27 February 1830
WILLIAM DAY, of the city of Durham, painter, aged 24, was convicted of bigamy on very clear and satisfactory evidence. He was married to a young woman named Ann Greagg, by banns, on the 1st August, 1826, at the church of St Luke, Old Street, Shoreditch, London; and on the 15th of October last, he married a young woman named Jane Coulter (whom he induced to leave the service of Mr Alderman Lucas to espouce him) at the church of St Sepulchre. The existence of Ann Greagg, and the apprehension of the prisoner in this county, having been proved, the jury without hesitation found him guilty. It was intimated, after the verdict was given, that the prisoner had a third wife living. Mr Justice Parker, after expiating on the enormity of the prisoner's conduct, sentenced him to the fullest extent allowed by law, viz.:- transportation for 7 years. Considerable applause followed the passing of the sentence, which was instantly checked, and strongly censured by the judge.
5 March 1831
ALEXANDER GRANT, a sailor, aged 35, was arraigned on a charge of bigamy, but acquitted for want of sufficient proof of his identity as to the first marriage.
26 July 1834
THOMAS HENDERSON, aged 31, captain of a vessel trading between this port and Hull, was placed at the bar charged with having, on the 7th May last, unlawfully married, at Long Benton, Jane Atkinson, his former wife (Charlotte Malcolm) being then alive.
Mr INGHAM stated the case to the jury, and called Mr Thos. John Turnbull, who produced a certificate of the first marriage of the prisoner at Sculcoates, near Hull, on the 22nd of August 1817.
Nancy Leonard, of Hull, spoke to the marriage of the prisoner with Charlotte Malcolm, at which she was one of the witnesses.
James Mitchell, of Wells, knew the prisoner, and was in the habit of visiting him at his house in Wells, where he lived with a woman he called Mrs Henderson, and had several children; they had lived together 12 or 14 years.
The examination of the prisoner before the magistrates was read, which stated that he had a wife living at Wells.
Jane Atkinson proved her marriage with the prisoner at Long Benton, on the 7th of May last; which was corroborated by the Parish Clerk.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty. Sentence - Six months' hard labour, every alternate week to solitary confinement.
18 October 1834
Jas. Jamieson, aged 24, was convicted of bigamy, having married Margaret Carr - Hannah Jamieson, his lawful wife being then alive; and was sentenced to hard labour for eight calendar months - the last in solitary confinement.
2 July 1836
ANDREW WILKINSON (36), pleaded guilty to a charge of having, at Ancroft, intermarried with Diana Mainson, his former wife Elizabeth Wilkinson being then alive.- Seven years' transportation.
3 July 1840
ROBERT TAYLOR, alias, LORD KENNEDY, (19) was charged with having, at the parish of Acklam, Yorkshire, on the 4th of April last, feloniously intermarried with Mary Davidson, his wife, Sarah Ann Taylor, formerly Skidmore, being then alive.
Mr Granger stated the case, and called
John Wood, who said - I am a waggoner living in Cambridge-street, Crescent, Birmingham; I met the prisoner there in July, 1838; he represented himself to be the son of Lord Kennedy, and produced some documents. One of them professed to be a will, and he said that when he came of age he would be entitled to £60,000 a-year under under it. He said he had advertised for a wife, and if I would introduce him to a respectable young woman he would make me a handsome present. I took him to a friend's, called Benjamin Skidmore, who sent for his daughter to the shop, where she was working. When she came, the documents were shown to her father and herself. A licence was got the same day, and they were married the day following. After the wedding we went to a church and heard a sermon. After the marriage he was absent from Birmingham for a week. He remained there 6 or 7 weeks, and then he left. I saw him a week ago, and he showed me some marks on his arm, which he said proved his birth.
The prisoner cross-examined the witness at some length.
Mr Granger read over a few extracts from the will, by which the testator bequeathed to his son the sum of one million and fifteen thousand pounds, consols, "and no more" - (a laugh) - four coal pits, and other hereditaments, &c. &c.
Mary Davidson said - I am the daughter of Thomas Davidson, sexton at Aycliffe Church. On the 3rd of April last, I was introduced to the prisoner at my father's house; he said he was the son of Lord Kennedy, and would receive £700, and £20 per annum until he came of age, when he got to London with his wife; I saw some documents then; one purported that he was the son of Lord Kennedy, and was to have £60,000 a year when he came of age; my brother said he had been acquainted with him some time, and he was a very pious character (a laugh). A licence was got, which my brother-in-law paid for, and we were married at Acklam, by the Rev. J. Benson; we staid at Stockton two nights, and then went to my father's; about three weeks after we went to Hetton, where he was arrested by Ingo; he was maintained by my brother-in-law during that time; he had got £12 from by brother-in-law, and had promised him £10 for getting him a wife. Prisoner had two or three times attempted to get away from me. I spent my own money for coach hire.
Orlando Osmond Ingo said - The prisoner resided at Hetton at the end of last year; he was very anxious to get married at that time; I saw him going through Hetton on the 28th of April, and apprehended him; I found the tin case and documents upon him; I had seen them before; he resisted being taken into custody.
The prisoner, in his defence, entered into a long and rambling statement.
Elizabeth Taylor - My son is not of age, and he is not very clever; he is not very right, and was put to different pitmen about Fatfield; he was illegitimate, but there is no occasion to tell who was his father.
Mr Granger briefly replied, and said there could be no doubt that under the new marriage act the marriages were all perfectly legal. Guilty. One year's hard labour in the house of correction.
25 February 1842
JOHN BAINBRIDGE (40), pleaded guilty of bigamy. He is a labourer, late of Darlington, and on the 10th of June, 1820, married one Alice Dodd; on the 5th of February inst., again marrying one Mary Ridley, his former wife, Alice, being still alive.
1 July 1842
LETTES LEWIS, alias MITCHINSON (35), charged with bigamy, in having married Edward Ramsay, her former husband being then alive.
Mr OTTER appeared for the prosecution, and Mr GRANGER for the prisoner. The marriage of a woman named Mitchinson was proved to have taken place at Sunderland and Bishopwearmouth churches, but there was a want of proof of the woman's identity. The woman had made an admission that she was the party so married, but this was held not to be sufficient, and she was consequently acquitted.
22 July 1842
FRANCIS MILLS was next charged with marrying Margt. Ferguson, his first wife, Barbara McLearn being still living.
Mr GRANGER opened the case for the prosecution, and called
Thomas McLearn, who said that he lived in Lowick, and about 9 years ago accompanied the prisoner and his sister to Lamberton Toll Bar, on the Scotch border, where he married her after the Scotch fashion, and that they lived together at Wooler between three and four years, when his sister became weak in her intellects, and since that time been confined in a lunatic aylum.
Joseph Atkinson, a facetious looking man, said that he resides at Berwick, and is called a clergyman; he is also a publican and a waiter; that he had been a clergyman for eleven years, and generally marries at Lamberton Toll Bar from 60 to 70 couples in the year. Recollected marrying the prisoner 9 years ago to Barbara McLearn. He asked the usual questions that are asked on such occasions, and read over the Church of England marriage ceremony, the husband putting on the ring. His charge for performing the ceremony was 7s. 6d., and in addition to that they had two pints of whiskey and some biscuits. On being cross-examined by Mr WARREN, he said he would have great pleasure in marrying a councellor, as in all probability he would get a sovereign. When he saw that the parties were in a great hurry and looked respectable, he left it to themselves before he started and often got an extra fee. He always made each party say, "I plight thee my troth," and asked the man, "art thou willing to take this woman to be thy wedded wife," and made the woman repeat the same compliment to the man. He is called in Berwick the minister of Lamberton Toll Bar for splicing people, and has often spliced three and four couples in a week; he was sure he had spliced the prisoner nine years ago. Lamberton Toll Bar is in Scotland.
George Handyside Patterson, Esq., an advocate at the Scotch bar, said he had heard the evidence of the two last witnesses, and, if true, was sufficient to constitute a Scotch marriage; an interchange of consent, and the parties afterwards living together was a valid marriage in Scotland, and whether after such consent the parties lived together in either Scotland or elsewhere, it was held good in the eyes of the law. It was not the general method adopted in Scotland, but he had known such to be the case.
Thomas Orange proved the second marriage by banns to Margaret Ferguson, at Chatton, on the 12th of Nov., 1838; he was a subscribing witness.
John Garrett, overseer at Wooler, produced the certificate of the second marriage, and confirmed the testimony of the first witness, namely, that the prisoner had lived between three and four years with his first wife.
Mr WARREN, for the defence, said it was truly deplorable that such facilities should be given to such solemn contracts, and whether such should be allowed as the law of the land, was a serious question indeed. The question was not whether a marriage had taken place or not, for, if the witnesses were to be believed, one certainly had taken place, and it was for the jury to consider in what way they would present their verdict, in order that his Lordship might pass the least possible sentence upon the prisoner. In this case there were certainly many excuses; he was an ignorant man, and not at all acquainted with the forms or laws of his country; his first wife, if such she might be called, had lost her reason, and had become dead to the world; besides, he had an excellent character, and was living peacably and happy with his present wife, otherwise she would have been present.
His Lordship, in summing up, observed that if marriages are good in one country, they still hold good in any country to which the parties may afterlife move: and they had been told by Mr Patterson that marriages similar to the one they heard described were considered valid in Scotland, hence it was good in England; certainly the first wife had become insane, and was not able to perform the duties of a wife, but that did not invalidate the marriage, nor allow a second marriage. He could not see any doubt of the prisoner having married a second wife, his first wife being still alive. To be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for 4 calendar months.
11 August 1843
JOSEPH ATKINSON, charged with wilfully and feloniously solemnising an unlawful marriage at Berwick upon Tweed, between Wm. Brown and Catherine Cosser (the former having been tried at the last assizes, and found guilty of bigamy, principally on the evidence of the prisoner.) He pleaded guilty to the charge. The judge, in passing sentence, said it was a very serious offence. By the conduct of the prisoner, he had betrayed an innocent young woman into living with a man, who, in truth, was not her husband. A certificate, his lordship noticed, he had received, signed by several persons, giving the prisoner a good character, who, if they had not been afraid of being tested, would have appeared in the witness box. There was no particular punishment by law, and the sentence of the court was, that he be transported for the term of 7 years.
8 March 1844
MICHAEL GRAHAM was charged with having committed bigamy at Sunderland, having on the 17th November, 1828, married one Caroline Wilson, and on the 8th March, 1840, one Elizabeth Hetherington, his former wife being still alive. The two marriages were proved, but it appeared that the first wife lived with him only a week, and then went off to Newcastle where she had a child. She became wet nurse in the Rev. Mr Collingson's family, at Gateshead, and subsequently lived as cook to Lord Elgin, but the last eight years she has lived at Newcastle with another man, to whom she has borne eight children. The last time the prisoner saw her was in the spring of 1830; and both he and his second wife stated that before their marriage they were informed by Caroline Wilsons's mother that she was dead. His lordship told the jury that the statute gave one ground of defence to the prisoner; if it appeared that he and his wife lived separate for 7 years, and that at the time of his second marriage he was not aware of the other's existence, he could not be found guilty. The jury, believing the prisoner, acquitted him.
7 March 1845
DAVID BURNETT was charged with feloniously marrying Eliza Graham, at Gateshead, on the 28th of June, 1839, Alice, his wife, being then alive. The prisoner's marriage to his first wife, at Alnwick, in 1815, was fully proved; and it was stated, that there were disagreements between them, and that it was reported the wife was unfaithful to her vows. The second marriage was also proved, and it was stated that the prisoner had subsequently resided at Hartlepool. One of the witnesses admitted that it was reported that the case had been taken up two years ago, and abandonned. Mr MATTHEWS addressed the jury for the defence. The jury found the prisoner not guilty.
7 August 1846
EDWARD LORD (38) was charged with having, at the parish of Gretna, N.B., feloniously married one Mary Graham, his former wife being then living. Mr RAMSHAY and Mr OTTER were for the prosecution; the prisoner was undefended. It appeared in evidence that the prisoner was married about five years ago at Hawick, Roxburghshire, to one Christian Dryden, at the manse of a presbyterian minister named Wallace. The ceremony consisted, according to the testimony of one witness, of an avowal by the parties of their mutual willingness to become united in marriage, followed by a prayer by the clergyman. The prisoner lived with his wife six months, and she still lives at Hawick. On the 14th May, 1845, the prisoner and a woman named Mary Graham went to a Thomas Little, a publican, at Springfield, in the parish of Gretna, and asked to be married. Both said they were single, and as both expressed a desire to be married, Little bade them take each other's hand, and then pronounced them man and wife. They afterwards lived together as such at Haltwhistle. Mr Wilson, a writer, at Hawick, was examined, and stated that the first marriage was regular and legal, and the second binding, though irregular. Mary Graham did not appear as a witness, but her identity was proved, and the prisoner was found guilty. Sentence deferred.
7 August 1846
Edward Lord, charged with having at the parish of Gretna feloniously married Mary Graham, his former wife being then living, twelve months' imprisonment, hard labour.
5 March 1847
ROBERT CLARKE GRAHAM (30) was charged with bigamy. Mr MONCRIEF stated the case, and called
Mary Turnbull, who said, that on the 11th January, 1841, she accompanied her sister Hannah Turnbull and the prisoner to Gretna, in Scotland. They went to Thos. Little's, of Springfield, and the prisoner called for gill of whiskey; after that, Little took them into a room, and said to them that they were then to declare themselves single persons. That was her sister Hannah and the prisoner. Little then said to the prisoner, "Do you take this woman to be your wedded wife," when he answered "Yes." He said the same to Hannah, and she answered "Yes." The ring was then placed on Little's book by the prisoner, who took it up, and put it on Hannah's fourth finger of the left hand. They then joined hands, when Little said, "What God has joined together, let no man put asunder." That was the whole ceremony. After that they all returned to her (the witness's) father's house, and the prisoner stayed there four days, and lived with her sister. The prisoner then went home, but frequently came on the Saturday night and stopped until Monday. Her sister had a child in Oct. 1842. The prisoner was a joiner.
Elizabeth Turnbull said she was sister to Hannah Turnbull, and was present at the marriage before Little.
Jane Little said she was the wife of Thomas Little, of Gretna, who was in the habit of marrying people. She remembered a party being at the house on the 11th January, 1841, when the prisoner was married to Hannah Turnbull. The witness then related the whole of the ceremony.
Cross-examined by Mr LIDDELL. There was a great number of marriages at the house, but she never married any herself. Lots of English people came over the border to get married.
Andrew Armstrong said that he remembered going with the prisoner and Abigail Wright, of Longtown, on the 9th December, 1842, to Gretna. Another man, named Douglass, was present, and he married them. The witness then described the ceremony, which was similar to the former marriage. After the marriage the prisoner and Abigail lived together as man and wife.
Rebecca Scott said that she went with the party from Longtown to Gretna when they went to get married, and saw the ceremony performed. The prisoner and Abigail lived together afterwards as man and wife.
John Douglass said that he kept an inn at Gretna. In December 1844, he remembered the prisoner and Abigail Wright coming to get married. They came in and said they wished to be married, and that they were single persons; they joined hands together and acknowledged each other as man and wife. That was the whole of the ceremony.
Cross-examined by Mr LIDDELL. He had a great number of marriages at his house. The parties always signed their names in a book which he kept for that purpose. Both the prisoner and Abigail Wright signed their names. He had about seventy or eighty marriages in 1844.
William Callendar said that he was writer at Annan; and that a marriage in Scotland was by civil contract. Both the marriages of the prisoner were legal.
Mr LIDDELL was for the prisoner; but the case being so clearly proved, his Lordship thought that the time of the court would be saved if he did not address the jury.
The jury then returned a verdict of guilty. To be imprisoned for one year.
30 July 1847
JAMES ROBINSON (26) was charged with unlawfully marrying Elizabeth Richardson, while Ann Robinson, his wife, was living. The prisoner is a sailor, and in 1841 he was married at South Otley Church, Norfolk, to Ann Robinson. After leaving her, a few years ago, he came to South Shields, where he became acquainted with Elizabeth Richardson, whom he married at St. Hilda's Church. Guilty.
2 March 1849
THOMAS McKEATH (41) was charged with having, at the parish of Jarrow, unlawfully married Mary Robson, his former wife being still alive. The necessary witnesses to sustain the offence, having been examined by the Court, the prisoner in his defence said that previous to the second marriage, he had not seen his wife for two years at which time she told him that she was married to another man to whom she had a child, and whose little finger she liked better than his whole body. His lordship, in order to ascertain whether the second wife knew he was married, deferred the sentence.
27 July 1849
GEORGE LUKE ROBINSON (28) was then placed at the bar, charged with bigamy. Mr UDALL stated the case, and called the necessary witnesses to prove that he married on the 18th June, 1848, Ann Emmerson, while Mary, his first and legitimate wife was living.- Guilty.
3 August 1849
WILLIAM SANDS, who had pleaded guilty to a charge of bigamy, was sentenced to two months imprisonment; THOS. HUMPHREY, who also pleaded guilty to a charge of bigamy, was sentenced to eight calendar months' imprisonment;... GEORGE LUKE ROBINSON (28) pleaded guilty to the charge of having, at the parish of Trimdon, on the 18th of December, 1848, married Ann Emmerson, Mary Robinson, his wife, being then alive.- Six month's imprisonment.
7 March 1851
ELIZABETH AIKIN, who had pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of bigamy, and had been recommended to mercy by the prosecutor, was brought up to receive sentence. In reply to questions from his LORDSHIP, she said she had lived unhappily with her husband, and after they agreed to part, she thought she was quite clear of him. He had engaged to maintain her and her child; but he had stopped their maintenance, and they had no means of support. He had prosecuted her because he wanted their child, and she was not willing to give it up. She had been married about twelve months to the second husband, and lived comfortably with him. The judge sentenced her to one week's imprisonment, without hard labour.
7 March 1851
ROBERT ALDERSON (26) was charged with bigamy.- Mr SEYMOUR stated the case. The prisoner was employed at Messrs Hartley's glass works, at Sunderland, in the year 1845, and in the month of February, in that year, he married one Margaret Smith, who had a child five months afterwards. The prisoner afterwards went to Hull to seek employment, and while there in 1849, he married another female, named Emma Cookson. Soon after he came back to his first wife. The two marriages were proved - The Hon. Mr LIDDELL who appeared fot the prisoner, declined addressing the jury, upon which the jury returned a verdict of guilty.- To be kept at hard labour six months.
1 August 1851
JOHN ATKINSON (23) pleaded guilty to a charge of bigamy. 1 months imprisonment.
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