people. The actual cause of death is unknown, but the boy’s right wrist was
broken, as if he had tried to protect himself against a beating. It seems the
burial was done secretly, to avoid the discovery of the crime.^1
It is claimed (among others by Benjamin Franklin) that it was these unfree,
indentured servants who provided the basis for the success and development
of America in later periods, and that they made up as much as half of the
colonial immigration.
Another destination was Tangier, where men and women were sent to
support the royal colony as forced labour, to build the defences. There is a
record of Margaret Summerton, who was whipped for trying to raise sedition
among the Tangier convicts in 1663.
Everyday crimes
The scale of daytoday crime and punishment can perhaps be illustrated by
the assize records for Ewell, a small community in Surrey, during the reign of
Elizabeth I. In 1569 Thomas Tyckner, a labourer, stole a horse worth twenty
six shillings and eight pence–he was sentenced to hang. In 1586 Richard
Clenche stole a sheet worth eleven pence; he was sentenced to a whipping.
The next year Priscilla Turpyn stole clothing and was remanded as she
‘pleaded her belly’ –that is, as a pregnant woman, sentencing had to be
deferred. In the same year, Lionel Gest, a gentleman, along with two others
committed highway robbery, making off with a gold chain, a gold ring, a
sword, a pistolet, £34 in cash, and a whole list of clothing from John Turner;
Gest was sentenced to hang, but his accomplices were not caught. In 1588 the
local constable was fined for allowing a local innkeeper to escape custody.
During the period, large numbers of local people were accused of recusancy
- failure to attend church. In 1609 Peter Porte was whipped for stealing a
EARLY MODERN CRIMEFigure 22. The grave of a possible indentured servantboy in Annapolis