In the cool cellar of a London house on 4 October 1815, two brothers — Richard and William Hunt — decided that honest work was overrated. They were servants, or near enough, with access to their master’s stores of wine and silver. The temptation, as the court later heard, proved irresistible.
The theft
Their plan was simple: slip into the pantry after the household had retired, fill a sack with spoons and a few bottles of their employer’s best claret, and vanish before dawn. But like most simple plans, it came undone through carelessness and too much confidence.
Footman’s testimony: “They had been in the butler’s pantry after hours, and I found the cupboard door prised open. Two silver spoons were gone, and three bottles of wine had been drawn off.”
When questioned, the brothers denied everything — though they were seen the next morning rather unsteady for men who’d had “nothing but tea.”
The evidence mounted quickly: a neighbour’s servant swore he’d bought one of the missing spoons for a shilling from “a young man answering to the prisoner’s description,” and a pawnbroker produced another, bearing the same crest as the master’s silver.
The trial at the Old Bailey
The Hunts stood together in the dock on 25 October 1815, indicted for stealing from their master, Thomas Combe, in his dwelling-house on the 4th of October.
Clerk of Arraigns: “Richard Hunt and William Hunt, you stand indicted for stealing spoons and wine, the property of your master. How say you — guilty or not guilty?”
Both: “Not guilty.”
The prosecutor’s case was solid and sprinkled with irony — servants turned burglars by proximity to comfort.
Prosecutor: “They had daily the run of his pantry, and nightly, it seems, his wine.”
The defence called no witnesses. The jury took only minutes to deliberate.
Foreman: “Guilty.”
Sentence and aftermath
The court recorded both brothers as guilty of larceny from a master — an offence treated with particular seriousness. In earlier years it might have been a hanging matter; by 1815, transportation had become the preferred cure.
Judge: “The confidence of a master so betrayed admits of little excuse. You are sentenced to seven years’ transportation.”
Within months they were aboard a convict ship bound for Australia, their brief toast to freedom replaced by years of hard labour in the colony.
Why this mattered
The Hunts’ case shows the shifting tide of British justice. By the early nineteenth century, courts were replacing the noose with transportation, exporting crime and poverty alike across the seas. Yet their story also speaks of a world where a servant’s temptation could undo a lifetime of service — all for the price of a few silver spoons and bottles of wine.
Source
R v. Richard Hunt and William Hunt (t18151025-43), Old Bailey trial on 25 October 1815 for theft from their master, Thomas Combe, on 4 October 1815. Verdict: Guilty. Sentence: Transportation for seven years.
Old Bailey Proceedings Online
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