Sarah Tuff. Courtesy of TNA, PCOM4; Piece: 66; Item: 3
(B. 1841 BRISTOL) – CONVICT H.202
Susan Poole, a butcher’s daughter, was born in Bristol in 1841. She was only 17 when she was first convicted of larceny, but the newspaper already noted that she was a ‘girl of loose character, co-habiting with a thief’, and living in a ‘nest of thieves’. Her second conviction followed in 1859, when she was found guilty at Bristol magistrates’ court for uttering counterfeit coin (trying to pass the bad coins off in a shop). She received an eight-month sentence on top of the four months she had already served in a local prison. She would next experience the rigours of the convict system when she was convicted of an indictable offence. On 16 April 1863, Sarah was convicted of larceny from the person (stealing a purse) at Bristol Quarter Sessions. Because she already had previous convictions she received three years’ penal servitude. The local newspaper described her as ‘a diminutive, repulsive looking woman’.
She served two and a half years in prison and was then released on a conditional licence (a ticket-of-leave). It was not long before she was remanded back into custody accused of stealing a ring and some money from a married man. Again, the newspaper described Sarah in derogatory terms, ‘an old offender on a ticket of leave’, but the presiding magistrate was, surprisingly, just as critical of her victim, suggesting that men who used prostitutes should expect to be victims of theft. The case never came to trial.
In September 1866 Sarah married George Tuff. Far from this providing stability, five years after standing side-by-side in a Bristol church, they stood side-by-side in the dock, accused of larceny. The case against her husband was dismissed, but she received four months. Her previous convictions had weighed heavily against her. This was the last time George would ever appear in court, but Sarah was back in court, and back in prison, in 1875. Convicted of shoplifting at Bristol Sessions she then served another year, followed by three years’ police supervision. It did not take very long before she was in trouble again. In 1876 she was convicted of larceny at Bristol Sessions. The judges imposed seven years’ penal servitude in a convict prison sentence and five years’ police supervision.
Sarah’s prison record was updated every time she moved into a different prison. As with all convicts, Sarah spent the first nine months in a silent system where she was kept from all the other prisoners. She then served time in Fulham, Bristol, Millbank (again) and Woking Female Prison. She was recorded as having an imperfect education, a broken nose, her left ear torn, scars on lips and forehead, and pierced ears. She also had syphilis. This may explain why her nose was disfigured and she had lost her four front teeth.
In 1879, Sarah received a letter from her sister-in-law, a longstanding brothel-keeper who had served time herself in the past for several felonies. It appeared that Sarah’s husband, a large wagon driver, no longer wanted Sarah to return to the marital home. After spending some time in Russell House Refuge in Streatham, London, she was released on conditional licence with three years of her sentence not served. Without a home to return to, she may have stayed with her sister-in-law or gone to another friend, or maybe she slept out on the streets. We do know that she returned to Bristol as, after three weeks of freedom, she was back at Bristol Quarter Sessions.
Convicted of stealing boots and a basket after four previous convictions for larceny, she was sentenced to five years’ penal servitude, followed by two years’ police supervision. On this sentence, she was punished for talking during solitary exercise, and loudly complaining when she was told to be quiet, for quarrelling with another prisoner, for breaking her toilet pan, and for throwing down her stool in a temper. This may have been a factor in her petition to be released early on health grounds (syphilis) being rejected in February 1885. In September, she repetitioned again, this time promising good behaviour in the future. The Home Secretary told the Governor of Woking Female Prison that she would ‘be considered for release on license when she has completed another year – to be told that her conduct in prison will be monitored until then’. With no more prison indiscipline in the next twelve months, she was granted conditional early release by the Home Secretary in March 1886. After release, she returned to Bristol. She did not commit any further crimes, possibly she had reformed, or possibly she was too ill, and in need of care, to offend. There was no free medical care in this period, and the only support the state offered came in the form of the workhouse. In 1891 she was living in Barton Regis Workhouse, Winterbourne, in Gloucester. She was a 60-year-old woman with advanced syphilis, and a long offending record. Aged 65, she died in the institution.
Sarah Tuff. Courtesy of TNA, PCOM4; Piece: 66; Item: 3