Case 4215

The grandparents of R. were respectable working people, living in Norwich. They brought up a family of children. One of their sons, a shoemaker by trade, enlisted for a soldier, and was sent out to India, where he remained for twelve years. He returned, utterly demoralized, and openly declared that he would bring his father, mother and all the family to ruin. He seduced his sister, and before she was eighteen, she gave birth to a son by him, since which time, she has given herself up to him, and has gone about the country with him as his wife. There are now living five children form this incestuous union. Their mother has made many attempts to get away from the awful life she has been living, but hitherto unsuccessfully. The fellow has behaved most cruelly to her. On one occasion, he turned her out at night, with three children. They took refuge in a passage, and the man (?), finding them deluged them with water, then turned into his home, locked the door and went to bed. The woman declares that she will never again live with him.

(Mrs.) P.
Fountain Street
Hull

P.S. At one time, through the cruelty of the father of this girl, and from remorse for her own conduct, the mother's reason gave way, and she was, for some time, confined in a lunatic asylum.