs Hill in the shape of coals, food and clothing and money.
Inspector Daybell stated that he found the place in an extremely filthy state, a child was crying upstairs, and everything was in a state of disorder. He had visited the house on several occasions, and after his first visit one of the children had been washed and some of the filth in the house had been removed. The house contained three rooms, one of the rooms not being used. A visit had been made in 1905 when the house and children were not in a much cleaner condition. This state of things had been going on for some years, and defendant was often drunk, and once when a visit was paid to the house the room was in great disorder, some of the chairs etc had been smashed and thrown about.
A neighbour of the defendant's stated that she had visited the house and had done odd jobs, for which she had received nothing.
The children had always had a good Sunday dinner, and food was always in the house during the week.
Dr Hutton described the state of the children when he examined them. He stated that each child had insufficient clothing and various diseases were noticeable on each child. There were two and a half loaves of bread, some tea, milk, 4oz butter, two packets of a beef-tea mixture, some cornflour, and sugar. The house was very dirty, and everything was in disorder.
Sergeant Warriner stated that he accompanied Dr Hutton and corroborated his (Dr Hutton's) evidence. He had removed the children to the workhouse, where they were cared for. He had known the defendant for several years, and thought that the defendant had hardly done what was right to the children. He had also spent too much time in the streets.
Defendant stated that he had grasped every opportunity that was offered in order to obtain work, and that when he had work he had not lost one minute. When in work he obtained 35s a week and sometimes 45s so that then he employed a woman to look after the children, his own wife being dead.
The magistrates decided that defendant should go to prison for one month's hard labour, the children being remanded in the workhouse for one week.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Scarborough
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -6 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South west
