Timeline
1826 – 27th August – Richard Holland, son of John and Mary, was baptised in Little Bloxwich.
1855 – 31st December – Richard Holland was committed in Walsall.
1856 – 5th January – Extract from the Staffordshire Advertiser –“At the Guildhall, on Monday last, James Bullock and Richard Holland were charged with stealing seven Cochin China fowls, the property of J. E. Bealoy, Esq, which were said to be worth a guinea each. Mr. Wilkinson appeared to prosecute; and Mr. W. H. Duignan defended the prisoners. Mr. Wilkinson declined offering any evidence against the prisoner Bullock, who was accordingly at once discharged. Mr. Holland said he should plead guilty if the bench would deal summarily with the case, but the Mayor declined to do so, as the magistrates did not know what had been the prisoner’s previous character. He was therefore committed for trial”
1856 – 16th January –Richard Holland, a single miner aged 30, is convicted of Larceny at the Sessions of the Peace in Walsall and sentenced to 4 years penal servitude.
1856 – 19th January – Extract from the Staffordshire Advertiser –“Richard Holland, charged with stealing three cochin china fowls, the property of J. E. Bealoy, Esq., at Bloxwich, on the 29th of December, pleaded guilty, and also to a former conviction for felony, and was sentenced to four years’ penal servitude.”
1856 – 10th March– Transferred to Millbank Prison and given the prison number 2299.
1856 – 14th April – Transferred to Pentonville Prison, his prisoner number is 6601. His behaviour here was Good. He is noted as having had a healed broken left leg, wrist and ankle.
1857 – 7th May –Transferred to Chatham Prison, his prisoner number is 1005.
1859 – 6th May – Received at Woking Convict Invalid Prison. Prisoner Number 64.
He is described as having a fresh complexionwith brown hair and hazel eyes and his height is 5’5 1/4 and his body slender.In addition, his notes state he has had a broken ankle. His next of kin is his father,living at Little Bloxwich.
1860 – 14th January – Released from Woking Convict Invalid Prison.
1860 –Married to Hannah Holland.
1861 – Census – Richard Holland, a 35-year-old coal miner, is living with his wife Hannah, aged 26 whose occupation is ‘home duties’, his son, John, aged 4 and his daughter Harriett, aged 1 month, at number 16 Little Bloxwich, Walsall, West Midlands.
1871 – Census – Richard Holland, a 45-yeard-old coal mine well sinker, is living with his wife Hannah, aged 40, daughter Harriet, aged 10, daughter Hannah, aged 8, daughter Rosannah, aged 6, and daughter Clara, aged 2, at number 16 Little Bloxwich.
1881 – Census – Richard Holland, a 55-year-old coal mine well winker, is living with his wife Hannah, aged 48, daughter Harriett, a 20-year-old domestic servant, daughter Hannah, a 19-year-old domestic servant, sonJoseph, aged 10, son Richard, aged 7, and son Thomas, aged 3 months, at Bank House, Bloxwich.
1891 – Census – Richard Holland, a 66-yeard-old coal pit sinker, is living with William Birford, a 68-year-old general labourer, living at ‘the cottage at the back of Goscote House’ in Goscote.Interestingly, the census states that there are 3 rooms occupied in the house but his wife is not mentioned: it is possible she was visiting elsewhere on the day of the census or that they were separated.
1898 – Census –Richard Holland dies in Walsall.