John Smith was sentenced to seven years penal servitude for housebreaking on the 18th April 1865. His crime has been abbreviated to "H.B." in the full-page image below. He was aged 22 years on his discharge on 23rd September 1870 so he must have been about 17 when he was imprisoned.
The details supplied about an individual within the 'Register of Returned Convicts' help us build a picture of the person in question: he was five feet, three-and-a-half-inches tall with a fresh complexion, brown hair and grey eyes. He also had a cut on his third finger and a right hand described as 'crooked'.
Once released on licence, 'returned convicts' such as John Smith had to report at regular intervals to the police. These instances are detailed on the page shown below from which it can be seen that John was noted as living at 40 Blackfriar's Street or was 'at sea', evidently having picked up employment as a sailor.
Unfortunately there are no newspaper reports of his trial to add further detail to what we know of John as an individual. It would appear, however, that far from embarking on a life of crime he became something of a reformed character: one of the comments refers to a, "First class certificate of character" while another speaks of, "A promising young man".
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