A Clandestine Marriage |
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| John Eachard was rector of Wreningham in
Norfolk and was courting Frances Townshend, who often
boarded with her family at Tacolneston Hall where John
also boarded. In July 1701, John and Frances were invited
to dinner by Jane Bacon at Redgrave Hall. They spent some
time alone in the garden at Redgrave and on their return
to the house asked John Baldock, the rector of Redgrave,
who was also a guest at the dinner party, to marry them
immediately. The ceremony was conducted at Redgrave Hall,
in front of Sir Robert Bacon, baronet and other people.
There is an entry in the Redgrave Parish Register stating
that a marriage took place on July 29th 1701. A following
entry is heavily erased, but across the bottom of the
page is written 'but he denies it'. It seems that John and Frances never lived together. Frances claimed later that they could not be married in a church as her mother did not like John and did not want him to associate with her daughter. John claimed that they had only married in jest, and Mr. Baldock the Rector claimed that the marriage was not valid as it was not performed in church, and later sent Eachard a licence which he ignored. John Baldock was Frances' uncle, and due to Baldock's ill health Eachard had been helping him with services. John gave Frances a gold ring, but he later claimed that this was forced from him; he also sent her a letter asking her to write to him under the name of Townshend and not Eachard, and went to visit her when she was ill. Frances Eachard, née Townshend, brought an action against John Eachard for the restitution of conjugal rights in the Norwich Consistory Court in 1701, which ended on June 17th 1703, confirming the validity of the marriage. A witness declared that he had overheard a conversation in the King's Head at Wymondham, when George Townshend, Frances' father had told Eachard that if he paid his daughter £30 a year, or a sum of £500 there would be an end to the whole case but Frances denied this at the court hearing. Eachard's annual income at the time was £150, and he believed the whole thing was for Frances to get maintenance from him, as she had no affection for him and little fortune. He still wanted to marry her eldest sister Mary, but Frances claimed that this had finished by 1700. John appealed to the Court of Arches in the same week, but in 1705 they declared in favour of the Consistory Court and ordered him to pay costs (Arches B14/58; C3/86; D653,A.24). The moral of this story is not to marry in haste. It also shows that it took eight years from the date of the wedding until the final decision of the appeal to the Court of Arches, legal proceedings over marital disputes took as long 300 years ago as they do now. |
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| © Jean Sheehan, Redgrave Parish Magazine, February 2005, incorporating amendments. Written using information taken from notes by Mrs Joanna Todd (onetime Local History Recorder for Redgrave) and notes and research at Lambeth Palace by Miss Judith Hocking (daughter of the onetime Rector of Redgrave). | |||