In September of 1843 a woman called Jane Marsden of Waingate, Sheffield found herself a widow when her husband Jeffrey suddenly died. The couple had lived in a large house where they let out rooms to lodgers. Now, with her husband gone, Jane had no way of running such a large establishment. Sadly she was forced to sell the house and leave what effects she had at the house of her sister, a woman called Phoebe Pepper who lived in Arundel Street, Sheffield. Phoebe allowed her to store some of her household goods in the attic of her house. Matters also seemed to improve when Jane also found a job as a housekeeper for an elderly couple.

Suddenly, at the end of February 1844 Phoebe was taken ill and Jane decided to employ a domestic servant to take care of her sister. She therefore applied to the Sheffield Workhouse for the services of one of the inmates, who had nursing experience. A forty-eight year old woman called Mary Hobson was recommended by the matron of the workhouse, and the two women returned back to the house on Arundel Street together. However, it was not long before Phoebe became completely bedridden. At first things went well with Hobson and she attended to her patient assiduously while Jane visited frequently to make sure that her sisters health continued to progress satisfactorily.

However on Tuesday 26 March 1844 Jane needed to get back some of her blankets that were stored in her sisters attic. So going upstairs she opened the large chest which contained most of the drapery articles. Jane immediately noticed that the pile of blankets and towels was a lot less than it should had been. To her horror it was quite clear that many of her goods were missing. Emptying out the sheets, pillowcase and towels onto the floor and making a quick inventory, Jane quickly realised that missing in total were five blankets, a suit of clothes, a feather pillow, three small pieces of carpet and a boys shirt.

Going back downstairs she asked Hobson where her blankets were and the servant immediately told her ‘Oh I knew where they are, I can fetch them back for you tomorrow morning.’ The next morning however Mary Hobson left the house without saying where she was going. However when she returned, she was arrested for theft and taken into custody. As a result, Hobson was brought before the Magistrates at the Sheffield Town Hall on Friday 29 March 1844. The first witness was a widow called Elizabeth Kirk, who told the court that she had known Mary Hobson for some time.

She told the court that on Monday 25 March the prisoner had gone to her house to ask her if she would pledge a boys shirt for her at the pawnshop. Elizabeth agreed and took the garment to a shop run by a man called Mr William Champion Beet, who gave her sixpence in return. Elizabeth accordingly gave the money to Mary Hobson. The next witness was the pawnbroker himself and he stated that on 14 March the prisoner came into his shop with a blanket that she wanted to pawn. He asked her if it was her own property, to which she stated that it was. As a consequence he gave her a shilling in exchange for the blanket.

Mr Beet stated that the prisoner had returned back to his shop several times again and had pawned other articles, each time claiming that they were her own. The next to give evidence was Police Constable Potton who gave details of arresting the prisoner and taking her into custody. He also produced several stolen items recovered from the pawnbrokers shop, which were readily identified by Jane Marsden as being her property. As a result, the prisoner was found guilty and ordered to take her trial. Accordingly Mary Hobson was brought before the Spring Quarter Sessions at Pontefract on Monday 25 March 1844. She pleaded guilty to stealing the articles from the house of Phoebe Pepper and was sentenced to three months imprisonment.