John Barge, farmer, Fieldhead, Slaidburn, gave evidence with regard to the finding of the body as described in the opening statement, and added that one of the women he saw on the Saturday evening was carrying what appeared to be a child in her arms, wrapped in a shawl. The body was found in a pool three or four yards square, and could not be seen from the bridge. In cross examination the witness stated that he could not tell whether what one of the women carried was a child or not. Anyone standing by the pool could have been seen.
Margaret Isherwood, nine years of age, daughter of John Isherwood, of Meanley Farm, Slaidburn, said the child upon whose body the inquest was held was Thomas Dockray, who had been brought to her father’s house by Isabella Gardner. There was another child, a baby named James, her half brother, then in the house. She remembered Thomas, the baby, and the two prisoners going away to Clitheroe and described what clothes Thomas was wearing that morning. She identified a suit of child’s clothes, including underthings, produced as what she had seen Isabella dress the baby in. Her evidence further bore out the statement of counsel as to the return of the party from Clitheroe.
Edward Hansen, an earthenware dealer, Clitheroe, stated that at about twelve o’clock on Saturday 16th of May, the prisoners visited his house having with them two children. He saw them at his house again at three o’clock in the afternoon. The elder of the children was then riding in the bottom of the trap in front. In cross examination by Mr. Atkinson witness described at some length the road that the prisoners would traverse on their return to Slaidburn.
Walter Embley, assistant at the Clitheroe Cooperative Stores, gave evidence as to the prisoners purchasing some groceries there on Saturday May 16th. There were then two children with them — one about two years and a half old, and the other about six months. They drove away in a trap at half past three o’clock, the older child then being seated in the bottom of the cart.
Mrs. Lofthouse, matron of the Clitheroe Workhouse, gave evidence in accordance with the opening statement as to the visit of the prisoners to that institution.
Mrs. Camm, wife of a farmer at Slaidburn, spoke to having met two women, whom she could not identify, on the night of Saturday May 16th, near the Easington Brook bridge. One of them was carrying what appeared to be a child, wrapped in a shawl.
Mrs. Franklin, of Harrop Hall, gave similar evidence.
A witness named Walmsley stated that between half past ten and eleven o’clock on the night of Saturday, 16th May, he met John Isherwood and two women going in the direction of Meanley Farm. One of the women carried a loose shawl.
Police Constable Sutcliffe, of Slaidburn, proved that some of the clothes identified by Margaret Isherwood were upon the body when found. When he visited Isherwood’s house on the Sunday night he asked the elder prisoner if she had a little boy, and her reply was that she had not. The younger prisoner then said, “I had a boy named Thomas Dockray at my father’s house, No. 3 Victoria Terrace, Dalton-in-Furnace.” She went on to say that in consequence of a letter she received she took the child to Clitheroe, to give it up to the mother, Elizabeth Dockray on the previous day. She saw the mother at the Railway Station, but did not give up the child, the reason for keeping him being that the mother asked her to be at the Black Bull Inn, Slaidburn, with him at ten o’clock that night. She added that she did so meet Dockray at Slaidburn, and handed over the child to her; and further gave a description which she said referred to the woman Dockray and a man accompanying her at Clitheroe whose name was Stables. On leaving Isherwood’s house the elder prisoner said she wished they had taken the child to the workhouse and Isabella remarked; “Happen it is as well as it is.” Cross-examined by ATKINSON, witness admitted that he had not stated this last conversation before the magistrates.
Anne Tomlinson wife of a farmer at Waddington, stated that on the night of the 16th May she saw Isabella Gardner when she was going to Slaidburn at about seven o’clock. She did not then speak to her, but on Sunday morning she asked Isabella whether she was not on the road as stated, and she replied that she was — the she went in to take the child to its mother at the Black Bull Inn. She further stated that Stables, who was at the public-house with Dockray, went with them toward the Easington Bridge. On the way she asked for money for nursing the boy, and Stables then threatened he would do away with both her and the child if she made another request of the kind. She took away some of the clothes the child was then wearing.
Mrs. Wilson, who had known the prisoners for ten years, said that she had visited Meanley on the Thursday before the discovery, and was then told by Isabella that she was nursing the child for a woman named Dockray. On Sunday evening witness went to church with Isabella who told her that on the previous night that she was at Slaidburn and gave the boy up to his mother at the Black Bull Inn.
Superintendent Inman, of Settle, read a statement made by the younger prisoner, which he took down in writing in an interview with the accused on Monday May 18th. This set forth that Isabella lived with her father at Dalton, and that about two years ago she and Dockray were living in service in the same village near Bootle. Dockray was at that time something of a loose character, and was afterward confined of a child at Dalton. She did not see Dockray again until four months ago at Dalton, when she arranged with her to nurse a child until Whitsuntide at 4s 6d a week. Dockray sent the child to her in the evening. The statement repeated what had been said by other witnesses as to the interview at the Black Bull. The prisoners were charged separately after being apprehended. Grace in reply said nothing and Isabella said, “I have not done it.” A certified copy of an entry in the registry of births at Dalton which witness had examined was produced, showing that a male child, born in December 1882, was registered in the name of Thomas as being the son of Grace Gardner, domestic servant.
The case was not concluded at the rising of the court. It was stated that there were yet eighteen witnesses to be called for the prosecution.
Appendix 2
Excerpt from the Yorkshire Post, Wednesday August 5, 1885:
Leeds Summer Assizes
--------------
Crown Court — Monday
(Before Mr. Justice Wills)
His lordship took his seat in the Crown Court at half past ten o’clock.
THE ALLEGED CHILD MURDER BY TWO SISTERS AT SLAIDBURN
The prosecution of Grace Isherwood (25), married, and Isabella Gardner (18), sisters, on an indictment for the murder of a male child, alleged to be the offspring of the elder prisoner, at Slaidburn, on May 16th, was resumed. Mr. Lawrence Gane, Q.C. and Mr. Manisty appearing to prosecute, and the accused being defended by Mr. E. Tindal Atkinson.
Inspector Prosser, of Bolton-by-Bowland, stated that in the township of the district including Clitheroe he had made exhaustive inquiries with the result that no trace had been discovered of persons answering to the descriptions the accused gave of Dockray and Stables. The jacket, frock, socks, and boots worn by the child he afterward received from John Isherwood, at Meanley Farm.
Dr Alexander Gray, Dalton-in-Furness, dep-osed that he attended the elder prisoner in her confinement at her father’s house on 15th December 1883. She was then delivered of a male child. When attending the prisoners’ mother in April of this year he saw a little boy apparently just over two years of age at the house.
Agnes Creary, wife of John Creary, Lower Brook Street, Ulverston, stated that at Whitsuntide, 1883, the elder prisoner, then Grace Gardner, visited her at Ulverston with a baby a few months old. She said the child’s name was James Thomas Gardner, and that its father was a man named Dockray, living at Dalton. As she (Grace) was going to a situation, she wished to place the child out to nurse, and witness undertook the care of it for 4s 6d a week. She kept the child for 27 weeks during which time she received several letters. As she was unable to read or write, these were read and answered by a neighbour’s daughter named Dempsey. Some of the letters contained money. In consequence of not receiving her money regularly, she returned the child to
Grace’s father’s house.
A girl named Dempsey stated that certain letters produced were those she read to Mrs Creary, purporting to come from Grace Gardner. She had written to Grace Gardner at the request of Mrs Creary.
Mrs Coward, Dalton-in-Furness, gave evidence as to nursing a child called Thomas from the Gardner’s house in November 1883. She kept it till June, 1884.
Mrs Jane Gordon stated that she in the course of last summer nursed the child known as Thomas Gardner. He was the same child whose body she saw at the Black Bull, Slaidburn, at the Inquest. Some of the clothes which had been produced were worn by the child when with her.
Further evidence was given respecting the letters received by Mrs. Creary, which were afterward read by his lordship. The writer, who was then in service at Crosshills, chiefly concerned herself with the welfare of the child, and the struggle she had to pay the money necessary for his maintenance. There were also several letters to Mrs Gordon from Meanley, one or two of them after Grace Gardner was married, and these also referred to the child and the payment for its nursing.
John Stables, labourer, Prince Albert Cottages, Upper Frederick Street, Liverpool, stated that he formerly lived in Dalton, which place he left in October last. He had never been to Clitheroe or Slaidburn. Knew a girl about 15 years of age in Dalton. There were many Dockrays there, but he had never had any conversation with the prisoners respecting a child belonging to any of them.
Elizabeth Dockray, aged 15, living at Dalton, said she saw Isabella on one occasion this year, and she then told her she was going to see her sister, and would take her sister’s child, Thomas. Did not know any other Elizabeth Dockray in Dalton.
Dorothy Dockray, an inmate of the Ulverston Workhouse, said she had a child — the only one she had had — which was in the workhouse with her. She knew John Stables, but was never at Clitheroe or Slaidburn with him. Grace Gardner did on one occasion ask her to nurse the child, Thomas Gardner, but she declined. Grace had told her that the father of the child was William Dockray, a miner.
Mr. H.A. Bridgman, surgeon, Slaidburn, who made the post-mortem examination, attributed death to asphyxia by drowning.
Isabella Gardner here read a written statement to the jury in which she said that John Isherwood had been very kind to her sister. He suggested the child was hers, but she denied it to him, and said it was Elizabeth Dockray’s. She being afraid that he would find it out they arranged to get it into a workhouse in Clitheroe and failing that they agreed to take it home her sister saying that she would tell John all about it. They accordingly wrapped it in the rugs, and it was quiet all the way home. She (Isabella) lifted it out of the cart and placed it on its foot, but it fell to the ground as though it were dead. They dared not take it into the house, being afraid that her husband would think they had done something to it. They agreed that she (Isabella) would take the child in the direction of Slaidburn. Grace following as soon as she could. She went and turned back again and then met with her sister and then went with her along the Easington Road to Langcliffe Cross Bridge. There they decided to put the child into the water, Grace remarking that they should take the coat off. They did so and Grace then passed her the little dead boy. She decided to put the body where it would be seen, and carried it to the river. Neither of them did anything to it.
Mr. GANE, there being no witnesses for the defence, then addressed the jury, whose attention he called to the improbability of the suggestion the child was suffocated in the rugs. Considering the size of the child, its healthy condition, and the nature of the journey from Clitheroe, could it be believed that the child could meet its death in this way without the attention of the women being called to it?
Mr. TINDAL ATKINSON said that the defence was, and had been throughout, that the child was dead when it was put into the water, and did not meet its death by drowning. He further eloquently pictured the painful position in which the mother of the child was placed as the wife of a respectable man who was unacquainted with the fact that she had more than one illegitimate child, and who with the knowledge that there was another child would probably become estranged from her; and then went on to argue against the improbabilities which in his mind were mentionable in the case for the prosecution. He pointed out that on the way from Clitheroe to Slaidburn there was every opportunity of disposing of the child had the women entertained this murderous design, and it was simply inconceivable that having this idea the child should have been brought all the way to the farm and then taken where any and all theirs was open to the view of anyone passing the bridge. He showed how the medical evidence came to no definitive conclusion on the question of death by drowning, and urged the fact of undigested food which had been partaken of at Clitheroe being found in the stomach as conclusive evidence that death must have taken place before the body was placed in Easington brook.
His LORDSHIP having exhaustively reviewed the facts of the case, the jury retired to consider their verdict.
After an absence of three-quarters of an hour, they returned into court at 6:40, finding both prisoners not guilty, a decision which was applauded by a crowded attendance.
Family Trees
Acknowledgements
Of course, it was Penny and William who made me write it. Then, much later, William demonstrated his genius, and his generosity, by editing the result.
In between, Cathryn and David Higham, tireless researchers who became good friends, were instrumental in investigating the original events and placing them in the context of Victorian-era Slaidburn. Rita Hirst’s insights helped, while Grace Ibbetson’s enthusiasm was infectious.
Our children each contributed in their own ways. Daniel read two early versions and issued helpful comment. Meghan and Abigail were genuinely enthusiastic readers. Nicholas remained steadfastly proud and encouraging throughout, while Matthew and Emily showed their implicit faith by just letting me get on with it.
In London, the ladies of “The Texas,” all of them true friends and excellent duplicate bridge players, were an important source of support. Nancy Goudge, Ellen Davidson, Kay Lloyd, Emma Forbes, and Wanda Cristali read and discussed the manuscript with me. Barbara Harrison even returned the copy I had given her to make sure I wouldn’t miss typos she had found.
Harvey Schachter surprised himself by reading the whole thing and gravely pronouncing it “publishable.” Then, as if to prove Harvey right, Linda Cameron found me a publisher … and what a publisher!
Beth Bruder and Kirk Howard gave me what turned out to be my first “author’s lunch,” Kirk staying on despite terrible back pain to make sure that both I and The Slaidburn Angel felt properly welcomed to Dundurn Press. With Kirk and Beth having set the standard, Cheryl Hawley and Marta Warner contributed to making my experience with Dundurn consistently responsive and helpful.
Copyright © M. Sheelagh Whittaker, 2012
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Editor: Cheryl Hawley
Design: Courtney Horner
Epub Design: Carmen Giraudy
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Whittaker, M. Sheelagh
The Slaidburn Angel [electronic resource] / M. Sheelagh Whittaker.
Also issued in print format.
ISBN 9781459703650
1. Gardner, Thomas, 1882-1885. 2. Isherwood, Grace.
3. Gardner, Isabella. 4. Murder--England--Slaidburn
(Lancashire). 5. Trials (Murder)--England--Leeds. I. Title.
HV6535.G6S53 2012 364.152'309427685 C2012-900126-0
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The Slaidburn Angel Page 24