Criminal Ancestor

[kellya]

Hi again,

I've been struggling to find any further information on the imprisonment of my ancester Mary Ann Burman (formally Maley).

What i know is;
 -She was born in 1810, in Bethnal Green
- Married George Burman in 1829.
- Lived in middlesex at the time of her trial in the old Bailey on the 4th Feb 1839 where she was found guilty of 'concealing the death of an infant'.
- Her prison sentence was 1 year.

The transcript from the old bailey is very short doesnt tell me much more that the above. Does anyone out there have an idea of how i can;
1. Get more info about the trial proceedings
2. Find out where she became an inmate
3. How long she actually served?

I have contacted the Old Bailey to no avail so any guidence on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Kel

[mofid42]

Newspapers are a good place to find more information. Quite often you will get a detailed  account of the circumstances,

Some libraries offer free access to the Gale group historical newspaper site or you could try the British Library site which is pay to view
http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

[..claire..]

Hi

There are a couple of newspaper articles giving detailed accounts of what happened in the gale historical newspaper site.

claire

[patrexjax]

Hi...the Old Bailey site says she was convicted of "concealing the BIRTH of a child."      Pat

[kellya]

Thanks for the contributions. Thus far no luck on the newspaper front.

Does anyone know of any where else to try??

Surely somewhere theres records for say Newgate prison inmates?

[Daisypetal]

Hi,

I think these are the articles mentioned by mofid,

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0n4i/

although you will have to pay to view the entire article it seems so interesting I think it sould be worth it.


Regard,
Daisy

[Elise_CL]

Hi

It's worth noting that at the British Newspaper Archive if you sign up you're getting 15 free credits to view articles - the one linked there about your ancestor is 5 credits I've took a quick glance over the article in the Examiner - it starts with "Concealment of Child-Birth". Sounds interesting! 

[kellya]

Hi again,

Thank you all for your help with this. I looked up the articles and it was quite a detailed account of what happened. For those that are interested it turns out she was a servant of 'excellent character' who her employers suspected was in a 'family way'. She became ill and a doctor and nurse were called to attend her. She would not let them touch her and when they were in another room apparently she gave birth to a daughter who was born dead. She then tried to hide the body face down in her pocket but the nurse suspected this and upon searching her and her clothing discovered the infant. The doctor and nurse tried to revive the baby by placing it in warm water and inflating the lungs.

The event was reported to authorities and her employer, Mr. Garland appealed to his 'Lordship' not to send her for trial which fell on deaf ears.

One paper says she was initially unaffected by the events but during the court case it seems she was quite repentant and 'deeply affected' saying "I have commited a fault, and i am truly sorry for it".

What is strange is that she was a married woman who had had 2 children previously. I'm wondering now if it is indeed the same person as my ancestor. My understanding was that married women didn't work especially if they already had children. Also why would a married women be ashamed of having a child. Its very strange and I'll have to do more research on it. But what i do know is their names, age and place of birth/residence are identical.

Once again your amazing everyone who contributed!!!! THANK YOU

[Essexboy Essex]

Hi Kelly.
very interesting in your findings.
the poor woman must have gone through hell.
Mary Burman ,wife of George was my direct ancestor too through their daughter Elizabeth Burman.