The Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 25 October 1879, gave a long account of a case before two magistrates sitting on the Hastings Bench. The following is only a summary, with some quotations. It was later stated that the accused was 13 years old.
Charlotte Sargent, a ‘respectably dressed young girl’, was charged with stealing three ulsters, to the value of 31s 9d, from William Arnold and his partner W.T. Makey [Mackey], drapers at Norman Road.
Arnold said in evidence: ‘I know the prisoner by sight. She came to the shop yesterday between twelve and one o’clock, and handed me the piece of paper produced containing the words, “Dear sire, — Please to send me a ulster to fit my niece, a good one, about the price of 9s 6d.” I asked “who is your aunt,” and she replied, “Mrs Ranger.” I enquired what Mrs Ranger, and she answered, “Mrs Ranger, green-grocer, in Station-road” [Gensing Station Road is now called King’s Road]. Knowing that there was a Mrs Ranger, in Station-road, I let her take away the ulsters, believing the note came from Mrs Ranger.’ The ulsters – a type of long, belted overcoat — were not returned.
Later that day the same prisoner went to a pawnbroker at 49 George Street and saw Thomas Ellerback, assistant to Mr Gush. She offered the ulster and a black jacket in pledge and asked for £1 14s 6d on them. He asked who they belonged to and she replied “my aunt, Mrs Sargent, 1A, All Saints’-street.” He was suspicious, and asked that her aunt be sent, and kept the clothes.
She left and then returned 15 minutes later and said her aunt now wanted £1 12s 6d for them. He asked why the aunt did not come, and she said that her uncle was ill in bed with a fit. Ellerback then asked her to bring the bill [receipt] for the purchase of the clothes and that would do.
Again she went away, and returned 20 minutes later with a bill. ‘In the meantime Sergt. Thwaites had come in, and he took her into custody.’ On the application of Superintendent Glenister she was remanded till Thursday [the hearing had been on the Tuesday].
Having been apparently confined for two days, she duly appeared on the Thursday before the Mayor and four magistrates. After the previous evidence was read out we are told that ‘Prisoner, who was crying, was told to be quiet, and said, “I want my aunt Mary. I won’t do it again. It was Mrs Salmon told me to do it. She told me to go and run my aunt up a bill.” ‘
Rebecca Starr, described as a widow at 3 Bourne Passage, said she was a female searcher. She had searched the prisoner on Monday evening when she was wearing the ulster. When detained by the police officer the prisoner said that the clothes belonged to her aunt, Mrs Ranger of 23 Gensing Station Road. She said that her uncle was very ill and was not expected to live. She gave the name of Charlotte Sargent. She was charged with illegal pawning, and was reported to have said ‘I should not have done it, only I wanted to go to London, and my aunt would not let me.’
The aunt Mary Ranger then gave evidence. The paper produced was not in her handwriting. She had never sent her niece to Mr Arnold’s to get ulsters. Her niece had run away a week ago, and had not been seen by her since.
The prisoner ‘kept crying, or attempting to do so. She said a Mrs Salmon told her to do it. On Monday morning she said, “I know how you can get some money. Write on a piece of paper that you want some things in your aunt’s name. I will sell the things, and we will go to London.” ‘ I found this statement particularly chilling – Mrs Salmon’s identity, let alone her motive, was not revealed. Perhaps she did not even exist.
Charlotte was further charged with playing a similar trick on another draper, Edwin Steer, of 23 London Road. Two jackets and a pair of corsets were her haul on this occasion.
The case went to the Quarter Sessions. It was reported in the Hastings Observer, 17 January 1880. The account begins:
A LENIENT VIEW. Charlotte Sargent, a young girl, was indicted for obtaining goods by false pretences from Messrs. Mackay and Arnold, St Leonards.
Prisoner handed in a written statement, and pleaded guilty.
Mrs Ranger, the aunt of prisoner, said she was sorry for what her niece had done.
Prisoner – I was led on to do it by Mrs Salmon.
The Recorder – Do you think she is speaking the truth ?
Mrs Ranger – Yes; she is very truthful. Oh, I hope you will treat her with mercy.
The Recorder – Will you take her back and take care of her ? Will your husband enter into recognisances for her good behaviour ?
Mrs Ranger – Yes, I will.
The Recorder said he proposed to hand the girl over to the aunt’s keeping. But the husband must be bound over to bring her up for judgment when called upon. He cautioned prisoner as to her conduct in future.
The official summary says she was charged with “Obtaining by false pretences two jackets and a pair of corsets, value £1 7s, the property of Edwin Steer, at Hastings, on 20th October, 1879. Also obtaining by false pretences three Ulsters, value £1 1s 9d, the property of William Arnold, at Hastings, on 20th October, 1879.” She was “Discharged, on a surety entering into a recognizance of £10 to bring her up for judgment when called on.”
I researched the history of the family. Thomas Ranger had married Mary Ann Sargent at Hooe in 1835. The father of the three nieces was Edward Sargent, a revenue officer, who died in November 1866, when little Charlotte was about two years old. His family clearly fell into poverty, as workhouse records show that Charlotte, her sister Lucy, and their mother Charlotte Ann were discharged from Medway Workhouse to “her family’ on the 24 May 1867, which was probably to the Ranger family. However, the records show that they were discharged a second time on the 19 June 1867.
In September 1867 the mother and the two girls were removed to Hastings as part of the settlement procedure. The mother had been sick since May 1867. As each parish or poor law union had to pay their own way they only wanted to pay for those ‘settled’ in the area, and would endeavour to remove those liable, or actually, eligible for poor relief to their original parish of settlement.
Why were they removed to Hastings ? The mother had been born in Harwich, Essex, the children had been born in Kent, but the father Edward Sargent the revenue officer had been born in Hastings in 1817 – half a century before. Hence the forced move to Hastings. I could not find the death of the mother, but this was probably the reason for Charlotte Sargent living with her aunt and uncle.
In the 1871 census, at 37 London Road, a decade before the court case, there was the following household:
Thomas Ranger, head, married, 67, shoemaker, born Hastings
Mary Ann Ranger, wife, 59, born Hastings
Mary Sargent, niece, 20, laundress, born Kent Sheerness
Lucy Sargent, niece, 12, scholar, born Sheerness
Charlotte Sargent, niece, 6, born Kent Rochester
In the 1881 census, about 15 months after the second trial, the Ranger family was at 19 Silchester Road, while Charlotte Sargent was a 14-year-old servant for a farm labourer at New Shoreham. At some point she then ended up at Camberwell Lunatic Asylum.
A family tree on the Ancestry subscription database contains a screenshot of a relevant newspaper cutting, but without stating the date. I tried everything I could think of to identify the date, but failed. Digitised text is often hard to identify as the lettering is not always clear enough. I am sorry it is difficult to read, but it is a screenshot of a screenshot.
It is probably from 1887 or 1888, following a suggestion – later, I think, dropped – to send lunatics to Lancaster rather than Camberwell, on the grounds that Lancaster was offering to house them more cheaply than Camberwell, and that this would save local ratepayers about £700 or £800. It was thought unlikely that anyone would visit them (this was contradicted by among others Charles Chapman, the dairyman of North Street). The Lancaster price was 10s 6d per week per patient, while Camberwell charged 17s 6d for females. Camberwell then offered to cut their fees, which would save £140 per year, which delighted the members of the Board (Hastings Observer, 17 December 1887). I have not researched this matter in more detail.
Charlotte Sargent died at Camberwell Asylum in 1893.