Hard Limits

TW: Rape

I research and write about death and murder for a living. It doesn’t bother me, particularly. I can detach myself fairly well. I’m not great when the victims are the same age as my kids, but otherwise, I’m granite-hearted.

But I don’t deal so well with rape and sexual assault, even when it was more than a century ago. We all have our limits, and I think I would give up trying to do a thesis on the subject. There’s a lot of reasons for this: it’s personally upsetting, it’s a difficult crime to research in terms of euphemism and language, and most importantly, Victorian attitudes to rape were absolutely mind-bogglingly awful. Some might argue that not much has changed…

I’ve just been researching a family in Evesham, and I found two cousins who were both involved with rapes. Hannah Collins was born in 1853 and was raped in 1871. Her cousin, Alfred Johns, was born in 1858 and raped a woman in 1879. Hannah and Alfred grew up on the same street, and their fathers worked together in a brickyard.

Hannah was raped by her employer’s son, Joseph Thomas Smith. Joseph was a law clerk, the son of a barrister who was unwell and spent most of his time staying with Joseph’s sister in Birmingham. Joseph’s mother lived in Evesham, but she was absent on the night of the rape. Joseph and his friend had been drinking. Hannah was the only live-in servant, and Joseph contrived to borrow her lamp before sneaking into her room and assaulting her while she was asleep. He then left, locking her in the house, and she escaped via the postman the next morning.

Alfred was drinking in a pub in Evesham. Isabella Nicholson, her teenage daughter and her friend had been pea picking and needed a place to stay. The landlord agreed to let them sleep in a wagon in the barn, and locked them into the barn. He then gave Alfred the key. Alfred followed the women into the barn and first tried to rape the teenager before focusing his attention on the older women. Three of his friends joined in.

Hannah escaped home, and her father went to see Joseph Smith. Joseph tried to pay him to make the case go away. This was not simple blackmail – there was a general premise that if sex had been paid for, even if the payment was after a rape, it was legally fine. The money, offered to her father rather than Hannah, was designed to pay for Hannah’s loss of virginity and status on the marriage market rather than for her silence. Hannah’s father refused the payment and went to the magistrate. At the time, bail was not frequently granted. Most people awaiting trial, particularly an Assize trial, were held in prison until the next court was held. This could be as long as six months. Joseph applied for bail, claiming he had to look after his parents, but this request was denied.

Alfred hadn’t the faintest chance of bail once he’d been apprehended, along with his two accomplices. The newspaper described his attempts to ravish ‘the elderly ladies’ who cried “have you no mothers of your own?”. The two women were in their early forties – so ancient!

Joseph Smith went to trial in December 1871, but the case was thrown out and the newspaper report does not go into detail about the evidence. It may have been thrown out because the judge was one of those who believed that respectable women physically couldn’t be raped. Or the judge may have believed that men had a right to rape their servants. Perhaps Hannah’s evidence was given in rough language, and made her seem disreputable. Perhaps Hannah elected to say nothing, and therefore there was no evidence. Perhaps Joseph, a law clerk, was simply seen as a more believable witness than the impoverished Hannah – he could certainly afford a decent defence counsel.

Alfred’s case went to trial in November 1879, along with three accomplices. One accomplice was acquitted. However, because this was effectively a gang-rape, Alfred was found guilty after a brief trial. Alfred was sentenced to twelve years in prison. His two accomplices were also found guilty – oddly, the one who was convicted of attempted rape recieved two years in prison whereas the man who held Isabella down was sentenced to ten years.

Joseph walked free. He married in 1875, although the marriage appears to have been unhappy. Hannah also got married, in 1877, and spent her life in Evesham.

Alfred spent his sentence in Portsmouth, and returned to Evesham when he was released in 1891. He married in 1901 and moved to Ilkeston, where he died in 1935. I cannot trace Isabella, her friend or her daughter.

I wonder how Hannah felt about her cousin’s conviction, knowing her own attacker walked free. I am livid on her behalf.

SOURCES:

_{Worcestershire Chronicle: 2nd Aug 1871, 30th Aug 1871, 20th Dec 1871, 23rd Aug 1879, 8th Nov 1879.}