Timeline
1812 – 13th January – Richard Stone is born, son of Thomas and Grace Stone, in Cumnor, Berkshire.
1812 – 19th January – Richard Stone is baptised in Cumnor, Berkshire.
1836 – 28th January – Marriage to Ann Reeves at Great Haseley in South Oxfordshire.
1841 – Census – Richard Stone, a 25-year-old farmer, is living with his wife Ann, 25, daughter Elizabeth, aged 3, and son Charles, aged 2, in Chalgrove, Oxfordshire.
1848 – 1851 – Ann Stone dies.
1851 – Census – Richard Stone a widowed 37-year-old agricultural labourer is living with his son Charles, a 12-year-old plough boy, his daughter Sarah Jane, aged 7, Mary Ann Stone, aged 5, and son George Stone, aged 3, in Chalgrove.
1855 – 17th December – Richard Stone committed in Oxford.
1855 – 22nd December – Extract from the Oxford University and City Herald – “Richard Stone was fully committed for trial at the next sessions for stealing 18 sheep at Marsh-Baldon.”
1855 – 31st December– Richard Stone, dealer in animals, widowed with 5 children and aged 41, is convicted of sheep stealing at the Epiphany Quarter Sessions in Oxford and sentenced to 4 years penal servitude. This is an unusually severe sentence for a man with no prior convictions, we can only assume it was due to the sheer number of sheep stolen.
1856 – 22nd January – Transferred to Millbank Prison, his prisoner number is 2078.
1856 – 15th July – Transferred to Pentonville Prison, his prisoner number is 6425. He is described as being Good during his stay.
1857 – 27th March – Transferred to Chatham Prison, his prisoner number is 876.
1859 – 6th May – Received at Woking Convict Invalid Prison. Prisoner Number 58.
He is described as having a fresh complexion with dark brown hair and grey eyes and his height is 5’8 and his body is ‘stout made’. He is noted as being widowed with 5 children and protestant. His next of kin is his father, Thomas Stone, living in Chalgrove, Oxfordshire.
1859 – 30th December – Released from Woking Convict Invalid Prison.
1861 – Census – Richard Stone, a 43-year-old labourer, is living with his son George, aged 13, in Stepney, at 6 Jamaica Street, with 2 other families.
1865 – 14th August – Richard Stone, a 45-year-old widower living at 30 Rutland Street, marries Caroline Harriett Arthur, aged 20 and of same address. His father Thomas is listed as a Gentleman and hers, a farmer.
1871 – Census – Richard Stone, a 54-year-old gardener, is living with his wife Caroline, aged 30, at 154 High Street, Hackney.
1881 – Census – Richard Stone, aged 68 and invalided, is living with Harriet Caroline Stone, listed as being aged 30 but is in fact 40, who works as a boot maker, at 151 Martha Street, Bethnal Green.