On Tuesday 7th August 1894, almost 130 years ago, William Shepherd a miner of High Blantyre stood in court accused of stealing coal.
Now it’s easy to look back at historical entries in newspapers and conclude that somebody was simply a thief, just because history has them up in court for that charge, but in this particular instance, the reporter actually took time to explain how this had come about and because of the miners strike, and unemployment, we can explore the desperation that drove people to steal.
The charge was that he had stolen 1.5 cwt of coal from the railway sidings at No 1 Pit in High Blantyre, lifting it from the stocked wagons. With miners on strike, mass unemployment and even starvation occurring in Blantyre and beyond, this action happened at the height of a miserable time in Lanarkshire. Police were on heightened alert and had been put on watch in farms to guard crops and at Collieries to guard coal awaiting transport. Police had observed William Shepherd picking out coal and waited until the point when he started carrying it off, before ‘catching him in the act’.
That morning, before the coal heist, William’s wife had put some pressure on her husband to find coal. Not just because it was unseasonably cold and her children were shivering, but because it was needed to light the fire to allow what little cooking they could do, to take place. Without coal, no heat. No cooked food. With no wages coming in for months, William Shepherd, despite his good character in previous years, had resorted to taking the coal, thinking it would never be missed in such small quantities.
Now caught and in court, the Sheriff was of the opinion that theft was theft at the end of the day, despite the hardships people were seeing. Ironically, making the situation worse by imposing a hefty fine of 20s or 14 days in prison.
Thinking on the sentence, this was a man without money to even buy a bucket of coal. He would not have the means to pay a fine and likely saw no option that to opt for the prison time.
I think the Sheriff imposed the hefty fine also to set an example. Thefts were happening all the time that Summer due to the deteriorated living conditions. That same week James Latta a brusher and Patrick Hailey a miner of Dixons Rows, Stonefield were charged with the theft of 6 stones of potatoes from Broompark Farm. They were 2 of 5 men caught by police whilst in the middle of trying to cart of the potatoes from the farmers potato field, which due to theft, was already stripped a quarter acre bare by others! Those men fined 15s each.
AI beautifully and cleverly illustrates these events.
On Social Media, the following comments received on Facebook :
Thomas Barrett They always find enough police,to thwart striking miners never see them on the streets.