REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE. (Hansard, 7 July 1862)

§ LORD PORTMAN

reported from the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the Circumstances attending the Conduct of William Isaacs, Clerk to Mr. Boodle, Solicitor at Cheltenham, John Preston, Town Crier at Cheltenham, Robert Sole Lingwood, Solicitor at Cheltenham, Charles William Maisey, Clerk to the said Robert Sole Lingwood, and William Boodle, Solicitor at Cheltenham, with regard to the mode of obtaining signatures to the petition of Barbara Robinson, and others, of Cheltenham, presented on the 22nd of May last. That the Committee had met, and considered the Subject Matter referred to them, and had examined the said William Isaacs, John Preston, Robert Sole Lingwood, Charles William Maisey, and William Boodle, and report as follows:

"1. That the Conduct of the said William Isaacs, John Preston, Robert Sole Lingwood, Charles William Maisey, and William Boodle, in obtaining Signatures to the said Petition, does not indicate that they have been guilty of wilful Misrepresentation in respect thereof:
"2. That William Isaacs was not sufficiently careful in the Explanations given by him, when obtaining Signatures, of the Nature and Objects of the said Petition:
"3. That John Preston appears to have acted under the Belief that the Representations made by him in respect of the said Petition were correct:
"4. That Robert Sole Lingwood and Charles William Maisey his Clerk ought to have been more careful in the Instructions given to William Isaacs and John Preston, when they employed them to obtain Signatures to the said Petition:
"5. That Robert Sole Lingwood, as a Solicitor, would have acted more prudently if he had paid attention to the Rumours communicated to him in reference to the said Petition:
"6. That the Committee see no Reason to impute any Blame whatever to Mr. Boodle;

And the Committee had directed the Minutes of Evidence taken before them to be laid before their Lordships. Which Report being read by the Clerk;