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The Robbing of Thomas Robins

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He may not have noticed it during his brief thirty-three years on earth, but birds were a recurrent theme in the life of young John Pill.

In 1802, Pill “did bird” in Gloucester Prison for the theft of two geese and three fowls from the outhouse of a Mr. F. Millard of Tetbury — a man himself only one careless typesetting away from being a Mallard.

And just as Pill may have broken the necks of the birds he stole from Millard’s outhouse, so too would the hangman break John Pill’s neck — for the highway robbery of a jackdaw, as Malmesbury residents are known — who was also a Robin(s).

Shortly after Pill was sentenced for pinching birds, he was caged for two years with hard labour for stealing a saddle and bridle. On his release, and with England having declared war on France, the Royal Navy attempted to press him into service. Pill was more of a magpie and less of a sea-bird, so he quickly flew the coop.

By 1806, Pill’s profession was listed as a shoemaker — but a passion for crime still burned deep in his sole. The robbing of Thomas Robins was about to become the final entry in John Pill’s ornithological catalogue of crimes.

Late one evening, as Robins rode from Tetbury to Malmesbury, Pill and an associate swooped on him under the cover of darkness. The Hampshire Chronicle reported that, “without previously perceiving any person near, [Robins] received a violent blow on the head, which stunned him for some time, though he did not lose his seat. On recovering himself he observed the prisoner had hold of his horse’s bridle, and had a large stick in his hand, while another man was rifling his pockets. They took from him three guineas and two one-pound notes.” — about £430 at 2026 prices.

Had Pill been a wiser owl, he might have thought to lie low, but instead he flew back to his familiar nest of Tetbury, where he was apprehended at the fair the next day.

At the Wiltshire Assizes, alongside Charles Francis and Edward Lloyd (both for stealing sheep), John Pill was sentenced to death. While Francis and Lloyd were reprieved, Pill was left for execution. The Bath Chronicle observed that he was “a remarkably tall powerful man; advantages which he had long abused, having committed robberies for a series of years past, and too frequently added to the crime by personal ill-treatment of the party robbed;—a circumstance which, on his latter conviction, precluded him from the expectation of mercy.”

The Hampshire Chronicle noted “Before and at his trial he appeared very hardened, but after condemnation he seemed to have a more proper sense of his situation.” John Pill was executed on the drop at Fisherton Gaol on Tuesday the 25th of March 1806 around midday, leaving a wife and four children.

Articles
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Gloucester, Monday, February 8.

Gloucester Journal ·
On Sunday evening the 24th ult. the house of Mr. R. Bond, at Frampton-upon-Severn, was broken open and robbed of 13l. in money, some articles of plate, and other property.—And yesterday se’nnight, the shop of Mrs. E. Cook, of Minchinhampton, was burglariously entered, and cash, bills, and other property, to a considerable amount, stolen thereout. From the circumstance of a great quantity of blood having been afterwards found in and about the premises, it is conjectured, that one of the robbers must have met with some dangerous accident.—See advertisements.

LENT ASSIZES

Gloucester Journal ·
Our Assizes, which began on Wednesday, were not concluded till very late on Saturday night. Thomas Darrough, for robbing and shooting at Mr. Edwards, on the Maisemore Causeway; William Meads, for robbing Mr. Legyett, near Kingsholm Turnpike; Robt. Daniels, for breaking open the counting-house of Messrs. Clutterbuck and Co. of Howcombe, near Minchinhampton; and Richard Harris and William Lampard, for burglary; were each capitally convicted, and received sentence of Death—the three latter were reprieved before the Judge left town, but the two former remain for execution.—John Jordan and Anthony Williams, for stealing pigs; and John Pill, for stealing a saddle and bridle; were fined, and ordered to be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for two years;—Philip Smith and John Hathaway, for 18 months;—Matthew Thomas, for 12 months;—and William Cook, for six months, in the Penitentiary-House.—Thomas Brown was convicted of having Government naval stores in his possession, and was ordered to be imprisoned one week.—George Batman was remanded till next Sessions; 20 were found not guilty; and six were discharged by proclamation.—James Berrow and Jane Price, brought from Worcester, on a charge of sheep-stealing, were among those found not guilty.

THURSDAY'S POST CONTINUED.

Gloucester Journal ·
Wilts Assizes commenced on Monday se’nnight. There were 18 prisoners on the calendar, three of whom were capitally convicted, viz. John Pill, for assaulting and robbing Mr. Thomas Robins, of Malmsbury; Charles Francis, for stealing a fat ewe sheep; and Edward Lloyd, for stealing a stag sheep. Pill is left for execution. Francis and Lloyd are reprieved.

WINCHESTER SATURDAY, MARCH 29.

Hampshire Chronicle ·
WINCHESTER, SATURDAY, MARCH 29. The Rev. William Mairis, B. A. Chaplain to his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, has been instituted, by the Lord Bishop of Salisbury, to the Rectory of St. Peter’s, in Wallingford, Berks. On Tuesday died, universally respected, at Twyford, in the 18th year of his age, Mr. John Cordery. He bore a long illness with perfect resignation a truly Christian fortitude. On Monday last died, at Ringwood, Mr. Thomas Brown, much regretted. Tuesday died, at the same place, Mrs. Scutt, relict of Mr. Samuel Scutt, many years an eminent common brewer there. In the course of the week, the 6th regiment of Dragoon Guards marched through this city on their route from Exeter to the Sussex coasts. John Pill, aged 33, convicted of highway robbery at the late Assizes for Wiltshire, was executed on the drop in Salisbury gaol on Tuesday. The culprit was a native of Tetbury, in Gloucestershire, where he has left a father, and a wife and four children. He was by trade a shoemaker. The robbery for which he suffered was committed between Tetbury and Malmesbury. The prosecutor, Thomas Robins, a tradesman of the latter place, was returning home, late in the evening, from Tetbury, not far from which place, without previously perceiving any person near, he received a violent blow on the head, which stunned him for some time, though he did not lose his seat. On recovering himself he observed the prisoner had hold of his horse’s bridle, and had a large stick in his hand, while another man was rifling his pockets. They took from him three guineas and two one-pound notes. Pill was taken the next day at Tetbury fair. Before and at his trial he appeared very hardened, but after condemnation he seemed to have a more proper sense of his situation. He remained a very short time on the scaffold, and was executed about twelve o’clock.—This offender was an extremely bad character—he had been imprisoned two years in Gloucester gaol for house-breaking, and was afterwards tried for horse-stealing in the same county, and acquitted. On his discharge from gaol he was impressed, and sent aboard a tender at Bristol; but he found means to escape.

LONDON, MONDAY MAR. 31

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette ·
Tuesday John Pill, convicted at Salisbury assizes of robbing Mr. Thomas Robins, of Malmesbury, on the high road between that town and Tetbury, was executed at Fisherton.—He was a remarkably tall powerful man; advantages which he had long abused, having committed robberies for a series of years past, and too frequently added to the crime by personal ill-treatment of the party robbed;—a circumstance which, on his latter conviction, precluded him from the expectation of mercy.