Continuing our blog series written by volunteer, Katherine Bett.

One of our most striking records is a photograph album of mugshots from Reading Prison (P/RP1/5/2), taken at the turn of the century, a few years either side of Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment. Whilst not every prisoner was photographed, the details and expression of these men and women inspire research into how they came to be imprisoned in cells very near to the famous writer. This blog series tells their stories.

Three men in this photograph album had their photos taken on the same day: 23rd November 1895. This was just three days after Oscar Wilde was imprisoned in cell C3.3. Whilst all three were imprisoned for the much more common crime of theft, comparing their cases, as reported in the local press, offers some insight into who shared the prison with Wilde.

Henry Davis - four dressing cases

Henry Davis was sentenced to eight months’ hard labour for stealing four dressing cases, which had the combined value of £15.

A Victorian dressing case was an elaborate wooden box, with compartments and drawers for shaving equipment, manicure sets and perfumes. They usually accompanied members of the upper class on their travels.

In October 1893, Davis turned up at a Broad Street shop in Reading claiming he was wanting one to give as a gift to an ill sister. He chose a selection of four and asked that they be delivered to 10 Ayrton Villas, Caversham Road, so his sister could choose one.

Caversham Road a few years after the dressing cases were stolen. Berkshire XXIX.15 Series: Ordnance Survey, 25 inch to the mile. Revised ca. 1897. Published ca. 1899

They were then pawned for 35 shillings in November 1893.

According to reporting of the trial in the Reading Mercury, which took place in April 1895, Henry Davis was well known to the police and also went by the name Stanley Graham. He’d previously been convicted for several thefts, including stealing money from a pub safe.

The judge said most of his colleagues would have given a much longer sentence, and said he’d give Davis “one more chance” and only eight months.

Charles Matthews - a watch and chain

Charles Matthews was roughly 23 and “respectably dressed” when he was sentenced to three months for stealing a watch on a chain, which was valued at £3 10s.

In the trial at the Newbury Borough dock in November 1895, a Mrs Ward said that Matthews had approached her to rent a room in her lodging house (102 Bartholomew Street in Newbury - currently a Chinese takeaway!)

Bartholomew Street in Newbury. Berkshire XLIII.1 Series: Ordnance Survey, 25 inch to the mile. Revised ca. 1898. Published ca. 1900. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland 

He’d met her between 11:15-11:30 and after having agreed terms was taken through to his room and left alone to wash his hands. The problem arose because his room could not be accessed from a main hallway - he had to go through the room of a Mr W H Pyke-Hankes, an engineer’s apprentice, who had left the watch on his dressing table.

Matthews confessed the crime to the court, saying “I passed the watch twice, but could not resist the temptation of taking it”. He had taken it to a pawnbrokers an hour after he’d stolen it.

John Nicholls - a bath towel

John Nicholls was sentenced to six months for stealing the most unassuming item - a bath towel that had been hanging from a washing line at Rosebourne Villa, on Castle Hill, then on the edge of Maidenhead.

A police officer found it on him, after he was spotted looking into a house that had been broken into the previous night. Unfortunately for Nicholls, it had the name of Arthur Cuthbert on it.

Cuthbert’s housemaid, Ada Woodbridge, told the Maidenhead Borough Bench in June 1895 that she’d seen Nicholls the day before he was arrested. He’d come to the house asking for help and later she and the cook had seen the figure of a man outside.

Castle Hill, Maidenhead. Berkshire XXIV.14 Series: Ordnance Survey, 25 inch to the mile. Revised ca. 1897. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland 

John Nicholls was 38 years old and was described in the Reading Standard as a “tramp”. He’d told the police he slept “under one of the trees in the Rookery”.

He pleaded not guilty, but was convicted by the jury. He’d previously been convicted of 9 different crimes, including housebreaking and of stealing a pair of trousers, for which he got six months.

The previous offences clearly had an effect on how much time he was given for stealing the bath towel - a total of six months.

These three photographs, and the newspaper reporting of their cases, paint a picture of three different thefts that all landed the perpetrator in the same place - Reading Prison.

From a high-value theft of dressing cases, to the opportunistic snatching of a watch from a potential housemate’s dressing table, and the serial offending of a homeless man who just needed a towel, these stories all help us know a bit more about the men imprisoned alongside Wilde.