Illustration by Christine FullerThe illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied. Maintenance payments for children born out of wedlock is not a modern day provision. Reputed Father: Robert Downs of Great Ellingham When Mary Cable of Bunwell was delivered of a male child in the Parish of…
Category: Court Hearings
Caught by Footprints on the Ground!
Illustration by Christine Fuller The illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied. On their return from chapel on Sunday, 3rd December 1865, Charles and Harriet Barnard may well have been shocked to find that their home had been broken into, and money stolen from their shop till….
Fowl Dealer down on his Luck
Illustration by Christine Fuller The illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied County Court Hearing The Norwich Mercury of August 18th, 1887 reported on a recent matter before the Watton County Court. Robert Bowden of Great Ellingham, a farmer, had previously obtained a judgment against Samuel Harvey,…
Court Appearance for Harriet Leeder, Grocery Dealer
Illustration by Christine Fuller The illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied Great Ellingham born Harriet Leeder was a grocery dealer living in Long Street during the 1860s, with her parents, William and Frances Leeder. Court Appearance In the August of 1864, Harriet Leeder, described as a…
The Fishy Tale of James Halls
Illustration by Christine Fuller The illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied. At the Petty Sessions held at East Harling in the May of 1880, labourer James Halls of Little Ellingham received a prison sentence of 14 days with hard labour for the theft of fish. The…
April Fool’s Prank by George Anderson?
Illustration by Christine Fuller The illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied. The Norwich Mercury of April 12th, 1905 reported on the case of the theft of a hen heard recently at the East Harling Petty Sessions. George Anderson of Great Ellingham was charged with stealing a…
John Bartram Bound Over to Keep the Peace for Six Months
Court Case The Norfolk News of 1st April 1876, reported on a case heard at the East Harling Petty Sessions on the previous Tuesday. John Bartram described as a farmer of Great Ellingham was charged with using threatening language to William Myhill. Myhill was also a farmer of Great Ellingham. Bartram was bound over in…
Disorderly Behaviour at the Prince of Wales
Illustration by Christine Fuller The illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied Court Case Edward Houchin, a blacksmith, of Great Ellingham was summoned to appear before the Magistrates at the East Harling Petty Sessions by the landlord of the Prince of Wales Public House, Benjamin Lane. Houchin…
‘A Miller’s Account’
The Norwich Mercury of 26th November, 1902 reported on the case of Underwood -v- Wilkin which was heard at the County Court at Attleborough on the previous Saturday. The newspaper report’s heading was ‘A Miller’s Account‘. The parties in the action were the Plaintiff, James William Underwood, and J. Wilkin junior, the Defendant. James Underwood…
Mary Ann Catling charged with Housebreaking
Illustration by Christine Fuller The illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied. The Offence The Norwich Mercury of 20th December, 1873, reported on a court case concerning Mary Ann Catling. Mary Ann was the wife of drillman, Henry Catling, of Great Ellingham. The magistrates were told that…