The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 2/2Griffiths, Arthur
History
The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 2/2
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
Mr. William Wakefield was arrested at Dover, conveyed to Chester, and
committed to Lancaster Gaol for trial at the next assizes, when
indictments were preferred against both brothers "for having carried
away Ellen Turner, spinster, then a maid and heir apparent unto her
father, for the sake of the lucre of her substance; and for having
afterwards unlawfully and against her will married the said Ellen
Turner." They were tried in March of the following year, Edward
Wakefield having apparently given himself up, and found guilty,
remaining in Lancaster Gaol for a couple of months, when they were
brought up to the court of King's Bench for judgment. The prosecution
pressed for a severe penalty. Edward Wakefield pleaded that his trial
had already cost him £3000. Mr. Justice Bayley, in summing up, spoke
severely of the gross deception practised upon an innocent girl, and
sentenced the brothers each to three years' imprisonment, William
Wakefield in Lancaster Gaol, and Edward Gibbon Wakefield in Newgate,
which sentences were duly enforced. The marriage was annulled by an Act
of Parliament, although Wakefield petitioned against it, and was brought
from Newgate, at his own request, to oppose the second reading of the
bill. He also wrote and published a pamphlet from the gaol to show that
Miss Turner had been a consenting party to the marriage, and was really
his wife. Neither his address nor his pamphlet availed much, for the
bill for the divorce passed both Houses. That Mr. Wakefield was a shrewd
critic and close observer of all that went on in the Newgate of those
days, will be admitted by those who have read his book on "the
punishment of death," which was based on his gaol experiences, and of
which I have availed myself in the last chapter.
After their release from Lancaster and Newgate respectively, both
Wakefields went abroad. Mr. W. Wakefield served in a continental army,
and rose to the rank of colonel, after which he went to New Zealand, and
held an important post in that colony. Mr. E. G. Wakefield took part in
the scheme for the colonization of North Australia, and for some years
resided in that colony. Miss Turner subsequently married Mr. Legh of Lym
Hall, Cheshire.
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