Richard Rooke – A Lesson in Mistakes and Consequences

The theme for week 15 is big mistake, so I thought I would talk about an ancestor who made a mistake with one of his choices.

Richard Rooke was my 2 x great grandfather.  He was born around 1870/1871 to parents Richard and Mary Ann. He was christened in St Andrews Parish in Worcester on 5 February 1871. Before the 1881 census the family would move from Worcester to Sheffield.

After leaving school Richard worked as a table blade grinder in Sheffield cutlery industry.

On 19 March 1893 Richard married Lillian Hides at St Mary’s in Sheffield.  The moved into Sheldon Street, near Richard’s parents.

By 1901 things must have been a struggle as they were now living with Richard’s parents and had three young daughters.

In this year, Richard was working as a grinder for S & J Kitchin, cutlers who ran out of Soho Cutlery Works in Summerfield Street.

Richard made a choice to gain extra income, and where was this extra income to come from?  Well from the blades he decided to steal from his employers. 

After noticing that some blades were missing, they had the works watched to see who was taking them. When the works opened Richard took the blades from a workshop took them to his room and was midway wrapping them in a sack when he was caught red handed.  He was arrested and appeared in court on 11 October 1901 charged with stealing 18 dozen blades. Richard pleaded guilty.  He asked the court to take his past good character into consideration.  He was fined 40 shillings, which I am sure he couldn’t spare.

Maybe Richard thought there was no other improve the situation for his family. During this time period reputation was everything. Having a good work reference was essential in getting good employment. This would have made things incredibly difficult for the family. One things for sure, Richard found out the hard way that crime doesn’t pay.

Sources

• Richard Rooke, England Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, Family Search; transcription. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NLKP-6GQ.
• Richard Rooke, Yorkshire Marriages, Find My Past. https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/yorkshire-marriages digital image. Original data: Sheffield City Council Libraries Archives and Information Services.
• Sheffield Police Courts. Caught in the Act. Yorkshire Telegraph and Star, Friday Evening, October 11 1901 pp.5. British Newspaper Archive.