1838 George Bliss sentence

George BLISS was born at Otford, Sevenoaks, Kent, England son of Richard and Elizabeth, and baptised there on 21 Feb 1819. His next appearance was in 1838, when on 26th July 1838 he was charged with theft in the nearby Parish of Seal, and found guilty the following month.

The following document provided by Jan Balfor, stamped 'Home Circuit' and signed by the Deputy Clerk of Assizes outlines his crime.



Transcript:
".....of the Gaol of our Lady the Queen holden at Maidstone in and for the County of Kent on the Sixth day of August in the Second year of the Reign of her present Majesty Queen Victoria, George Bliss, late of the Parish of Seal, in the County aforesaid, Labourer, was in due form of Law tried and convicted on a certain Indictment against him for feloniously Stealing on the Twenty sixth day of July in the Second year of the Reign aforesaid at the Parish aforesaid in the County aforesaid, One Round Frock of the value of Eighteen pence, One Jacket of the value of Two Shillings, One Knife of the value of Threepence, One Tobacco Box of the value of Two pence, and one half handkerchief of the value of One penny of the Goods and Chattels of Thomas Hunt, -- And was thereupon ordered to be imprisoned and kept to hard labor in the House of Correction Two Calendar Months, Seven days thereof in Solitary Confinement and once whipped, Dated this 28th day of December 1838.
signed
Deputy Clerk of Assizes"

George was not transported for this crime, but following his imprisonment and whipping, he was again convicted of theft and transported in 1839. His great grand daughter Joyce Prowse was told by her father that the scars were still on his back as an old man.