On This Day in Wembury
16 November 1906 — Housebreaking at Bay View Cottage
On this day the Western Morning News reported the trial of Alfred Rogers (31) and George Marshall (34), both labourers, who pleaded guilty to breaking into Bay View Cottage, Wembury, on 8 November and stealing a large quantity of household articles. The cottage belonged to Benjamin Sansom, gamekeeper to Mr. Cory of Langdon Court, and was usually let to visitors in the summer but stood empty that autumn.
A third man, John Bayliss (36), hawker, pleaded not guilty to receiving stolen goods, but the court heard how he had sold items in Plymouth claiming they came from a Wembury sale — though no such sale had taken place. When police searched his home, more of the missing property was discovered.
The jury convicted Bayliss, while Rogers and Marshall admitted previous felony convictions. Sentences were heavy: Rogers, three years’ penal servitude; Marshall, nine months’ imprisonment; Bayliss, three months’ imprisonment.
The value of the stolen goods was considerable for the time — including domestic items that would have been significant for a holiday let. The case underlines both the vulnerability of unoccupied coastal cottages and the severe punishments imposed on repeat offenders in Edwardian Devon.
Source: Western Morning News, 16 November 1906.
