November 1875 News – Wife for Sale – Four Pence…
Introduction
November 1875 was an unusually quiet ‘News’ month locally with the courts seemingly flooded with routine drunk & disorderly, assault and petty theft cases of little interest.
Stories of interest therefore came from further afield.
THE CHANNEL TUNNEL- Belfast Morning News 16th November 1875
The Belfast Morning News, reporting on progress of a channel tunnel to connect France and England, noted that engineers examining the tunnel proposal say that they are “entirely satisfied” with findings to date. It is proposed to proceed using pneumatic tubes to extract the chalk as it is tunnelled with ventilation installed by providing a current of air.
(Progress was slower than may have been expected thereafter with the Channel Tunnel finally opening 119 years later on 6 May 1994)
CHILD SAFETY – Enniskillen Advertiser 11th November 1875
The Enniskillen Advertiser issued a warning to “Parents who are anxious to prevent any diminution in the ranks of their families“
A report produced by the sanitary inspector of Glasgow, read at the police board, referenced a potentially fatal threat associated with “toy balloons.” The report warned that “the yellow india rubber toy balloon so frequently sold to children are coloured by a material which is poisonous”.
The colouring matter was said to consist of one part of chromate of lead and three parts of carbonate of lime. The use of lead was noted as very serious:
Children, being in the habit of applying their mouths to the orifice of these balloons for the purpose of filling them with air, in this way may readily receive a quantity of such poisonous powder in their mouths.
The Sanitary Inspector suggested that toy balloons should be viewed with suspicion at baby farms and other institutions. A well-regulated nursery should not countenance the use of these playthings.
The report concluded with a warning on the perils of childhood, in general, in 1875…
It is really not surprising that such vast numbers of children nowadays fail to survive the perils of childhood. Their diet – if they get any food at all – often consists chiefly of diseased meat and pestilential milk, while even toys are poisoned by their elders and betters on the principle of wholesome competition in trade.
A WIFE SOLD FOR FOURPENCE – Belfast Morning News 10th November 1875
In Lancashire the case of a man who sold his wife for 4 pence was the subject of much debate. This practice was attributed the the “lower classes of Lancashire” who, apparently, see no wrong in a man selling his wife and would, in fact, insist that it is legal to do so.
The sale in question took place in a public house in Blackburn, near Preston.
Henry Duckworth, an occasional porter at the railway station there, was drinking in a public house with a number of other men, when his wife, a comely, buxom woman about 30 years of age, entered, and asked him for some money.
Duckworth said to her, “I wish somebody would buy thee,” upon which William Robinson, a machine-maker, about 23 years of age, remarked, “I’ll buy her.”
The offer seemed too good to ignore so Duckworth commenced negotiations with the young man for a fair price. At the conclusion of negotiations, articles of sale were drawn up, and signed:
“This is to certify that I, Henry Duckworth, do hereby sell my wife for fourpence to William Robinson”.
The happy purchaser then bought those present two quarts of ale before he and the woman went to his house together.
The following day the couple returned to the public house together and found Duckworth spending the proceeds of the sale. The woman proclaimed that she would never leave Robinson while Duckworth expressed his satisfaction with the bargain.
THE FIVE WIVES OF MR. SINGER
THE old adage concerning the superiority of truth over fiction in the matter of strangeness finds a fresh illustration in the facts connected with the case of Mr. Singer, the well-known inventor of the sewing machine.
Belfast Morning News 10th November 1875
The Londonderry Journal reported, on 8th November 1875, on an ongoing legal challenge to the will of this very wealthy man who had resided in England for the last ten years, and who had married there. He died at his country Hampshire estate.
At the time of his death Mr Singer was living on his estate in Hampshire described as “magnificent”. He was regarded as an excellent landlord, though the “neighbouring gentry deemed him very eccentric“. His wealth, arising from the invention of his sewing machine, was staggering given that was born in circumstances of abject poverty.
The testator was the inventor of a labour-saving sewing machine which bears his name, and yielded him such a revenue as to enable him to leave an estate valued at 13,000,000 dollars. (Equating to $382,880,727 today)
Londonderry Journal, 8th November 1875
The execution of the deceased’s will was not as smooth as would have been expected…
Mr Singer’s married his first wife, Catherine, in Brooklyn, New York in 1830. The couple had two children who, at the time of his death in 1875, still survived. However, in 1860, Catherine found that her husband was unfaithful to her, and she obtained a divorce. Under the laws of New York Mr. Singer could not marry again as long as his wife who had divorced him lived.
On the death of Catherine, he remarried and lived with his second wife, Mary Ann Singer née Mary Ann Foster. The couple had 10 children, 8 of whom were still alive in 1875. (His will bequeathed £350,000 to these eight children).
However Mary Ann discovered in her turn that he was unfaithful to her. She obtained a divorce from him, leaving him unable to marry again during her life.
Notwithstanding the law he proceeded to marry again. Bride No. 3, a lady from California (whose name is not disclosed), had five children with Mr Singer. (With all five children living at the time of his death, Mr Singer bequeathed them another £350,000).
Following her death, he married wife No. 4, by whom he had one child, a girl. (This child was left £100,000).
In 1864 this much-married gentleman left all his wives behind him and came to England, where soon afterwards he was apparently ‘married’ for the fifth time.
This relationship was described as follows:
” (He) commenced relations with the residuary legatee under the will, Isabella Eugenia Singer, who is never mentioned in the will except as the wife of the testator”.
Londonderry Journal, 8th November 1875
With this lady, Isabella Eugenia, he had a further 6 children (all still living at the time of his death). Mr Singer’s bequeathed £2,000,000 to his surviving children. Mr Singer’s will recognised only Isabella Eugenia as his wife.
The will, accordingly, left her “a life interest in his English estate estimated at 4,000,000 dollars, together with four-sixteenths of the residue of his estate in America, amounting to about 9,000,000 dollars.”
In summary…
“the testator had been married to five different women, of whom three are living, and by whom he was the father of 24 children, of whom 22 survive.”
Belfast Morning News
Wives No. 2 and 4, still living at the time of his death, were left nothing in his will. The Belfast Morning news describes this as “an act of omission on his part, which has caused all this trouble.”
When the will was presented for probate in New York it was met by a claim on the part of Mrs. Mary Ann Singer – wife No. 2.
Mary Ann insisted she is the rightful widow of the deceased, and claimed that the legacies given in the will to Mrs. Isabella Eugenia Singer were nugatory and void, because the latter was not and could not be the lawful wife of the testator.
Her full objections to the will were reported as:
Mary Ann Singer, also known as Mary Ann Foster, hereby objects to the probate of the instrument alleged to be the last will and testament of Isaac Merritt Singer, deceased, and specifies the following grounds of objection thereto-namely:
First – That the said instrument was not legally, duly, and properly executed.
Second – That the said Isaac Merritt Singer was not of sound mind at the time of its execution.
Third – That the said Isaac Merritt Singer was under restraint and subject to undue influence at the time of its execution.
Fourth – That Isabella Eugenia Singer, who, in said instrument, is named and designated as the wife of the said Isaac Merritt Singer, is not, and never was, his lawful wife.
Fifth – That. Adam Mortimer Singer, Winnaretta Eugenia Singer, Washington Merritt Grant Singer, Paris Eugene Singer, Isabella Blanche Singer, and Franklin Morsd Singer, named in said instrument as the children of the said Isaac Merritt Singer by his wife, Isabella Eugenia Singer, are not the legitimate children of the said Isaac Merritt Singer.
Sixth – That this contestant was the lawful wife of the said Isanc Merritt Singer at the time of his decease, and is his lawful widow; and as such is seized of a dower right in the real estate, and entitled to her third in the personal estate of the said Isaac Merritt Singer.
Seventh – That the said instrument was executed in fraud of the rights of this contestant, and by means of fraud, restraint, and undue influence, and in ignorance and under misapprehension of the legal status of the aforesaid legatees.
Londonderry Journal reported, on 8th November 1875
After some arguments from the counsel engaged, the case was adjourned… to be resumed up at a later
Varieties – The Enniskillen Advertiser
D. Franklin, talking of a friend of his who had been a Manchester dealer, said. “That he never sold a piece of tape narrower than his own mind.”
“You’ll kill yourself, smoking so much, husband” “Indeed wife I must use the weed” “Oh, very well; I shall have occasion for weeds myself pretty soon”
Medicine has killed as many people as war. Powder and pills are as fatal as powder and bail. Be careful, therefore, how you let people shoot them into you.
What is the most curious thing in the world? It is not a woman, as you were all going to reply, but a woman who is not curious.
Link to Previous Monthly News
Previous monthly news stories can be viewed here Monthly News of 150 Years Ago
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