Newspaper reports of crime is something I’ve been looking into recently to develop some presentational material and as part of the research I carry out as a volunteer for my local museum. I am lucky to have some unusual surnames in my paternal ancestry and a newspaper report with the heading “A Fracas at a Wedding” recently caught my eye. The case was held at the Escrick petty sessions and concerned seven defendants who were summoned to the court for causing damage to the door of  a man called John Silversides (1824-1890), my first cousin six times removed. (The following map shows the location of the R C church where the wedding took place.)

It seems that John’s daughter Jane (1857-1935), had married Patrick Murray (born 1859) on 12 May 1877, the day of the incident, in St Mary’s Roman Catholic chapel in nearby Selby and gone back to her father’s house in Riccall for a party. The defendants were:

• Labourers – Henry Leach Cass, Charles Hare, George Marsden, Joseph Whitehead, William Wood and John Terry.
• Fisherman – Thomas Kirk.

They were all summoned for damaging a door at the Silversides house and in addition the first three in the above list were said to have assaulted Jane and the last four for assaulting Patrick. The fracas seems to have occurred after Joseph Whitehead’s wife called at the house sometime between 10 and 11pm and Jane refused to let her stay in the house. There was then a quarrel between the two women, a crowd gathered and Jane returned inside. All seven defendants then broke the door down and Jane’s father john, who was said to be drunk, was then knocked down. Jane and Patrick armed themselves with a poker and tongs to rescue John and the paper then reports that “a regular melee ensued”. It seems that the witnesses called for both sides gave conflicting accounts and the summonses for assault were dismissed by the bench. All seven defendants were fined 5 shillings and costs for the damage to the door.

After their marriage Patrick appeared in more newspaper reports of the Selby Petty Sessions. In the Selby Times 28 February 1878 he was fined 10 shillings and 24 shillings costs for assaulting Ann Cox and in the same newspaper 1 October 1880 he and Terence Rush were bound over to keep the peace for six months for fighting on the highway. They were each fined £5 with costs.  

Patrick was not with his wife Jane and their nine-month-old daughter Mary in the 1881 census. They were with Jane’s parents in Coppergate, Riccall. Jane and Patrick then seemed to have moved to Hull where they had two more children. By the 1891 census Jane is back in Riccall, living with Walter Thomas Kirk as his wife in Church St, together with her mother and two surviving children from her marriage with Patrick. So far, I haven’t found a marriage for Jane and Walter. She certainly used the surname Kirk; it was Jane Kirk, sister, who reported the death of her brother Guy in 1920.   

I am still trying to trace what happened to Patrick Murray. It looks like he might have returned to work in Hull as a dock labourer. If this is the correct person then he seems to have continued his criminal ways. The 5 July 1920 edition of the Hull Daily Mail relates the case of Patrick Murray, living at 95 Hodgson St, who had 67 previous convictions. If you have any stories about the family which you are willing to share with me then do get in touch.

Note: the map used in this blog has been reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland under the following creative commons licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and sourced from the NLS maps site https://maps.nls.uk/.

Bibliography:

Births, marriages and deaths. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/ : accessed February 2024.

Census records. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/ : accessed February 2024.

Howdenshire Gazette. https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ : accessed February 2024.

Hull Daily Mail. https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ : accessed February 2024.

OS Map. https://maps.nls.uk/ : accessed February 2024.

Selby Times. https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ : accessed February 2024.

Yorkshire baptisms, marriages and burials. https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ : accessed February 2024.