Marriage is they say a beautiful thing, but reading this story from the pages of the Salford City Reporter from June 1916, I’m beginning to have my doubts if this husband was a shining example.
Jane Jones who was residing at Orchard Street, Salford, – possibly for her own safety – appeared at Salford Magistrates Court to apply for a separation from her husband, Edward Jones who was living at Radford Street, Salford on the grounds of persistent cruelty.
The happy couple had been married for fiveteen months, however after only five weeks of wedded bliss, ominous cracks appeared in their marriage.
Mr Gilman Jones was defending Jane Jones in her application and he told the court a sad tale of cruelty and wife beating.
He claimed that Edward Jones had thrown an ashpan at his wife cutting her arm, early on in the marriage, this should have been a warning for her, however much worse was to come.
The court heard that only four weeks earlier Mr Jones accused his wife of stealing a shilling from his pocket, he knocked her to the floor, and kicked her about the body whilst wearing his work boots, he then threw a chair at her which missed but broke a window in the kitchen.
The next day she saw him breaking bread and scones into crumbs on the table, she asked him why he had done that, he replied, “because they are no —– good, and I have a good mind to do the same to you”
Amazingly enough things got worse between the couple, one evening she was coming home from work, at Sewell and Hulton’s factory, when he attacked her ripping her shawl in half and told her that her place was at home and knocked her to the floor in front of her work friends.
The couple had a 12 month old baby girl in the house which obviously needed feeding and its not recorded who was minding her at this time.
I can only imagine her terror when later on that evening she looked through the window of their house, – obviously he hadn’t smashed them all yet – and she saw him sharpening two large knifes, and wielding a hammer.
She contacted the police and a police constable escorted her into the house and calmed him down, if she had any sense she would have grabbed the infant and left him for good.
As she got into bed, Mr Jones who had been feigning sleep then threatened to chop her head off, instead he took a leather belt of the wall and proceeded to thrash her with it.
She decided it was safer to sleep downstairs and took the baby with her, no doubt for safekeeping.
In the morning she decided that she had, had enough of this volatile relationship and started legal proceedings for a separation order.
Mr Howard Flint was representing Mr Jones and he seemed to do his best to blacken the poor woman’s character, he said, “was it not a fact that your husband had a lot to complain about, with you being at a certain neighbours house?
“And is it not true that you have been in a certain public house frequently and that is the reason for your husband’s behaviour?”
The poor woman said that she had no time to spend gossiping in neighbours house’s or go into a public house on her own, and said the troble arose because of her husband’s “nowtiness” – a lovely Lancashire expression for being grumpy or miserable.
Mr Flint hadn’t finished with the poor woman yet he asked if it was true that Mr Jones came home from work one evening and found a little girl looking after the infant, she replied that she was out getting baby blankets.
A defence witness Mrs Breheny who worked with Mrs Jones told the court that she saw that her body was black and blue with bruises following one particular assault and that she too had been threatened by him.
What followed next is rather astonishing, Mr Flint said that his client, Mr Jones didn’t want a separation and wished to stay with Jane.
The Magistrate said he thought it best to adjourn the case, sine die in order that a reconciliation might be attempted, and the case was adjourned sine die.
Sine die is a legal term which translates as “without assigning a day for a further meeting or hearing”.
I assume that the Magistrate hoped that the two lovebirds would kiss and make up, however I feel certain that Mrs Jones had, had more than enough of marriage after fiveteen months with her once beloved Edward, and who can blame her?
