7 Mar: Abducting Ellen Turner
Kidnapped from her prestigious Liverpool boarding school on March 7, 1827, 15-year-old Ellen Turner was led to believe her family would be financially ruined if she didn’t marry her 30 year-old abductor, Edward Gibbon Wakefield.
Before she was able to deduce that his story was a sham, Turner was whisked off to Gretna Green and inadvertently passed over the keys to her father’s estate, Shrigley, to her assailant – until an intervention from the House of Lords, and a trial that captured Britain’s imagination.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly divulge the loopholes to England’s marital age limits; explain how ‘impure’ marriages were a get-rich-quick habit for Wakefield; and reveal the extraordinary next chapter for this conniving scamster …
Further Reading:
#Victorian #Crime #NewZealand
The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.