Juvenile offenders are not a new phenomenon by any stretch of the imagination.
But this court case from the Eccles and Patricroft Journal of March 1916 shows the differences in sentencing 100 years ago and how harsh the penalty could be for repeat offenders.
Two boys, one age 11, the other 13, appeared before Eccles Magistrates Court charged with the theft of two pairs of children’s boots from outside Mr Webb’s shop at 230 Liverpool Road, Patricroft.
The theft came to light several weeks later when one of the boys tried to pawn the boots at Faulkner’s pawnshop on Liverpool Road.
Cheekily, he said that they belonged to a female neighbour who had asked him to pawn them for her, as she was unable to attend, being ill.
The pawnshop clerk gave him one shilling and three pence for the boots and a pawn ticket, and he left the shop.
No doubt exhilarated with the success of his first deception, greed must have got the better of him, for he returned 15 minutes later with another pair of boots and offered the same excuse to Mr Faulkner that the same woman was ill.
Mr Faulkner’s suspicions were aroused and accepted the boots but told the boy to bring the woman into the shop to pick up the money in 15 minutes.
He spotted two boys meeting across the road, who were soon deep in conversation.
Mr Faulkner summoned the police to lie in wait for the young criminals to return.
Sergeant Bentham – who has graced SalfordOnline.com history stories on many occasions – was soon on the case, arresting both boys and charging them with theft and receiving money by false pretences.
Further enquires revealed that the 11-year-old boy was a member of the infamous Davis Street gang and had recently appeared at Eccles Magistrates Court charged with the theft of bananas.
READ: 100 years ago: Eccles boys face the birch for stealing fruit
The 13-year-old had also appeared in court in 1915 accused of stealing boots from outside a second shop in Eccles.
The bootshop owner’s daughter, Florence Webb, gave evidence against the boys in court.
She was in charge of the shop at the time and didn’t notice the boots had gone missing until late February, the next time she saw them was when Sergeant Bentham appeared at the shop asking her to identify the boots in question.
The Chairman of the Court, Mr W. Hughes, then gave a withering verbal attack on the boys – and on their mothers – saying that because their fathers were away in France fighting for their country they were getting too much liberty.
He added that their mothers appeared to “indulge them in unrestricted liberty and encouragement to attend picture houses” and strong measures would have to be taken to stop this sort of thing.
Patricroft must have been a hotbed of vice in 1916, boasting three silent picture houses at this time, The Palladium, The Majestic and the Patricroft Picture House on Franklin Street.
Mr Hughes ordered each boy to receive six strokes of the birch at Eccles police station and hoped that they would mend their wicked ways. He added that the next time they appeared before him they would be sent away and it would be for “years, not months”.
Mr Hughes does sound a harsh disciplinarian to say the least.
These boys were undoubtedly little villains but corporal punishment on the young rarely works in the way it is supposed to.
I do think its a tad unfair to blame their mothers as well.
To the youth of today: just be thankful that you were born in this era, rather than the last.
Main image: Children playing in Cleminson Street, Salford © Salford Local History Library
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