Starched collars, stiff sentences: Portrait of the criminal classes a century ago …
MOUSTACHE immaculately waxed, George Archibald Hewitt looks every inch the Edwardian gentleman . . . but he had his stiffly-starched collar felt for using a false cheque.
Then there i s bowler- hat- wearing Ernest Bell, whose catalogue of crime included the theft of a bicycle, pigeons and ‘jellies’.
Theirs are just two of the portraits in a rogues’ gallery from a century ago which, sartorially, puts today’s hoodie-wearing thugs to shame.
In all, 65 convicts feature in a scrapbook compiled by a Manchester policeman between 1909 and 1912.
Detective Inspector Robert Mather compiled their photographs along with handwritten notes on their physical descriptions, aliases and criminal records and may have used the book to help identify them after arrest.
The 57-page book came to light after being put up for sale at auction by its anonymous owner.
While the old time crooks’ neat appearance makes them look a far cry from their modern counterparts, their habitual offending was all too often depressingly familiar.
Examples include ‘ safe breaker’ Thomas Frieth, whose photograph was taken by Barnsley Borough Police in 1911.
He apparently used the alias Welson and is described as being 39, 5ft 5½in with dark-brown hair and grey eyes.
His list of convictions includes ‘receiving’, for which he got 18 months, and ‘ shopbreaking’, another 18 months.
He then received a total of seven years for two counts of housebreaking and five years for shopbreaking. A Charlie Chaplin lookalike named Michael Riley – alias James Dolan – was a pickpocket and received a fine of five pounds and prison terms of 11 then three weeks.
A criminal from ‘Martinique Cuba’ called Jose Dias, alias Joseph Dejouru, was sentenced to deportation in 1908 after an appearance for robbery in front of Bow Street magistrates in London.
But he stayed and was later convicted of stealing a golden watch and dressing case, and being in contravention of his expulsion order. Whether he was ever kicked out remains a mystery.
Ernest Bell, aged 20 in 1912, was fined £5 for the pigeon theft and received ‘12 strokes’ for stealing the bicycle. He went on to serve five years in a reformatory for ‘stealing jellies’.
Then there are the Learson brothers, Samuel and Ernest. Ernest is grinning widely in his mugshot.
He is described as being 47 years old, 5ft 2½in with a light brown moustache and a scar between his eyebrows. He received six months for shopbreaking.
Samuel, who also used the name Jackson, is said to have ‘abscess scars around neck, scar on cheek and eyebrow, three dots on right forearm’.
He was given six months for stealing silver shields, six years for house breaking then five years for shopbreaking. Harry Roomains, 53, must have been a thorn in the police’s side, being convicted of various crimes in Liverpool, London, Bolton and Manchester and receiving sentences from three months to six years.
Duncan Broady, curator of the Manchester Police Museums and Archive, said the official records of Det Insp Mather show he joined the force on July 7, 1890 and got his pension on 27 January, 1921.
Born in Stretford, he was a stoker by trade and before joining the police worked for the Manchester Corporation.
The book is expected to fetch £1,000 when it is sold at Bonhams in London on March 27. Manu- scripts expert Simon Roberts, from the auction house, said: ‘This looks like something the officer compiled for his own use.
‘Although some of the photographs are clearly official police pictures, the rest does not look official.
‘It might have been for his own amusement, but he might also have carried it around with him in order to spot criminals.
‘It measures 7½ inches by 4½ inches so it would have fitted into a large pocket.’
Mr Roberts added: ‘There are collectors who would like to have this and it might appeal to institutions, libraries and archives.’