Page 158 - Reading Mercury

robbed him of notes and cash to the amount of forty pounds. Notwithstanding the
disguise Mr. Hibbert knew Joseph Bint to be one of the robbers, and told him so; John
Houlton, the companion of Bint, was apprehended in Wokingham on Tuesday and
immediately confessed that himself and Bint went out with the intention of stealing a
horse, but finding it difficult to catch him; and having seen Mr. Hibbert telling his
money in a public house, agreed to stop and rob him.
After which they went to London but the notes being of the Reading Bank, could
not get them changed, they therefore set off for Oxford, where they bought watches
and a variety of other articles.—Having returned to the neighbourhood of
Wokingham, Houlton went out to reconnoitre, and finding his name had not been
mentioned, he gave his share of the money to Bint, who was hid in a wood, to keep
for him till his return, and then ventured into the town, and was immediately taken
into custody. Bint not finding his companion return took alarm and escaped. Twenty
guineas is offered for his apprehension. Houlton confessed they committed a highway
robbery before, and at different periods have stolen poultry from nearly every farm in
the neighbourhood. John Houlton is fully committed for trial, at the next assizes.

th
Mon 9 Nov
WOKINGHAM FAIR
The Fair at Wokingham on Monday last, exceeded every thing of the like kind in the
remembrance of the oldest inhabitants. The novel scene of an ox roasted whole in the
Market-place, excited general curiosity in the adjacent country to a wide extent, which
exclusive of those, who attended on business brought a numerous influx of spectators
to witness the unusual performance. The whole business was conducted by Messrs.
Beechey, Baker, and Giles, butchers with singular judgment and propriety. In a brick
erection about four feet high, in the centre of the Market-place, iron bars were placed,
so as to have the effect of an extensive wide grate, and at four o’clock in the morning
the animal was suspended on a piece of beech timber full three inches square, with a
coach wheel fixed at each end, and continued roasting till eleven, when the managers
began cutting off slices, in which they had full employment for four or five hours. The
meat was well done, and all who partook thereof were amply gratified, and not an
atom left.
There was a large shew of Welsh cattle, and others of the home-bred kind, with a
great quantity of store pigs, which went off quick at something advanced prices.

rd
Mon 23 Nov
It is with peculiar satisfaction we record the establishing of another of those
excellent Institutions the Savings’ Banks, in this county. A meeting of the inhabitants
of Wokingham was held in the Town Hall, on Thursday, for the above purpose; James
Webb, esq. Alderman, in the chair, when it was unanimously resolved, that a
Provident Institution, or Bank for Savings be established, under the title of “THE
WOKINGHAM SAVINGS BANK.” The High Steward of the town, Lord
Braybrooke, was unanimously elected President, as were also the Hon. R. Neville,
M.P. Chas. Dundas, esq. M.P. C.F. Palmer, esq. M.P. Sir W. Wynn, the Rev. G.
Seeker, and G.J. Cholmondeley, esq. Vice Presidents.
Sir William Wynn addressed the meeting in an animated speech, congratulating the
inhabitants on the establishment of such an excellent institution, and most ably and
clearly pointed out the benefits derived from such Institutions in a political, moral,
and religious point of view. The Rev. Georg Kemble Whatley, as well as the
Alderman, bore testimony to the justness of Sir William’s remarks. After the usual

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