On 15 February 1888 a thirty-two year old man called Thomas Bywater found himself to be a pauper inmate at the Rotherham Workhouse. He remained there until Monday 28 February when he took his discharge from that institution and went to Mrs Curtis’s lodging house on Westgate. He could not afford a room, but he asked Mrs Curtis if he could sit by the fire until the following morning when he was going to Hoyland. Mrs Curtis kindly agreed and Bywater settled himself in for the night. The following day however, instead of Hoyland he went to Tinsley. The landlady at the Tinsley Hotel, Mrs Johnson noticed that he arrived around 7.30 am and that he was already drunk.

Despite the early time of day, he and another man were served with four penny glasses of rum and several pints of beer by landlord, Mr Joseph Johnson. He noted that all the money tendered had been in copper coins. In chatting to the landlords daughter, Bywater told her that he had come into some money and he showed her around £6 in gold which he casually pulled out of his trousers pockets. When she made a remark about it being unsafe to be carrying such a large amount, she suggested that her mother, could keep it safe for him. Consequently he handed over £8.1s to Mrs Johnson. After having some refreshment, Bywater then left the Hotel and headed for Carbrook, Sheffield.

However he never reached his destination, because he fell over a wall in his semi-drunken state and sustained a bad injury to his head. Thankfully he was quickly found and transported to the Rotherham Hospital. Whilst he was in bed being treated for his rather serious injury, on 30 February he sent a letter to the landlord at the Tinsley Hotel which read:

‘Mr Johnson,
Having had an accident just after leaving your house on Tuesday, if my memory serves me right, I left a small sum of money with your wife. If you would forward the money here to me at the Rotherham Hospital, you would greatly oblige me.
Yours truly
Thomas Bywater.’

Making enquiries, it did not take long for local police officers to connect the burglary at the workhouse, with a recent inmate who seems to have come into some money. Bywater was brought before the Rotherham magistrates at the Rotherham Police Court on Tuesday 6 March 1888 charged with having burglariously stolen the sum of around £10 from the workhouse masters office. The prosecution was Mr Barrass, who pointed out that the prisoner had been destitute when he entered the workhouse, although by the time he went to Tinsley, he obviously had some money in his possession.

Bywater was remanded until Thursday 8 March 1888 in order for the police to continue with their enquiries. The prisoner was described as having no fixed abode as he was charged with the burglary. When the magistrates reconvened, the master, Mr Walton was the first to give evidence and stated that he was aware that his office window had a faulty catch on it. However he was more sure that his office door had been locked at the time of the break in. The witness also stated that implements for the crime had been left inside. Besides the chisel, there was a poker on the desk and a shovel on the floor. The master then told the court that he had been shown two old boots by the police.

He identified them as those supplied by the workhouse to the prisoner. Mr Walton stated that he had compared one of the boots with some marks found under the office window and they were identical. However Bywater was condemned by the masters own final statement. He told the bench that the prisoner had been paid at the masters office and therefore was quite familiar with where the cash box had been kept. Then it was time for Bywater to defend himself. He said that despite the fact that paupers were regularly searched on arrival at the Rotherham workhouse, many of them managed to secrete money about their persons.

When one of the magistrates pooh poohed this statement, Bywater said that it was common practice at the time. He bragged that he had managed to secrete nine pounds in his belongings and knew of one inmate who had secreted twenty pounds upon entry. Barmaid Miss Johnson gave evidence that when the prisoner was in the tap room of the Tinsley Hotel, he kept pulling cash from his pockets and showing it to the men gathered around him. She told how, when a glass got broken in the room, the prisoner admitted that he had broken it, and again pulled out money to pay for it. Miss Johnson said that before he left he gave her mother the £8.1s.10d to keep for him.

Police Inspector Barham was the next to give evidence and he stated that he had been called to the workhouse after the robbery and found marks on the brickwork as if the thief had climbed up the wall. He had compared these with the prisoners boots and found that they matched. The Inspector stated that on the 9 March he had gone to the Rotherham Hospital and found the prisoner in bed. When he charged him, Bywater simply asked ‘what me!’ However staff reported that the patient had suffered a serious head injury and was too ill to be arrested. Accordingly, it was not until Monday 15 March before he was well enough to be taken into custody.

Needless to say that when Thomas Bywater finally made it to court, he was found guilty and sent to take his trial at the Quarter Sessions at Wakefield. However, his luck still held as before he could appear at the Sessions he was found to be suffering from small-pox. Thankfully he soon recovered and finally appeared at the West Riding Sessions held at Wakefield on Tuesday 3 April 1888 charged with the burglary at Rotherham Workhouse. After hearing all the evidence, the prisoner was quickly found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment for six months at the Wakefield House of Correction.