Emma Parrott – Convicted felon
I am a great believer that the ‘Good old Days’ never were. If proof were needed, take the case of Emma Parrott who on 13 Feb 1883 was convicted of ‘Unlawfully receiving a certain dress piece and a piece of lining knowing the same to have been obtained by false pretences‘. Found ‘Guilty’ she was sentenced to 5 years penal servitude – yes, that’s not a misprint, 5 years! She was detained in Woking convict prison but was release on licence a little over a year after her conviction. The address to which was to go was Rowele’s Court, Chapel Street, Stroud, Gloucester. Her next of kin, however, was stated to live in Lambeth, Surrey. At the same assizes her name was linked to John Smith who was charged with ‘larceny and former conviction of felony’; he too was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.
Emma’s picture appears below; the prison jacket she is wearing looks uncomfortable and possibly too big for her. Emma’s history has not been researched; however one possibility is that she may have been the wife of John Parrott (b.c.1836), a bricklayer. The 1871 census of Lambeth describes this Emma as Lambeth born and aged 26, so born about 1845.
