Richard was born in 1806 and seems to have been a bit of a tearaway. In 1826 it was reported to the parish council that he’d broken out of the Chatteris lock-up on 4th May and a reward of £2 2 shillings was offered for information to catch him. While at large he and a certain John Davis scaled the wall of local auctioneer John Smith’s orchard and chopped down 33 of his apple trees. Valentine was sentenced to 6 months in the Wisbech House of Correction, with hard labour. Davis, who had confessed as soon as he was caught, received three months. Their story features in newspaper reports of the court case after their capture, but afterwards Richard disappears from view. He may have moved out of the area to Bedfordshire, where an agricultural labourer of the same name and age is recorded in later census records.
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