A small report in the Express & Star on this day a hundred years ago states the following:

A private in the South Staffordshire Regiment, stationed at Lichfield, named Benjamin Patrick, was charged at Wolverhampton Police Court today (Wednesday) with being a deserter.

Evidence of arrest was given by Detective-sergeant Murphy, and Patrick, who indifferently admitted he had deserted, was remanded to await a military escort.

In the 1901 census, there is a Benjamin Patrick who is a 15-year-old pauper in the Union Workhouse, working as a bobber at a nail factory, and it seems likely that this may be the young man in question. I have not been able to find any other records to corroborate further information about this man. The incident above is noted in the Wolverhampton Police Force’s Public Office Book (which normally detail names and ages of prisoners, prosecutor or complainant, name of officer, details of the charge, and the magistrates’ decision) but his age has been left blank.