British Newspaper Research: A Family Scandal

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What might you discover about your ancestors in British newspapers?

Findmypast continues to scan, transcribe, and upload to its searchable databases the newspaper collection of the British Library, an incredible project. Already, this database is invaluable to those researching ancestors who lived on the island of Great Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries. My own ancestor, William Clark, immigrated from England as recently as 1873. I delved into this archive to discover more about his family.

One of my biggest finds is a report on an 1892 Petty Sessions criminal assault case involving his niece, Ruth Collins. Ruth was the daughter of William Clark’s sister, Mary, who married an Isaac Collins. Mary, Isaac, and their children lived in West Haddon, Northamptonshire, England. As happened with many families of their station at the time, the Collins daughters worked a servants in wealthier households nearby. Sometimes, in these households, the girls met with unscrupulous behavior. This was the case with Ruth Collins, whose story is like something straight out of Downton Abbey or a Victorian novel.

British newspapers genealogy revealed this news clipping about my ancestor
News clipping from the Northampton Mercury October 21, 1892, detailing charges of Criminal Assault against Henry Winfield.

The Charges

Ruth had been working as a servant at the Botterill household in Ravensthorpe (a small village about three miles from her West Haddon home) for about three years, since she was about twelve. According the the newspaper report, Henry Winfield of Ravensthorpe criminally assaulted (raped) 15-year-old Ruth Collins while living with the Botterills in April 1892 and again on or around 22 September 1892. Ruth, now sixteen, was staying with her mother and pregnant with her rapist’s child.

The Case

The newspaper offers a window into the appalling situation of this girl, my 1st cousin 4x removed, and the completely inadequate way in which it was handled by the courts. Apparently, since she did not report the first rape within three months, that charge was dismissed. The second charge of rape, less than a month old, remained, however.

The defendant did not deny either charge, but instead tried to persuade her mother (my 5x great aunt) “not to proceed” with the case, “as no good would result from it to them, but to allow her daughter, who expected shortly to be a mother, to marry [him].” Thankfully, Ruth’s mother refused this offer, saying her now 16-year-old daughter “was too young.” I can think of other reasons she might object!

Court Testimony

In any case, Ruth was put on the stand, where she testified to the rape. She said that the man had known she was under 16, and that she did not want to marry him. The entire case of the defense appears to have been that she actually did want to marry him, but was now denying it under pressure from her mother. They called Ann Botterill to the stand to testify that Ruth “wasn’t very truthful” and that she had said she would kill herself if she didn’t marry Henry. Ruth denied ever saying this.

In the end, Henry Winfield was committed for trial at assizes (a court that dealt with more serious cases). I have found a record of his brief, six-week stay in jail as a result of his sentence at this later trial. The charge? “Carnally knowing a girl about the age of fifteen years.”

British newspapers genealogy reveals the story behind this criminal record for Henry Winfield
Henry Winfield’s criminal record

Aftermath

Not long after Henry’s sentence, Ruth Collins gave birth to a baby girl on 24 December 1892. She named the girl Maud Emma Collins. Later, on 3 April 1899, Ruth married William Marlow, with whom she had three other children. English Census records show, however, that Maud did not stay with her mother’s new family. Instead, she remained in West Haddon with her grandparents, Isaac and Mary Collins. There, she worked part time as a teacher at the local elementary school until she married Richard Croxford in 1920.

I was glad to see that, despite this unfortunate crime early in her life, Ruth at least saw some justice. I was also happy to see that she and her daughter were later able, thanks to extended family pulling together, to move on and have what appear to be happy, normal family lives.

Don’t forget to look at local newspaper records in your own research. You never know what you will find.

Incidentally, what kinds of things have you found in newspapers searches?

2 thoughts on “British Newspaper Research: A Family Scandal

  1. “Ruth Collins gave birth to a baby girl on 24 December 2018”

    I don’t think that’s right haha

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