Children of Joseph and Sarah Pollard

SEVENTH DAY.—Mr William Pollard, linendraper, (a quaker), proved that he had taken a number of tickets signed by Dack in his shop from different voters. Witness saw a great many persons, called bullies and gipsies, previous to and during the election. They were taking a decided part. They had been in the town about a month before the election; and used to assemble at the sound of the bugle, and parade the town two and two.

George Vallance, aged 18, labourer, of Brickendon, was indicted for obtaining, under false pretences, two pair of trousers, from the shop of William Pollard, of Hertford. Verdict, guilty: one month's imprisonment, first and last weeks in solitary confinement, and the intermediate fortnight to hard labour.

William Pollard, draper, Hertford:—We sell slops generally; slops include all ready-made goods; if a man should come and ask for a slop, I should know what to give him; it would be an article very different to the one in question: I only know one garment called a slop; I have been asked for "a slop," and have given a different article; the manufacturers call these garments smockfrocks; I never heard the garment produced called a slop.

William Pollard, clothier, Hertford, affirmed—On Saturday evening, the 18th of March, I saw the four prisoners in my shop; they made purchases of several articles of wearing apparel, amounting in the whole to 3l. 5s. 7d. Payment for the goods was made with a 10l. note of the Hertford Bank; I don't produce the note now; I produced three 10l. Hertford Bank notes before the magistrates, one of which I received from the prisoners on that day, but could not then distinctly say which; the magistrates did not desire me to keep them, and I have since paid them away. To account for the possession of the 10l. note, the woman Collins told me the boys had been working very hard, and had just cleared up their job, and she thought it was the best plan to come and lay out as much money for clothing as they could spare; all the prisoners were then together.

HERTFORD.—STEALING FROM A SHOP.

Harriet Draper and Charlotte Cockerell were charged with stealing a coat from the shop of Mr. Pollard, in the Market-place, Hertford.

Eliza Grey (a little girl aged nine years) examined: On Thursday, the 28th of May, about four o'clock in the afternoon, I was at the corner near Mr. Pollard's shop, in the Market-place, and saw Mrs. Draper against Mr. Pollard's door; she asked me what I wanted, and told me to go about my business. I went to Mr. Westrope's, and while there, saw Mrs. Draper take a coat which was hanging at the side of Mr. Pollard's door; she put the coat under her apron, and walked away towards Mr. Parker's (grocer in the Market-place) I afterwards told Mr. Pollard of it. A coat was produced, and identified by the witness as the one she saw taken by the prisoner Draper from Mr. Pollard's shop.

Josiah Petty, examined: I am shopman to Mr. Westrope, grocer, in the Market-place. Eliza Grey came into the shop about half-past four on the afternoon of the 28th of May. She told me something. I afterwards saw Mrs. Draper going away from Mr. Pollard's, across the road, towards the Vine public-house, when she met the prisoner Cockerell, with whom she engaged in conversation. Draper appeared to have something under her apron.

[ . . . ]

William Pollard, examined: I recollect the day in question; in consequence of information I received, I followed the prisoner Draper, overtook her near Parker's shop, and charged her with stealing the coat; she said she had not done so; I took her into the baker's shop, but from her manner, felt certain that the other woman whom the child had spoken of to me had the coat; followed her, and found her talking to Draper's husband in Back-street; saw she had something in her apron, opened the end of it, and found the coat produced, which is mine. Cockerell said, "I did not know what it was, but your wife, Draper, gave me it."

Cross-examined by Mr. CHAMBERS:—The price of the coat is 20s. Mrs. Draper appeared a little intoxicated. I did not say I would not prosecute. I should not have prosecuted for this coat if I had not lost another.

Cross-examined by Mr. HAWKINS: When the name of Cockerell was given to me as that of the person possessing the coat I did not suspect the prisoner. I believed her to be an entirely honest woman.

[ . . . ]

Superintendent Knight, of the Hertford Borough Police, examined: Mr. Pollard sent for me on the day in question, and gave me the coat produced. I apprehended Mrs. Cockerell, who said she was innocent of stealing the coat.

[Draper sentenced to five weeks' imprisonment, and Cockerell to one week including three days' solitary confinement.]

A second indictment against the prisoners, for stealing a coat from Mr. Pollard—which was pawned, by the woman Cockerell, at the shop of Mr. Yardley, was ignored by the Grand Jury.

Mr. W. POLLARD said he had come here to-day to ask the Vestry whether they thought the time had not arrived when Church-people should take the care of the Church upon themselves. He was sure that if the members of the Church of England were called upon to pay rates for the maintenance of the Roman Catholic or Primitive Methodist places of worship, they would feel themselves aggrieved, and they should therefore judge that those who entertained religious views differing from theirs felt that they were hardly dealt with, when called upon to pay for the maintenance of the Establishment. As almost all the wealth of the country was in the hands of those who belonged to the church, it was monstrous that they should call upon little people to pay rates to maintain the building in which they worshipped. They ought to be glad to pay whatever was necessary themselves. He would add that he was surprised at some of the charges introduced into the churchwarden's accounts—charges that were perfectly illegal, and some of which were to be found in the last year's accounts of the united parishes. Mr. Pollard concluded by proposing that instead of a rate being made, a voluntary subscription should be entered into for the reparation and maintenance of the church.

[report on the discussion continues, with further contributions from WP]

[the extensive report includes a number of contributions from WP.]

Mr. WILLIAM POLLARD, on coming forward to second the nomination of Mr. Cowper, was received with loud cheers. He said:—Twenty-two years ago he had the pleasure—and a great pleasure it was—to invite Mr. Cowper to come and stand for this borough. Mr. Cowper came forward on that occasion, fought the battle manfully, and won it (cheers); and from that day to this, he had been the same man he was at the first. He had served the town well for twenty-two years; and having done so, they must necessarily feel the greatest confidence in him (cheers.) He (Mr. Pollard) had opposed the Tory party from his earliest days, and he knew what Toryism was (cheers). In this borough, they all knew what it was, and they had fought with and defeated it. They knew that it was the enemy of progress and reform; and they knew on the other hand, that they owed every reform and improvement to the Liberal party, whose policy had conferred important advantages on the whole country (cheers). The Liberal party was the same now as it ever was. It was not disposed to stand still, but to continue that course of improvement which it had begun, extending education, widening the basis of the constitution, as education increased, and admitting to the franchise those who did not now enjoy it (loud cheers). If he were to give them a motto for the Liberal party it would be that which was the motto of Lord Grey's government—Peace, retrenchment, and reform (cheers). Those were the principles upon which they stood; and being satisfied that Mr. Cowper was the friend of progress and reform, he had much pleasure in seconding his nomination (loud cheers).

"He who asks who is the builder of the house, will be answered that it is the gift to the poor of Hertford, of one William Pollard, a draper in the Market-place, a man whom everybody knows, but whose works of Christian benevolence are known to few, except those who directly benefit by them."

W ith joyful hearts we hail this happy day;

I n strains of gratitude our thanks we pay;

L ove is the only offering we can bring;

L ove to that honoured friend whose name we sing.

I n paths of ignorance we might have trod,

A nd wandered far from duty and from God.

M oved with compassion for the rising race;

P rompted by love for us, he built this place.

O n him may showers of heavenly grace descend;

L ong may he live to prove the children's friend.

L et many, as they pass this building, say,

A nd there I found the true and living way.

R eward, dear Lord, his work of faith and love;

D efend and keep him till removed above.

He was a borough councillor for thirty-three years, and took a prominent part in council discussions. He is to be found speaking in favour of establishing municipal baths for the town. [ . . . ] He was at different times and for long periods, a trustee of the Hertford Savings Bank, and of the town's Grass Money charity, which still gives help to the poor. He was treasurer of the British (or Nonconformist) School, of the town's Literary and Scientific Institute, and of the British and Foreign Bible Society. He was invited to become a magistrate, and was often asked to be mayor, but both these offices would have involved Pollard in taking an oath, which Pollard's Quaker principles made impossible. Alongside all his business and public work, he carried continuing responsibility in Quaker affairs, administering a fund for poor members, attending district meetings, remonstrating with erring Quakers, and inspecting the size of gravestones! For some years in the 1850s he was Clerk (that is, secretary) of Hertford and Hitchin Monthly Meeting of Friends.

A speech which Pollard made [ . . . ] gives us more than a glimpse of his radical outlook. William Cowper, member of parliament for Hertford, and one of the aristocratic family who had been very influential locally for two centuries, had laid the foundation stone for a new British school in Cowbridge in the town. Pollard, the school's treasurer, gave the vote of thanks. He recalled the time, he said, when gentlemen of the standing of Mr Cowper and Sir Minto Farquhar, another local politician who was present, would have thought it undesirable to promote education. Some years before, Pollard had accompanied an official of the British Schools Society on a canvass of every house in the town, and his audience, said Pollard, would hardly credit what views people had then given as to the advantages of education. [ . . . ] But in 1862, so Pollard assured his audience, things were different. Education had done more for the country than anything else, he believed, and he made the bold assertion that the children of the poor were not born with less brains than the children of the rich. The country must benefit if the children of the poor received a sound education.

DEATH OF MR. W. POLLARD, OF WEST STREET.—It is with very much regret that we have to announce the death of Mr. William Pollard, of West-street, which took place at Folkstone on Sunday last. Mr. Pollard, who was a member of the Society of Friends, was one of the most highly respected and esteemed inhabitants of Hertford. Mr. Pollard was a man of large-hearted benevolence, and the intelligence of his death has occasioned heartfelt and general regret. We shall give next week a biographical notice of the deceased. Mr. Pollard was 77 years of age. His funeral will take place at half-past two o'clock on Monday, in the burial ground adjoining the Friends' Meeting House, in Railway-street.

Mr. William Pollard, of Hertford, had also been called home. He was a warm-hearted friend of any good work. Shortly before he died he gave 500l to the Peace Society, and he has left money to various philanthropic objects.

In his will he bequeathed, probably in confirmation of a previous sale, the marketplace draper's shop to Samuel Watson Ward Graveson and Isaac Robinson. Both were Quakers, and Robinson had been his apprentice. Most of his fortune was devised to members of his family, but several bequests show his interest in education. He left money to the Quaker schools at Ackworth, Sibford and Croydon [ . . . ]. He left £1,000 to the Bible Society, and smaller sums to Daniel Pierson, a Quaker schoolmaster in Hertford, and to the British Schools Society, which had erected the Cowbridge school. He did not forget the Ragged School—it received £500, one of the largest bequests was given during the period. According to the "Mercury" Pollard had expressed the hope before he died that the school would be conducted on the same plan as before—did he mean the admission of poor children without fees, the employment of salaried teachers, or the school's dependence on voluntary funds? His ecumenical attitude is reflected in his will—he had once said he would not support a sectarian society of any sort—and he left gifts to the Ministers of the little Independent chapel at Braughing, and of one at Penydaren, near Merthyr Tydfil—one wonders what was his link with the latter? [ . . . ] Pollard included in his will bequests to a large number of people. Among them was Sarah Matilda Jenkins, treasurer of the Ragged School in 1867, and a Quaker—was she one of the "charitable ladies" who had, according to Pollard, started the school? Other beneficiaries included his cook, housemaid, gardener, an apprentice and two assistants in the draper's shop, and even his errand boy"

The "Hertfordshire Mercury", in a long obituary, paid generous tribute to Pollard, describing him as "one of the most highly respected inhabitants of Hertford", and "a man of large-hearted benevolence". He was prudent, enterprising, but not discourteous. An ardent politician, by sheer force of character he had become leader of the Liberal Party in Hertford, but even his political opponents respected him. The obituary [ . . . ] refers too to Pollard's having "accumulated investments". It does not seem likely that Pollard could have acquired a fortune of nearly £200,000 simply from his draper's shop, since in 1836 he bought the half-share in that property which his father had left to other members of the family, for £600. It would be interesting to know what stocks he invested in, but on this we have no information.

Many people attended Pollard's funeral in the Quaker Meeting House at Hertford, among them the mayor and town councillors, William Cowper, M.P., Pollard's nephew Joseph, and Samuel Graveson. Eleanor Robinson, his housekeeper for forty years, to whom he had left £2,000, was present, as was his old friend, Henry Squire [ . . . ]. Robinson and Squire were both Quakers. On the day of the funeral most shops were closed for the afternoon, and the great bell of All Saints church tolled for an hour during the service. [. . . ] An unknown author contributed to the "Mercury" a memorial poem which begins, "He is gone to his rest—and we see him no more, The friend of the friendless, the friend of the poor"—an artless tribute which yet has a ring of sincerity.

WEST STREET, HERTFORD.

Messrs. JACKSON and SON

Are favoured with instructions from the Executors of the late William Pollard, Esq., to Sell by Auction, on the premises, at the end of the present month,

THE SUPERIOR FURNITURE, China and Glass and other effects, and about 300 Ounces of PLATE; garden requisites; the erection of green house, &c. Due notice will be given.

carte de visite reproduced with permission of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain