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Baby

Age: 0

Sex: male

Date: 21 May 1902

Place: Brownside House, Alston, Cumbria

The body of a newly-born child was found in a parcel that a domestic servant, the mother, had given another servant to burn at Brownside House in Alston.

The mother was indicted for murder, but doctor said that he doubted that she cut the child's throat and stabbed him in the stomach wilfully and the charge against her was ignored..

The mother had gone to bed early on the Wednesday afternoon saying that she was ill and a doctor was called in by her mistress.

When the doctor examined her he became suspicious and asked her several times whether she had given birth to a child which she always denied.

However, on the Thursday morning, whilst still in bed, the mother handed a parcel to another 19-year-old servant and asked her to take it downstairs and burn it in the furnace flue in the wash-house. However, the other servant handed the parcel to a friend of their mistress who opened it to find the body of the child.

The doctor was then called back and the mother admitted to having given birth to the child, but said that it had never breathed.

The police were then communicated with and an inquest held.

The doctor that carried out the post mortem said that the child had a three inch long cut on the neck and another three inch long cut on the lower part of the body as well as some minor cuts about the neck, all of which might have been done with a pair of scissors that were found.

The 19-year-old servant said that she had been at Brownside House since September 1901 and had known the mother for a long time and had lived as partner with her at Brownside House since September. She said that the mother had been at Brownside House as cook when she arrived and that they slept in the same bedroom in separate beds.

She said that she never noticed anything wrong with the mother's condition and that she had never told her that she was pregnant nor in the family way.

she said that she remembered Wednesday 21 May 1902, saying that she got up at about 7am and that the mother came down at about 8am to the kitchen and told her that she wasn't well and stayed in the kitchen until about 9am at which time she went back to bed for an hour.

She said that the mother came back down again at about 10am and got the dinner ready and then went back to bed again at about 1pm. She said that she visited her several times during the afternoon, noting that once she was in bed and on another time she was standing on the floor, but said that she only complained that she was not well.

She said that she took her some tea between 4 and 5 o'clock at which time the mother was standing by the bed undressed and said that she then told her 'I've had a bairn, but don't tell the ladies', however, she said that she saw nothing of the child.

The 19-year-old servant then said What are you going to do?' to which the mother replied, 'I will go away in the night'.

The 19-year-old servant said that she then went downstairs to the kitchen but that at that time neither of the ladies of the house had been in. However, she said that they returned at about 5 o'clock and that she made a communication with her mistress and that from what she told her the doctor was called.

She said that she went to bed that night at about 10.30pm in the same room as the mother and saw nothing of the child that night. She noted that at about 2.30am in the morning the mother asked her for a drink and to close the window which she did.

She said that after she got back into bed that the mother told her that she wanted to get up in the morning and that she told her that she would be better in bed and that the mother then told her that she wanted to get up in the morning because she wanted to burn something, unless she would do it for her, but she told her that she wouldn't. She said that the mother then said that she would get up but that she would not have to tell the ladies but that she replied that she wouldn't promise not to tell.

She said that nothing more was said until getting up time and that at about 8am she took the mother some tea. She said that later, at about 10am, after being told something she went up to see the mother again and said that she asked her, 'You might do that good turn for me', and that she replied, 'I will, where is it?'. She said that she had an idea of what she wanted from what she had been told and that the mother then said, 'In that basket' and pointed to a basket that was on top of her tin box.

She said that she opened the basket and that the mother asked her to take out the parcel in the corner and put it in the boiler flue and put on a cold fire ready for washing. She said that the parcel was wrapped in two aprons that were all saturated with blood.

She said that she then took the parcel to her mistress and its contents, the dead baby, were revealed.

Although the mother was indicted for murder and concealment, the bill for murder was ignored and she was found not guilty on the charge of concealment.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see National Archives - ASSI 52/70

see Carlisle Journal - Friday 27 June 1902

see Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Saturday 05 July 1902