| The case of Elizabeth Grist |
Glossary
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| On the 4th January 1849, the court of Quarter Sessions was held at the old town hall in Welshpool. The old records of the court include a printed list of all the prisoners awaiting trial on that day. The extract below shows one prisoner just 17 years old. | Feloniously - against the law. | |
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| The prisoner was Elizabeth
Grist who was working as a servant for Mr and Mrs Ridge of Caer
Howell, Churchstoke. This list is marked "neither"
to show that she could neither read nor write. What happened in court that day was to change Elizabeth's life for ever. Among the records of the court are the statements of all those involved. From these we can piece together what happened. |
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The
mark of
Martha Ridge from the court records |
Elizabeth's
mistress, Martha Ridge, said that Elizabeth
had been working for her for  about
5 weeks. Early one morning when it was still dark Mrs Ridge got up to find
that Elizabeth had disappeared - and so had several
items of clothing. She and her husband reported this to the police,
who set out to track Elizabeth down. |
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| The total value of the stolen items (see the blue box on the right) was 14 shilling and 8 pence. [about 73p in today's money] This does not sound much, but was more than some people earned in a week in early Victorian times. |
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Find out what happened next...
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