Prisoner in Wandsworth in 1873

I have been taking advantage of the free Lockdown Downloads from Discovery/national archives to browse two albums of Prisoner details from Wandsworth 1872-73. Among them was this rather engaging photo of Sidney Attfield so I decided to research his life. I was excited to find him living in Guildford Union Workhouse in both 1851 and 1881 since I have been a volunteer researcher there for several years.

Born in 1840 in the rural village of Albury in the Surrey Hills, he had 5 sisters and 5 brothers as well as 6 older half siblings. In 1848 his mother had died so by 1851 he and his older sister Sophia were in the Workhouse while the other children, younger and older, were still with their father.

Looking at Sidney’s prison record I discovered he was also in the Workhouse in 1858 when he absconded with workhouse clothing, and prior to that he had stolen a saucepan and a pair of shoes in 1856 and 1857.  There is a gap in his record of crimes until 1873 when he was listed as homeless and had stolen onions.

 His longest sentence was for the following crime in his home village.

So where was he in those missing years, since I could not find him in the 1861 or 1871 census? The answer lay in the Royal Chelsea Pensioner Discharge Records. Private Sydney Attfield attested at Shorncliffe Barracks, when he was 19, in October 1860. He is recognisable from his matching date and place of birth and also his physical description matches, including the scar. He was discharged as medically unfit in April 1867 after six and a half years of army service, two of those in India.  The reason for his unfitness was Epilepsy, which apparently was hereditary.  The surgeon added that this condition had worsened due to excessive use of tobacco and he was concerned about the effect of intoxicating liquor.

It may be that his hereditary epilepsy was the reason why 9-year-old Sidney was sent to the Workhouse in 1851 after his mother had died, while his 3 younger brothers stayed in the family home with his father John Attfield who was receiving Poor Relief.

Soon after his army discharge in 1867 Sidney was imprisoned for 3 months after stealing two shillings and then he spent 17 days back at Guildford Union Workhouse. The following year due to illness he was admitted to Camden and St Pancras Workhouse for 6 months.

After 3 months imprisonment at Wandsworth in 1873 for stealing onions, Sidney’s next appears briefly in the record book of Holborn Workhouse on July 20th 1874 and he is back at Guildford Union Workhouse in 1881 as a Vagrant which meant that he had to earn his bed & board by breaking flint stones into shingle.  I would like to tell you when he died but I have been unable to end his story as yet and perhaps I never will.