| Description | Petition presented to those Justices in court at the Quarter Sessions to be held at Northallerton on 27 June 1836. Those who have signed the petition know Jane Coupland and Ann Coupland of Whitby spinsters, who were prosecuted by Messrs Horne and Richardson of Whitby stationers at the last Christmas Quarter Sessions for receiving books, knowing them to have been stolen. They were found guilty, and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in the House of Correction at Northallerton. They have served six months of their sentence and are said to have suffered greatly. They are in a precarious state of health, which has led to deep contrition and a determination to be of good moral conduct in future. It was their first offence, and the petitioners ask the court for a mitigation of their sentence. Signed by 102 inhabitants of Whitby |