A Bigamist in the Family.

Sarah Ann Cuthbert (right) was my husband's great grandmother. Researching her early life led to finding her mother Charlotte,  who proved an elusive character.  

Her life included a first marriage with a disparity in ages, the unknown whereabouts of Charlotte  for over 10 years, suspicions of a bigamous second marriage, and cases of domestic abuse by her daughter's future husband.

Charlotte  was born 20th May 1846  in Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire, daughter of William Portress and Elizabeth Morris.   Her surname on her marriage announcement stated  Portress, but it was variously spelt across records and online transcriptions as Portos, Porteres, Portros, Portes and  Porters. 

The 1851 census revealed Charlotte was the fourth of six children, with siblings Joseph, Eliza, Ann, Mark and Sarah.  In 1861 , aged 17,  Charlotte  was workng as a domestic servant to an elderly farmer William Booth, and his sister-in-law  at River Bank, Pinchbeck.  For a young girl, this must have been a lonely life as the only resident domestic help there.

A  year later on 15th May 1862,19 year old Charlotte was marrying James Cuthbert, 12  years her senior, as reported in the Stanford Mercury.

 So what could be  the reasons for Charlotte's marriage to James?   Did it offer  security and respectability of a home?    For five months after their marriage, Charlotte gave birth to a son,  Morris   on 29th October 1862, followed by John  James in1863 and daughter Sarah Ann in 1868.  

PUZZLE NO.1  - In 1871, where was Charlotte, the mother of three young children, for neither she nor daughter Sarah Ann were listed with James and their two sons.   Was she visiting elsewhere, or had she deserted the Cuthbert household?  Efforts to trace her proved challenging.

Some public trees have a Charlotte Porter  listed in the 1871 census as a patient at the Leavesden Asylum in Hertfordshire, aged 26, but with her birthplace recorded as "not known"  - so not much help in identifying if our Charlotte has reverted to her maiden name in this instance.

Why  was she admitted to an asylum?  Was it a case of post natal depression, following Sarah Ann's birth in 1868?  In the 19th century it was not uncommon for women to be admitted on such a cause.   Would someone in Spalding be admitted to a place in Hertfordshire - some 77 miles apart?  And where was daughter Sarah Ann?  She has not been traced in the 1871 census.   Lots of questions that remain unanswered. 

A google search of Leavesden Asylum noted that it opened in 1870 and its records, including admission registers,  are held at the National Archives, currently closed due to Covid-19. The registers might identify if this was Charlotte from Spalding. 

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Charlotte was  next traced in 1880 in Sheffield, West Yorks  marrying  Robert Lawson of Silkstone, near Barnsley - as listed in the GRO Civil Registration of Marriages Index. But Charlotte's  name was given, not under her married name of Cuthbert, but under her maiden name of Porter.

PUZZLE NO.2 What had taken Charlotte to Yorkshire?    Was this a bigamous marriage?  It certainly seems so.   Her first husband James Cuthbert as an Ag. Lab. could not possibly have afforded the cost of a divorce in the late 19th century.   Moreover  he was living at the same address (Dozens Bank, Pinchbeck, Spalding)   in 1881, 1891, and  1901, along with Sarah Ann Elliff, described as his housekeeper and a widow.   Jameswas listed  as  married  in 1871, and 1881, but a widower in the later censuses.

The  1880s proved an eventful year for the Lawcon family  

The 1881 census saw 32 year old Charlotte  at Ben Bank Cottage, Dodworth, near Barnsley with husband  Robert aged 34, a fireman in a coal pit,and Charlotte's 11 year old  daughter Sarah Ann Cuthbert.

But  there were indications that the  marriage was  soon faltering. For a notice in the  Barnsley Chronicle of 25th October 1884 stated: 

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The link with the  Armitage Family. 

In the  1880s decade, daughter Sarah became involved with the Armitage family, notably Aaron Armitage,  a miner.   Local newspapers  revealed that from the age of 13,  Aaron had made   regular appearances in court - had deserted the army, returned to the Barnsley  area, and  faced  charges ranging  from obstructing a railway line and stealing a canary,  to serious charges of assault.

In 1884 local newspapers reported that  on July 5th   Aaron had been charged with assaulting Charlotte Lawson  and fined 10 shillings  plus costs.

1885 - A more serous charge was to follow when Aaron was accused of  violently assaulting Sarah Ann Cuthbert, and with  his brother John stealing a dress to pawn, the property of Sarah Ann Cuthbert - as reported in "The Leeds Times" of 6th June. The Barnsley Chronicle" gave a particularly graphic account of the case. Aaron was sent to Wakefield Prison, with the description of him as "5’6” in height with brown hair and with a cut on his forehead and burn marks on his shoulders." 

Yet two years later, 36 year old Aaron  married the same Sarah Ann Cuthbert, (at 21 years old, fifteen years his junior) on the 16^th of May, at All Saint,  South Kirkby -   On 3rd of January 1888,   Aaron's daughter Alice was born, (my husband's grandmother),  but before she marked her third birthday, her father was dead.  

  

Aaron died 26th October 1889 with his certificate giving the cause of death as Fracture of the Lumbar Vertebrae, one year and eight months a Lumbar Abcess"   - which sounds a very painful condition.  Interestingly the name of the informant on his death certificate was given as his mother-in-law C. Lawson. 

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A  confusing census  entry was found  in the 1891 census for  Dodworth which listed   as head Catherine (not Charlotte) Lawson, with 22 year old daughter now named Sarah Ann Hibbert and son-in-law George Hibber, and daughter Alice Lawson - Alice was in fact Alice Armitage - from Sarah's first marriage.  So Sarah, 7 months a widow, had married on 25th May 1890 George Hibbert, another  miner, at St. George's Church, Barnsley.

But where was Charlotte's husband Robert?

By 1901 the Hibbert family had moved cross country to South Shields, Co. Durham at 19 Trinity Street.  with George and Sarah  Ann,  13 year old Alice and her half- siblings - Robert aged 6  and Violet 4.  Alice and Violet (below)  remained close all their lives.

But also in the Hibbert household was Robert Lawson, described as father-in-law.  

Family Deaths

• A Charlotte Lawson died in  Barnsley in 1900 aged 54, with no knowledge traced on her after the 1891 census.   Did she die a lonely death in a life dogged with questions? 
• Robert Lawson died  in South Shields in 1907.
• James Cuthbert, Charlotte's first husband was listed  in the 1901 census aged 71 in Pinchbeck, Spalding, but to date I have been unable to trace a death certificate.   

Postcript - A Link with the Past. 

In 1899 George and Sarah Ann Hibbert had a son,interestingly christened Maurice Cuthbert  - the name of Sarah's eldest brother born in 1862.  Did the brother and  sister ever meet after the young Sarah was taken away with her mother from the Cuthbert family home in Spalding?   We will never know.   Maurice Hibbert's life was short - dying in infancy.

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