On 1 December 1838, in a comfortable London house, a trusted servant crossed a quiet but very bright line.
Her name was Ludlow Tedder, aged forty-seven, born in Essex. She worked in the household of Fitzowen Skinner, a man prosperous enough to own not only fine silver spoons, but a silver bread-basket valued at a remarkable £10 on its own.
That morning, the basket and spoons were in their usual place. By evening, they were gone — and so, soon after, was Ludlow.
The theft
From the surviving records we know the essentials:
She was accused of “stealing, on the 1st of December, 2 spoons, value £1; and 1 bread-basket, value £10; the goods of Fitzowen Skinner, her master.”
The bread-basket was not just tableware. It would have gleamed in the candlelight at dinner, passed from guest to guest, a little portable display of Skinner’s wealth. For a servant paid a few pounds a year, such an object must have been a constant, silent temptation.
At some point that day, Ludlow removed the spoons and basket and slipped them into a bundle. Perhaps she told herself she would pawn them “just for a while”. Perhaps she did not think beyond the door.
When the items were missed, suspicion fell quickly:
- Only a very small circle of people had easy access to that sideboard.
- There was no sign of an outside break-in.
- And Ludlow, usually steady and composed, had suddenly gone out and returned flustered.
Within days, she was under arrest.
The trial at the Old Bailey — 17 December 1838
On 17 December 1838, Ludlow Tedder stood at the bar of the Old Bailey, charged with stealing from her master.
Clerk of Arraigns: “Ludlow Tedder, you stand indicted for stealing, on the 1st of December, two spoons and one bread-basket, the goods of Fitzowen Skinner, your master. How say you – guilty or not guilty?”
Tedder: “Not guilty, my lord.”
Skinner testified that the plate was safe that morning and missing by evening; that Ludlow had remained in the house; and that no one else had legitimate cause to handle the silver.
A pawnbroker appeared next, producing the bread-basket and identifying Ludlow as the woman who had brought them in.
Servant theft was viewed particularly grimly: it was a betrayal of trust inside the household, not just opportunistic street crime. The jury found her Guilty.
The Actual Testimony from The Old Bailey:
LUDLOW TEDDER was indicted for stealing, on the 1st of December, 2 spoons, value 1l.; and 1 bread-basket, value 10l.; the goods of Fitzowen Skinner, her master.
FITZOWEN SKINNER, ESQ . I am a barrister, and live at No. 25, Keppel-street, St. George’s, Bloomsbury. I rent the house—the prisoner was in my service as cook since March last—I missed fourteen forks and eleven silver spoons, on Saturday night, the 1st of December, after the prisoner and her daughter were gone to bed—her daughter had the charge of the plate, but she had access to it—on the Sunday night her daughter came to me, and said her mother would drive her mad—I went down into the kitchen, and asked the prisoner what was the matter—she said it was about the plate that was missing—I asked her where it was—she said the had pawned it, but she would get it back on Monday morning—I had said nothing to induce her to confess—I asked her for the duplicates, and she gave them up—I sent her and her daughter to bed, and locked the house up—next morning I found my wife had missed table-cloths and other things—I asked the prisoner if she knew any thing about them—she denied all knowledge of them—I said, “Justice must take its course”—I went out to the Temple, to get a friend to be in the house, and locked the door, as I supposed, but when I returned the prisoner was gone, and I did not see her again till Tuesday the 16th, when she was in custody at Bow-street.
JOHN WENTWORTH . I am a pawnbroker. I have a bread-basket, pawned on the 1st of December by the prisoner—this is the duplicate I gave for it—I have also eleven spoons, pawned by her at different times.
MR. SKINNER re-examined. I did not miss the bread-basket till she gave me up the duplicates—this is my bread-basket—(looking at it)—I had seen it on the Thursday-week previous—I gave the duplicate she gave me to the policeman.
RICHARD LESLEY . I am a policeman. That is the duplicate of the bread-basket Mr. Skinner gave me.
GUILTY . Aged 47.— Transported for Ten Years.
Sentence and transportation
The court did not hang her, but the punishment was still devastating:
- She was sentenced to ten years’ transportation.
- In May 1839 she was shipped to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania).
- She arrived in Australia in September 1839, aged forty-eight, one of many middle-aged women starting life again as a convict.
In the colony she served out her sentence and, by July 1844, applied for permission to marry — a brief line in the records that hints at resilience after catastrophe.
Why this 1 December matters
Ludlow Tedder’s story shows how a single day — 1 December 1838 — could divide a life in two:
- A moment of temptation in a well-to-do London dining room.
- A swift investigation inside the household.
- And then the long machinery of trial, sentence and transportation.
For her master, it was the loss of silver and the sting of betrayal.
For Ludlow, it was the beginning of a 15,000-mile journey from Essex to Van Diemen’s Land, all for two spoons and a shining bread-basket.
Source
- Digital Panopticon, “Ludlow Tedder” – Tried at the Old Bailey on 17 December 1838, charged with stealing “on the 1st of December, 2 spoons, value £1; and 1 bread-basket, value £10; the goods of Fitzowen Skinner, her master.” Verdict: Guilty. Sentence: Transportation for ten years to Van Diemen’s Land; transported May 1839, arrived September 1839, later applied to marry in 1844. https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/life?id=obpdef1-301-18381217
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