Messingham (SE8904), Lincolnshire

Retford & Gainsborough Times (1881)

[Anon.] (Auth.)
POLICE INTELLIGENCE: BRIGG PETTY SESSIONS: TUESDAY: LARCENY BY MORRIS DANCERS [Messingham and New Brumby, Lincs.]
Retford & Gainsborough Times, 14th Jan.1881, No.559, p.2c

Report of court proceedings. Five men from Messingham entered a shop in New Brumby "dressed as morris dancers and disguised." They unsuccessfully asked for money and after they had left, it was noticed that 2 tins of preserved fish had disappeared. In court the men admitted the offence but claimed in mitigation that they were under the influence of drink at the time, a quantity of liquor having been given to them during the day.

I.T.Jones Collection (1881, Census - Messingham)

[Anon.] (Auth.)
Larceny by Morris Dancers: 1881 Census - Messingham
I.T.Jones Collection, Recorded 8th Apr. 1881, Ref.L4-3

Census returns housed in Lincoln Library. 1881 Census reel 24 covers Messingham recorded on 8/4/1881. The following names match those of the defendants listed in the register of Brigg Petty Sessions 11/4/1881.

a. George Altoft, age 21, unmarried agricultural labourer, lived in London Road, born Yaddlethorpe, Lincs

b. George Henry Crampton, age 27, unmarried agricultural labourer, lived in School Lane, born Holme, Lincs.

c. George Jackson, age 28, unmarried agricultural labourer, lived in School Lane, born Messingham.

d. John William Richardson, age 21, unmarried agricultural labourer, lived in Cow Street, born Messingham.

I.T.Jones Collection (1983, I.T.Jones - c)

Mr. Idwal Jones (Col.)
Larceny by Morris Dancers: Notes
I.T.Jones Collection, Written 1983, Ref.L4-1

Retford and Gainsborough Times (1881) gives details of a hearing of Brigg Petty Sessions at which 5 men from Messingham were charged with stealing two tins of preserved fish from a shop in New Brumby. It was claimed that they came into the shop dressed as morris dancers and had asked for a copper or two but the shopkeeper declined to give them anything.

Information on who the men were and what they had been doing might be obtained from court records or from census returns. I could not look up the Lincolnshire Chronicle for 1881 in the Lincoln Library when I visited in 1983 because it had been sent away to be microfilmed.

This research is described in I.T.Jones (1983)