Description:Amongst the many documents providing an insight into household life at West Hill are a number of papers from August 1830 relating to a dispute over the sale of fruit grown on the property.
A letter from Mr. Bishop at Wandsworth Police Station dated August 24th 1830 reveals that a number of constables had apprehended James Kershaw, the gardener at West Hill ‘with a quantity of fruit’. Kershaw had been carrying ‘Grapes & Peaches in a Basket’ heading towards Merton Lane. When stopped by the constables, Kershaw had told police that he had an agreement with Mr. Dodsworth, the Steward at West Hill, that he could sell fruit not required by the estate and was taking the produce to a local man named Mr. Miller who owned ‘a green Grocer’s shop’.
The police constables had arrested Kershaw and made enquiries with the Miller family to verify his story. Bishop’s letter states that Mrs. Miller told constables ‘that she had always been in the Habit of buying Fruit of Mr Kershaw’. After making enquiries, it appeared that other Wandsworth people had purchased fruit from Kershaw.
Bishop had ‘detained Kershaw & charge’d him on Suspicion of Stealing Fruit at the Marquis of Staffords Premises’. Bishop had written to Mr. Dodsworth, the Steward at Westhill to ascertain whether Kershaw and his brother were permitted to sell fruit from Lord Stafford’s property.
Click on the images on the left to find out what happened next.