I wrote in a previous post about pinpointing Thomas PALMER’s premises using a newspaper report of his being robbed. Living by a police station didn’t seem to give the security you’d think it would, as Palmer was robbed again in 1869:
![](https://geneageek.com/wp-content/uploads/Portsmouth-Times-and-Naval-Gazette-27-November-1869-p5-c5.png)
A certain Henry Baker stole two books from him at the value of 4 shillings, as well as a pot of cold cream from a nearby chemist, Charles Mumby. Funnily enough a little research shows this chemist was actually the founder of Mumby’s Mineral Waters. (Read a little more about him here.) He also stole a letter stamp from a Mr Loveder but for some reason this wasn’t investigated.
![](https://geneageek.com/wp-content/uploads/Portsmouth-Times-and-Naval-Gazette-11-December-1869-p3-c3.png)
As the ‘well-known character‘ had been convicted of a felony twice before this incident, Henry Baker was sentenced to twelve months hard labour. Out of curiosity, I found his record of conviction for his crime against Thomas Palmer in the Southampton Assizes records.
![](https://geneageek.com/wp-content/uploads/henrybaker.png)
I’m curious as to what Thomas’ ‘private mark’ looked like. Was his private mark different to his store mark? Did it look anything like this…?
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