John Kelly

In the course of one of his many court appearances, John says that he had lived in Middlesbrough for 55 years.  As that was in 1888 he would have arrived in 1833 when he was 12.  How or where from we have no idea.  He may have been alone.  Middlesbrough at the time would have still have been small – it was a new town and had grown from a hamlet of a couple of houses at the start of the century.  Its rapid growth and largely young male population gave it a bit of the character of a wild west frontier town and for many years the police force -very much in its infancy at the time – had trouble coping.  The earliest court report we have for John is from October 1867 when John was charged with obtaining goods by deception but it does not mean there were not earlier cases.  This time he was acquitted for perhaps the one and only time.  In 1886 the court noted ‘that he had been convicted of a variety offences including six larcenies.’

He had married Jane Appleton (nee Dennis) on 21st July 1873 after her husband had divorced her as a result of her adultery with John.   Such a divorce was unusual at the time especially amongst agricultural labourers like Thomas Appleton.  Jane seems to have been in court perhaps before she even met John on a charge of stealing a number of gold rings.  Together they took in turns to go to Northallerton gaol for periods of hard labour – it had the largest treadmill in the country.  We, of course, know nothing of their cirumstances.  They certainly were not the only inhabitants to find themselves in court on charges of stealing.  There was no benefit system at the time.  John was also in court  on occasion for ill-treating his wife and it seems that she left him at some point, possibly after Ruth and Isabella were taken away, as in 1891 he is living in lodgings.