TWO quartermasters on a troopship had the dubious distinction of being the first men to be questioned at a new Hampshire police station after being accused of stealing 80 sandwiches.

The trio confessed to the captain they had taken the food from stores which they intended to sell to soldiers being transported back to England on the Huntsend.

They were arrested after one private was seen tucking into a sandwich and asked where he had obtained it. The soldier, who was entirely blameless, told a steward, who reported the matter to the captain – and the captain duly had the quartermasters brought before him.

He told them they knew they had no right to remove anything from the stores and informed the town’s police.

On the ship’s arrival in Southampton, the men were duly arrested and taken to at the new Docks police station and charged, appearing before the Borough magistrates the following day in January 1863 when they entered ‘not guilty’ pleas.

Most of the facts were not in dispute, leading to the defence solicitor submitting they had no case to answer as the prosecution had failed to prove they had stolen the sandwiches and a confession under pressure was inadmissible in terms of evidence.

Mr Littlewood declared: “There is only the fact that a soldier on board was eating a sandwich who chose to say he had obtained them from my clients and on that evidence you cannot possibly convict. The ship’s steward could only say the sandwiches had been found on board and he had wrongly concluded they had come from the ship’s stores.”

Only one of the defendants, Harry Le Marechal, chose to give evidence, insisting he had not sold any sandwiches and had merely cut up meat he had found in an alleyway.

“I am sorry for the soldiers but I had no idea of making anything out of it,” he protested. “Neither of us disposed of the sandwiches which were stolen by someone else who had placed them where they were found.”

However, his unlikely explanation did not sway the Bench, who on hearing they were of previous impeccable character and that one of them had served Queen and country for almost 20 years, reduced the fine to 10s.