By chance I came across, in the Hastings and St Leonards Times, 22 May 1880, two interesting reports of begging in St Leonards by men who had come a considerable distance. The details given about the prisoners are touching.
HASTINGS BOROUGH BENCH. SATURDAY. Before Mr H.C. CAULFEILD and Mr Alderman WILLIAMS.
BEGGING ALMS
William Cooper, a lad aged 18, was charged with begging alms at No. 6 Archery Villas.
Police-constable Rouse said that on Friday afternoon he saw prisoner begging at No. 6 Archery Villas. He took him into custody.
Prisoner, in defence, said that he was looking for work. He had just come from South Shields on board ship. He had been at Glasgow but a short time before that.
Superintendent Glenister asked that the boy might be remanded so that he could make inquiries concerning him.
Prisoner was accordingly remanded until Wednesday.
A FOREIGNER IN TROUBLE
Bernard Schellenberg, a German, was charged with begging alms at Eversfield Place.
Police-constable Love said that two minutes before ten that morning he was at Eversfield Place and saw prisoner go down the [rear ?] areas of several houses. He heard prisoner at one house ask the servant to relieve a poor man out of work. The servant gave him a penny. He took prisoner into custody.
Prisoner, who did not seem to understand the nature of the case, said that he wanted to get back to Germany. He had just come from Hull.
Prisoner was discharged on condition that he would go at once from the town.
The magistrates advised prisoner to go to Rye, where he could see the German Consul. Mr Caulfeild explained to the prisoner in the German language that he must go to the Consul at Rye. Prisoner was then removed, Police-constable Love being told to put him on the road to Rye.
The punishment meted out for begging varied. Those from out of town were often simply told to leave immediately. Otherwise they would probably be fined a few shillings, or in lieu of that serve a week in prison at Lewes. Sometimes they would be sentenced to a week or two at Lewes without even that choice.
The man who had come by boat from South Shields had probably been in a collier. Large amounts of coal were brought from ports in Durham or Northumberland in colliers, on a journey that typically took three days. Those going to St Leonards were beached at high tide at the foot of London Road. Those arriving at Hastings normally landed at the Fishmarket. Rye had a considerably bigger trade, as the ships went up the river rather than using the vulnerable beach.
Magistrate Caulfeild, with his command of German, was Henry Cope Caulfeild, who in the 1881 census was at Clone House, Upper Maze Hill. He was a barrister, age 61, born Great Malvern, living with his wife and five servants.
The Hastings and St Leonards Observer issue of the same date, 22 May 1880, gave briefer accounts of those cases but also provided the follow up to the Cooper case on the following Wednesday, with the same magistrates as before:
THE REMANDED CASE OF BEGGING
William Cooper, on remand, was charged with begging.
Mr Supt. Glenister said that the result of his enquiries was, that the prisoner was the son of a late warder of Maidstone Prison, but his mother was still alive and was a nurse in a London Hospital. The prisoner had run away from home twice and had chose a wandering mode of life for himself.
In answer to a question by the Bench, prisoner said he was eighteen years of age.
Mr Glenister – Why don’t you go home ?
Prisoner – I don’t like to stop at home. I can’t agree with my mother.
How old were you when you left home ? — Thirteen.
Mr Caulfeild: Have you been wandering about since then ? – Yes, I have kept myself for five years.
Mr Glenister: But you have been begging ? – Yes, lately, but not for long. I have managed to get a living by various means.
Prisoner was sentenced to fourteen days imprisonment.
Often it is impossible to find more about beggars, but in this case I found some more background.
I found the same William Cooper in the 1871 census for Maidstone. His father William Cooper, 50, prison warder, was born in Hawkhurst. His mother Isabella, 40, was born in Edinburgh. They had married in 1852 in Glasgow. The two eldest children were born in Bombay, while William, 8, scholar, was born at sea, and three more were born in Kent. The father had been serving in the British Army’s 33rd Regiment as a Private, was discharged in 1862, and died in 1874 at Maidstone. William the son was evidently born on the long voyage home from Bombay. I could not trace him or his mother any further. To me, these little details make the unfortunate William’s remarks all the more poignant.