Caroline, Reading would have been a good place to be anonymous and was quite a flourishing place at this time, so those reasons might well have played a part. I suppose you have researched both cases thoroughly?  It seems strange that Edward S.White should have been sent to Dartmoor in 1875 and have been free in time to have a child in Reading in 1877.  Such a short period compared with the vicar who received seven years, but perhaps if I had read the original cases I might understand the difference. Did both serve their full sentences?  Reading was also home to the well-known Reading Jail / Gaol, though I don't suppose that has any bearing on the matter. Tomas Christie ________________________________ From: Caroline Bagshaw <carolinebagshaw@yahoo.co.uk> To: berkshire@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, 30 September, 2009 13:36:22 Subject: Re: [BRK] WHITE, Edward Stickley, ex convict Maybe it's as simple as that.  He had to go somewhere where he wasn't known, and the bigger the place the more chance he had of being anonymous.  Maybe it was just a pin in the map. I wish I knew. Caroline ________________________________ From: CandROverson <overson12@btinternet.com> To: berkshire@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, 30 September, 2009 12:16:31 Subject: Re: [BRK] WHITE, Edward Stickley, ex convict Hello Caroline We have often wondered why my husband's Great Grandfather moved his family from Kings Lynn in Norfolk to Reading some time in the 1880s. The OVERSONS had lived in Norfolk for many generations (many still do).  His Great Grandfather was a coal merchant in Reading and had been a "coal dealer" in Kings Lynn.  Perhaps Reading was an up and coming place in the late 1800s. Rhoda ----- Original Message ----- From: "Caroline Bagshaw" <carolinebagshaw@yahoo.co.uk> To: <BERKSHIRE@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 6:15 AM Subject: [BRK] WHITE, Edward Stickley, ex convict I'm back on a quest I started some time ago. My great grandfather, Edward Stickley WHITE lived in Reading for a large part of his life, though he was born in Smethwick in 1847, and went to work in Yorkshire as a company secretary in 1871. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BERKSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message       ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BERKSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message