Lewis Bryan Saddington, the Habitual Criminal (1860 - ?)

This is a work in progress post about Lewis Bryan Saddington, previously mentioned on the Old Bailey post.

Lewis Bryan Saddington was born in the December quarter of 1860 in Wantage, Berkshire. His parents were William and Jane Saddington. William was born in Sutton, Northamptonshire, while Jane was a Berkshire native, born in Abingdon.

In the 1861 census, the family were living at the Crown Inn, Market Place, Wantage, Berkshire. William's occupation was 'Innkeeper', and he employed three servants who lived on the premises. The family consisted of William and Jane, their daughter, Matilda (6), and their three sons, George (2), William (1) and Lewis (6 months). The family had obviously moved around a bit, because Matilda was born in Weybridge, Surrey, George was born in Brighton, Sussex, and the youngest two were born in Wantage. [RG9/736, Folio 36, Page 36]

Over the next ten years, there were major changes in the family's life. Jane Saddington appears to have died at some point, and William has remarried. In the 1871 census, William and his new wife, Julia (born in London), are living at 17 Albert Street, Paddington, London, sharing the house with three other households. William is described as an 'Agent'. Living with their father are William, age 9, and Bryan, age 8. Both sons' ages are wrong, William's birthplace has changed from Wantage to Abingdon, and Lewis is now using his second name. [RG10/8, Folio 57, Page 31]

Things then go down hill. As yet I do not know what crime Lewis had committed, but in the 1881 census, Bryan Lewis Saddington,age 18, a Carman, born in Wantage, Berkshire, was a prisoner in Holloway Prison, London. [RG11/248, Folio 81, Page 13]

I have been unable to find Lewis in the 1891 census under either of his names, but, judging by his behaviour over the 20 years after that, I believe that there is a fair chance that he was in prison somewhere, perhaps under another name.

According to the transcript of Lewis' trial at the Old Bailey in 1911, on 2 October 1893, he was sentenced to three months imprisonment at the Court in Clerkenwell for stealing a watch; on 4 March 1895, he was sentenced to six months imprisonment, possibly again at Clerkenwell, for stealing linen.

On 20 November 1900, at the North London Sessions, Lewis Saddington (38) and his accomplice, William Taverner (27), were sentenced to four and three years' penal servitude respectively for stealing cheques. According to the Times of 21 November 1900, "On the evening of October 26 the prisoners were arrested in the act of attempting to get letters out of Messrs. Speirs, Morton and Murray's letter-box by means of a leaden weight covered with bird-lime and attached to a piece of string, which they put into the box and pulled up again. Detective-sergeant Darby said that nearly 40 similar thefts had recently been committed in the City, and there had been numerous complaints from Clerkenwell, the West-end, and other neighbourhoods. Since the prisoners' arrest no such case had occurred. Their practice was to erase the crossing on the cheques, and then cash them at the banks on which they were drawn."

Lewis had pleaded Guilty to three indictments: stealing a letter containing a cheque for £52 13s from the Paris Optic and Clock Company, Clerkenwell-road; stealing a letter containing a cheque for £6 6s from Arthur Douglas Gardner; and attempting to steal letters from the letter-box of Messrs. Speirs, Morton and Murray, Bucknall-street, Bloomsbury.

As a direct consequence, the 1901 census found Lewis Saddington, age 38, a Painter's Labourer, born in Wantage, Berkshire, residing at His Majesty's Prison, Lewes, Sussex.

But Lewis was incorrigible. On 24 February 1904, Lewis pleaded Guilty at the North London Sessions to attempting to steal letters belonging to John Halsey, along with his accomplice, John Daymer (25). According to the Times of the same date, "on January 31, Detective Sharp saw the two prisoners go to the letter-box of a house in Carlisle-street, Soho, and attempt to draw letters out of a letter-box by means of a piece of wire with some adhesive substance on the end of it. He arrested Daymer, but Saddington escaped. Saddington was arrested on February 4, and in the meantime two cheques which had been stolen from the prosecutor's box had been cashed, but the bank clerk was unable to identify Saddington as the person who cashed them." As the only crime that could be proven was an attempt, Lewis was sentenced to two years' hard labour, rather than penal servitude. Daymer got 21 months hard labour.

Lewis didn't change. On 14 August 1906, he was sentenced to eighteen months' hard labour for larceny at the North London Sessions. On 31 October 1908, he was sentenced to three years' penal servitude at the York Assizes for altering and forging a banker's cheque in the sum of £90 10s.

Having been released from prison on 24 February 1911, he was back in the dock on 28 March, this time at the Old Bailey, where he was found Guilty of 'feloniously uttering, knowing the same to be forged, a cheque for £80 14s'. Lewis was indicted as being a habitual criminal, a very dangerous criminal and letter-box thief, and one who had been repeatedly seen in the company of well-known thieves. He was sentenced to three years' penal servitude and five years' preventive detention.

So, at the age of 50, having spent a minimum of 11 years and three months of his life behind bars, Lewis was sent down again for at least another five years and possibly eight, depending on how his sentence was to run.

What happened to Lewis Bryan Saddington after this, I do not know. He does not appear to have married, but there may be descendants of his brothers and sister out there. If this black sheep belongs to your family, please let me know.