25 Aug 1860 George SMITH , private in 45th Reg , charged with deserting from Royal Marines at Woolwich Corporal CANNING - theft of a silver watch from his comrade James HARRIS, of the 30th Regiment - discharged after a Corporal and Private from same Regiment claimed he as in barracks in his bed William MEADS , Patrick MOONEY, Henry KELLYS & James CAREY , 4 privates in the Royal Artillery stationed at Freshwater brought up handcuffed under charge of having made a murderous and cowardly attack on James BLANDFORD, the landlord of the 'Kings Head' whose life was despaired of for several days. Prisoners remanded owing to witness being too ill to appear James SALTER of Newchurch , a mason, charged with drunk and disorderly and using indecent and profane language . The defendant didn't think it necessary to appear to the summons, knowing the old penalty to be 5s plus costs, but the Chairman, addressing the court, said if the defendant had any friends from Ventnor present, it was well that they should know that a recent act gave the Magistrate the power to commit drunkards to Winchester Gaol to hard labour instead of inflicting a fine, and he was very much inclined to put the new law in to force on the present occasion Edwards HOWES, Landlord of the 'Tontine' in Cosham St charged with the selling of beer during divine service on Aug 5th and 12th fined 40s and 5s in costs George COXHEAD, Landlord of the Hope & Groom Beer House in Pyle St , charged with drawing beer after hours and fined 20s. The witness having deposed to the finding of a Sergeant of the 45th Regiment with 2 prostitutes in the tap room at 2am, with beer before them, after the landlord and his wife had gone to bed. Defendant said he knew nothing about it, they had gone to races, and he supposed he had left the door open when they went to bed and these parties came in. (this one had me laughing) Emma ELKINS , a common prostitute charged with robbing an elderly man names Jacob DENNES resisiding at Rookley, of a pair of boots, a joint of mutton , a piece of bacon and 2 handkerchiefs. It appeared by the evidence of the prosecutor, that he came in to town at 4pm and made his purchased, and that having had a bint of beer at one place, and another at some other place, besides other liquids at other places, the precise selection of which he could not describe, but at each it appears the prisoner was present, he found himself at 2am in the morning near the old burying ground, on his way home, with the prisoner hanging on to one of his arms and the two bundles hanging on to the other. Her loving endearments caused him to deposit the latter on the ground at his feet. Then the prisoner gave the alarm that a soldier was coming and speedily decamped, the old man looking about for his bundles found them to his great astonishment that they had vanished with the prisoner, who was apprehended the next morning in a common brothel in Cosham St, his boots were found but not one ounce of the eatables could be discovered. Committed to the quarter sessions ---------------------- Does Cosham St still exist .. I wonder if the locals know of it's colourful past :-) Angela Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig. All mail scanned with AVAST 2008 No trees were killed in the sending of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced

Angela Cosham Street is nowadays South Street, the site of the Bus Station, Fire Station amongst other establishments. To be honest there are probably very few "residents" in South Street, it is primarily a commercial street. Jon Baker -----Original Message----- Subject: [IoW] Aug 1860 25 Aug 1860 ---------------------- Does Cosham St still exist .. I wonder if the locals know of it's colourful past :-) Angela

Oh yes! I did comment that my husband's IoW ancestors had a different take on expanding the gene pool. There is an Emma Elkins in his tree. In 1860, she would have had an 8 year old and a 10 year old to feed! Perhaps the joint of mutton and the piece of bacon came in handy! Shakespeare, in MacBeth, had a porter commenting that too much drink "provokes the desire but takes away the performance." Perhaps Jacob Dennes suffered from this affliction, having imbibed so much beer and other liquids he could not precisely describe. Finally, proof of Emma's accomplishments. If you find any more snippets from the quarter sessions where Emma was committed, Angela, please send them on. We need more laughs! Catriona PS: Emma is described as a "common" prostitute. What would you have to do to be an uncommon prostitute? On 13/05/2008, at 4:42 PM, Peter & Angela McMurtry wrote: > > 25 Aug 1860 > > (this one had me laughing) > > Emma ELKINS , a common prostitute charged with robbing an elderly > man names Jacob DENNES resisiding at Rookley, of a pair of boots, a > joint of mutton , a piece of bacon and 2 handkerchiefs. It appeared > by the evidence of the prosecutor, that he came in to town at 4pm > and made his purchased, and that having had a bint of beer at one > place, and another at some other place, besides other liquids at > other places, the precise selection of which he could not describe, > but at each it appears the prisoner was present, he found himself at > 2am in the morning near the old burying ground, on his way home, > with the prisoner hanging on to one of his arms and the two bundles > hanging on to the other. Her loving endearments caused him to > deposit the latter on the ground at his feet. Then the prisoner gave > the alarm that a soldier was coming and speedily decamped, the old > man looking about for his bundles found them to his great > astonishment that they had vanished with the prisoner, who was > apprehended the next morning in a common brothel in Cosham St, his > boots were found but not one ounce of the eatables could be > discovered. Committed to the quarter sessions > ---------------------- > > Does Cosham St still exist .. I wonder if the locals know of it's > colourful past :-) > Angela Catriona and Bruce Williamson [email protected]