Now! Then! Christopher Jackman (sculptor) and Charles Barrett (tailor) are charged with having been in enclosed premises for an unlawful purpose at the home of the Bradford MP, Henry Ripley

13 June 1876: Christopher Jackman (sculptor) and Charles Barrett (tailor) are charged with having been in enclosed premises for an unlawful purpose at the home of the Bradford MP, Henry Ripley

Leeds Mercury. 1876/06/17. A Caution to Young Men. Leeds. Get it:

Excerpt

The defendants, who were fashionably dressed and wore each an imposing bunch of lilies of the valley in the button-hole of their coats, had been found under somewhat suspicious circumstances on Friday afternoon. William Henry Thorp, in the service of Mr Ripley, stated that he found the defendants half dressed in bed in the laundry-maids’ bedroom. The laundry-maids were at their work in the laundry. When he accosted the defendants, they said they had been walking and had asked to lie down. Thorp said he did not know that the defendants were engaged to two of the laundry-maids. Mr Granger, for the defence, said he was in a position to prove that the defendants were most respectable men. They had, in fact, obtained the permission of Mrs Sunderland (Mr Ripley’s daughter) to visit their sweethearts in the laundry, and in the case of Jackman the ring had been already purchased, and the banns put up at Halifax. (Laughter.) They had certainly been indiscreet, but when in the laundry, seeing that some one was likely to come in from whose observation they wished to escape, they had run upstairs and secreted themselves in the bedroom. Mr T. Greenwood Teale (magistrates’ clerk) said it should be explained, in justice to Mr Ripley, that he had recently lost several articles of linen, and that he was therefore naturally suspicious when two young men were found on the premises under such circumstances. Mr Granger then called Alice Bernard and Mary Halliday, laundry-maids, the former engaged to Barrett, and the last-named to Jackman. Bernard stated that she had requested the defendants to go into the bedroom to get out of the way while someone was looking about the laundry. Halliday said that she was engaged to Jackman, and proffered to exhibit the wedding-ring, which had been already purchased. Mr Abbey, sculptor, gave Jackman an excellent character, and was satisfied that the defendants were not on Mr Ripley’s premises for any felonious purposes. [Discharged.]

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations

Comment

I doubt you will find record of marriages between Alice Bernard and Charles Barrett, or Mary Halliday and Christopher Jackman, for this is a mock trial: not of Barrett and Jackman, but of the English legal system, and conducted by the West Riding Liberal establishment. Everyone knows that the men are guilty according to laws made in Westminster, but no one cares to convict them. (Perhaps someone will explain to me why the Crown went with the Vagrancy Act 1824.) Immediate precedent can be found in Gilbert and Sullivan’s satirical Trial by Jury, premiered the year before, but there is material a-plenty here for a Loiner Lorenzo da Ponte to give us an Airedale Così fan tutte. I’ll take care of the music if someone will write me a libretto.

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Original

A CAUTION TO YOUNG MEN.-At the West Riding Police-court, Leeds, on Tuesday, before Dr. Heaton, Mr. Ikin, and Mr. Joseph Lupton, two young men, Chas. Barrett, tailor and draper, Yeadon, and Christopher Jackman, sculptor, (the latter in the employ of Mr. Charles Abbey, sculptor, Bradford,) were charged with being in enclosed premises for an unlawful purpose. The defendants, who were fashionably dressed and wore each an imposing bunch of “lilies of the valley” in the button-hole of their coats, had been found under somewhat suspicious circumstances on the premises of Mr. H. W. Ripley, M.P. (Bradford), Acacia, Rawdon, on Friday afternoon last. Mr. Granger appeared for the defendants. William Henry Thorp, a man-servant in the service of Mr. Ripley, stated that he found the defendants half dressed in bed in the laundry-maids’ bedroom. The laundry-maids were at their work in the laundry. When he accosted the defendants, they said they had been walking and had asked to lie down. In reply to Mr. Granger, Thorp said he did not know that the defendants were engaged to two of the laundry-maids. Mr. Granger, addressing the Bench, said he was in a position to prove that the defendants, who had been locked up over Friday night and brought before Mr. Ikin on Saturday and remanded on bail until to-day, were most respectable men. They had, in fact, obtained the permission of Mrs. Sunderland (Mr. Ripley’s daughter) to visit their sweethearts in the laundry, and in the case of Jackman the ring had been already purchased, and the banns put up at Halifax. (Laughter.) They had certainly been indiscreet, but when in the laundry, seeing that some one was likely to come in from whose observation they wished to escape, they had run upstairs and secreted themselves in the bedroom. Mr. T. Greenwood Teale (magistrates’ clerk) said it should be explained, in justice to Mr. Ripley, M.P., that he had recently lost several articles of linen, and that he was therefore naturally suspicious when two young men were found on the premises under such circumstances.-Mr. Granger then called Alice Bernard and Mary Halliday, laundry-maids, the former engaged to Barrett, and the last-named to Jackman. Bernard stated that she had requested the defendants to go into the bedroom to get out of the way whilst some one was looking about the laundry. Halliday said that she was engaged to Jackman, and proffered to exhibit the wedding-ring, which had been already purchased. Mr. Abbey, sculptor, gave Jackman an excellent character, and was satisfied that the defendants were not on Mr. Ripley’s premises for any felonious purposes.-The defendants were discharged.

443 words.