In the August of 1852, Rhoda Carter of Great Ellingham appeared before a special sitting of the Petty Sessions at Attleborough. She was charged with violently assaulting Elizabeth Fame of Hingham. However, the report in the Norfolk News of the 28th August, 1852, did not provide specific details of the offence. Was this just a…
Category: Court Hearings
Elizabeth Terrington gains free travel to Van Diemen’s Land
As a result of the reformation of the Poor Law in 1834, the administration of parishes transferred from the parish to a local district Poor Law Union. Consequently, Great Ellingham came under the Wayland Poor Law Union with an elected Board of Guardians. Wayland Union Workhouse. Courtesy of Liz Barrett The Minutes of a meeting…
Six of One and Half a Dozen of the Other
Guilty of Assault The Diss Express of Friday, 4th August, 1905, reported on proceedings at the East Harling Magistrates Court. This included the case concerning a fracas between two women in Great Ellingham. Widow Elvina M Rushbrooke of Great Ellingham was charged with assaulting her neighbour Maud Halls on the 23rd July. Halls was charged…
Theft of Two Bushels of Wheat results in Prison Sentence
Norfolk Assizes 29-year-old Edward Long appeared at the Norfolk Assizes on the 31st July, 1841. Long stole two bushels of wheat in chaff from local farmer, Mary Mann. What’s more, Long had been working for Mary Mann at the time of the offence. He was found guilty and sentenced to two months’ imprisonment. Edward Long…
Forfeiture of Freedom in Addition to Copyhold Land
Entries relating to Jonathan Lock caught my eye whilst looking through some Manor Court Books. Jonathan Lock was a copyhold tenant of each of the Manors of Buckenham Lathes Outsoken, Buckenham Castle Outsoken and Buckenham Close Outsoken. The copyhold land was in Great Ellingham. The entries tell us that following a conviction for felony, Lock’s…
William Yeomans sentenced to Confinement in Asylum for Arson
Crown Court At the beginning of August, 1879, 34-year-old labourer William Yeomans appeared at the Crown Court in Norwich. Yeomans pleaded guilty to the charge of ‘unlawfully and maliciously’ setting fire to a stack of wheat at Great Ellingham on the 7th June. The stack was the property of farmer, William Barnard. Defence of Insanity…
Guilty of Theft of Sack of Oats from John Dixon
Odd Hands In January 1916, farmer John Dixon employed two local labourers, Walter Lister and Charles Hall, to help with the threshing of a stack of oats. Lister and Hall worked at Dixon’s farm at Town Green, Great Ellingham, as ‘odd hands’. Magistrates’ Court Lister and Hall subsequently found themselves before the Magistrates at East…
William Bird Proves his Case
Chequers Lane. Date unknown. Postcard courtesy of Carol Ewin In 1891, William Bird had a grocer’s shop in Chequers Lane, Great Ellingham. He was also a coal dealer. William’s wife Anna minded the shop whilst her husband delivered coal to his customers by horse and cart. County Court Case One such customer was John Hawes….
Mixed Fortunes for the Warren Family
Everyday life in Great Ellingham was particularly difficult for many of its inhabitants during the 1830s. James Warren and his family were no exception. James Warren Marriage Postcard of Church Road, Hargham with the Church of All Saints in the centre. Author’s own collection On the 21st January, 1814, James Warren of Great Ellingham married…
The Case of Hart -v- Wade
Attleborough County Court – August 1861 The Norfolk News of the 10th August, 1861, published a report of a recent case at the Attleborough County Court. The case centred around an action brought by Mark Hart, a higgler, of Great Ellingham against John Wade, an innkeeper, of Little Ellingham. Hart was seeking to recover £8…