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GRETNA GREEN ROMANCES
. ? .A ? ?
SOME FAMOUS EPISODES EECALLED.
An . article on ' ? Three Generations of .
Gretna Green Priests' has stirred afresh
the interest in Grretria Romances which lives
or. in spite of the fact that episddes suca
as ; those which made Gretna Green, famous
are now no longer possible (says th-j
'Weekly Scotsman').
When the' first Gretna wedding was cele
brated it not definitely known, but it was
Lord Hardwick's Act of 1784, which was
designed to put an end to what were
known as 'Fleet marriages' in England
marriages, celebrated in low public-houses
and even in debtor prisons by doubtful
holders of hoiy orders — that gave rise to
the Gretna vogue.
The Act made the celebration of a mav
riage in England, except in church after
banns had been proclaimed of other licence
granted, a penal offence, and thus amorous
couples in a hurry to tie the knot before
forbidding parents or other relatives c6uld
intervene made a dash for the first village
across the Border where the Act had no
application.
Romance and Tragedy Joined.
It is possible that Gretna Green elope
ments began forthwith, but of that there is
no documentary proof. In 'Gretna Green
and its Traditions' a newspaper cutting
quoted by 'Claverhouse' states that there
seems to be no way of ascertaining the date
of the first irregular marriage there, but
not many years ago a correspondent of
'The Field' stated that he had. seen the
record of the first marriage at Gretiia of
which any record is preserved, the date
being 1771. ,
? There was a strong elernent of tragedy
interwoven with this as with many other
romances. The marriage was that of John
Edgar and Jean Scott, both of Cumberland,
and instead of travelling by the old post
road from Carlisle they took boat across tho
Solway and were upset in a storb. They
managed to escape to reap the reward of
their adventurous journey, but the tide
drowned one of the pursuers, and the cha.ss
was abandoned. By 1771, however, Gretna
Green or Springfield had become, in Pen
nant's word, 'the resort of all amorous
couples whose, union the prudence of par
ents or guardians prohibits.'
It is not my intention, however, to enter
into the historical aspect of Gretna Green,
but merely to relate some episodes which
have from time to time come under ray no
tice in pursuing a process of gleaning £r6i»j
old newsDaners.
An 'Air' Flight.
The writer of the article on the Langs
mentioned the Wakefield abduction.. Three
years prior to that sensational episode
something more than a nine days' wonder
was caused by the Cave incident. Carlisle
being on the line of flight of many
couples, figures in a good many of the
romances and tragedies.
At the King's Arms of the Border city
in 1824 an individual who styled himself
Charles Samuel Cave, Esq., of Thorney Abbey
Cambridgeshire, took rooms for himself
, and whilst there talked largely of his
possessions to people whom he met. He
intimated his intention of purchasing a
mansion in the city, and consulted a solicitor
on the subject of the most eligible property
in which to invest his superfluous
capital. He even had his will drawn, and
bequeathed to relatives sums and estates in
'Air-shire' amounting to £12,000.
Meanwhile, he paid court to a relative of
the landlord of the inn, Miss Mary Cope,
and one evening, after gallantly escorting
her to the circus, he had a post-chaise in
waiting, and thereupon they made a visit
to Gretna, returning to the inn on the
following day to break the news of their
wedding to the astonished relatives.
The Bnbble Burst.
This magniloquent individual took a
seven years' lease of a house, and to keep
up the role of a country gentleman he
purchased an elegant hunter and full
equipment for the animal. Then his high-blown
bubble burst. On borrowing £30 from the
solicitor with whom he had been dealing,
he gave the name of Mr. Peckover, banker..
Wisbeach, as a 'reference' for character.
That gentleman, on being communicated
with, replied that he had no knowledge of
the individual in question, but that he
understood a man of the same name, a- cooper
by trade, had quitted the neighborhood,
leaving, his wife and family chargeable to
the parish.
The Squire of Thorney Abbey was committed
to gaol for obtaining money by false
pretences, and whilst in durance vile wrote
to the young lady whom he had so cruelly
deceived asking her to intercede with her
father to procure his liberation, promising
to leave the country without delay. He did
leave the country, but not in the way he
wished. In the name of Samuel Cave he
was tried and found guilty of fraud and of
two charges of bigamy, a woman at Whitechurch
having also been a victim to his
amorous proclivities. He was sentenced to
seven years' transportation beyond the
seas.
Wakefield Sensation,
... The Wakefield affair caused an enormous
sensation. A rich Cheshire heiress, daugh
ter of Mr. William Turner, Shrigley Ha!),
had gone to Manchester, and.Trhilsf.at.her.
rooms 'there she was astonished to be in
truded upon by a man whom she had never,
seen before. She was about to leave thi;
room, when the man spoke.
^1 am commanded by your papa,' he
said, 'to take you to him.' You may be
sure it is no 'slight circumstance prevented
vour oaua from comine- hinisnlf '
Miss Turner replied that it was on ac
count of her mother's illness that fdie had
been sent from home, and that she could
not understand why she should be required
to return, but after further conversation
she accompanied the stranger (Gribbou
Wakefield, a Londoner) to a carriage then
in waiting for her. .
She expected to be taken to her father,
but was driven instead to Halifax, thence
to Kendal, and on to Carlisle,' and her sus
picions were partly allayed by what her
companion told her. Owing, to bank fail
ures, he informed her, her father had been
nearly ruined. Wakefield 's uncle, however,
by a loan of £60,000, had relieved her
father of his difficulties f or* a, time, but an
other bank failure had placed him in a
worse state than before. . : ;
A Mean Conspiracy.
In the circumstances, Wakefield said, his
uncle had required the Shrigley estate as a
security, but he had sue-gested'that if Miss
Turner would v marry his nephew (Wake
field) the estate would be hers. Believing
that her father was in flight into Scotland
and would see her beyond Carlisle she
raised no objections. .
At Carlisle the coach window was pulled
up and Wakefield 's brother, William, said
he had seen Miss Turner's father, and a
Mr.s Grimsditch in. the city. They were,
he said, in a back room, and had made two
attempts to cross the Border. William
further told Miss Turner that her father
begged her. not to hesitate in marrying
Wakefield. She consented because she
thought her father would be ruined if she
refused, and the wedding took place at
Gretna Green. ?
Miss Turner wrote home to her mother
and the plot was revealed. The marriage
was annulled by special Act of Parliament.,
and the brothers Wakefield were sentenced'
at Lancaster Assizes to three years' im
prisonment;
' A Pitiful Story.
At the beginning of, April, 1329, a re
markable story was told at Marvlebone
Police Court in London. Margaret Wal
ker, described as 'a very pretty young
wojinan whose dialect proclaimed her north
ern birth,' stated that 18 months previ
ously at Gretna Green she was married to
the son of a respectable and. affluent gen
tleman, a solicitor in London, and that after
living together in Carlisle for 14 months
be had brouerht ber 300 miles from her
friends and deserted her.
The magistrate elicited the story of her
cruel treatment. She was a; native of
Carlisle and bad lost her parents when still
young, but she managed to do very well
as a dressmaker. How she came to be ac
quainted with the man who became her
husband was. not stated, but at the age of
'sweet sixteen' she was persuaded to
run off to Gretna Green. She kept her
'lines of marriage,' with the signature
i
of ?''? Simon Lang' upon it. Her husband
was well supplied with pocket money, and
whilst in- Carlisle ??treated her well.'
; They eventually went to London and-.tpok
lodgings in Newman.Tstro.et, -The . ypurig;.
man found attractions elsewhere, and a
quarrel aroge in consequence of his habit of
spending the night from home, ^ He
knocked his wife down, and left her with a
shilling in her pocket and a fortnight's rent
facing her. The unfortunate ..voting womaa
learnt that herhuiband was living with a ii-
other woman, who, he professed, was his
wife. ? ??' ?'?-'.'. :..
Arrested on a warrant fbr the assault,
the man in Court impugned the legality of.
the. Gretna Green marriage. His \vifo
thereupon pulled out the lines of jparriago
from her breast. These were examined by
the', magistrate, who i told, the.- yoiing man
that' he was acting very unlike a gentle
man. He was gn^U time to make an ar
rangement with his wife, but be; failed to
do 'so,' and another warrant was issued for
his arrest. The subsequent history of the*,
case I have not been able to trace, but this
and other similar sequels to Gretna Green
marriages led to the legislation which was'
eventually passed to prevent what had b«-
epine a crying scandal. . ????'.'
v Runaway Turns Punruer,
On April 31, 1832, a young couple flew
northward on 'the wings of love,' and re
turned from Gretna Green a? mas and
wife. They proceeded in their chaise and
four to. the English Lakes, The bride was
Miss rtoso Matilda May Baxter, a young
lady of 19, and granddaughter of a London
Alderman of the name of Crowder. The
man with whom she had eloped- was Mr.
Raymond l^ewton; of 'Warwick' Square,
London, who. had for some time previously
paid his addresses to her.
It appeared that they drove away from
London in a chaise and 'four,- and had a big
start before their absence became' known.
Whilst the newly wedded pair were pro^
cceding to the .Lakes, the pursuing car
riage landed at Carlisle. .
Enjoying their honeymoon, doubtless all
the sweeter because of its stolen pleasures,
the newly-mftrried couple on the following
morning, were either driven around, the
Lake or had been .boatinc On returning'
to Keswick the young lady was seized and
taken by force from hor husband by a party
vrhieh included a police officer and her mo
ther. She was taken through the Royal
Oak Inn and the backyard to an outer door
and driven off helter-skelter. ? ?
it was now the bridegroom's turn to as
sume the role of pursuer, but he was un
able (to persuade his wife's friends to ac
cept the inevitable, and on April 30 he ap
plied to the King's Bench, and was granted
a writ of Habeas Corpus to resfain posses
sion of his wife.
In April of the following year one of the
most opulent and respectable families. re-
siding in the immediate neighborhood of
Cheltenham , was thrown iuto groat con
sternation by the discovery that their eld
est daughter, a young lady of great beauty
and accomplishments, had eloped during
the night. In the absence of her father
she had left the paternal roof shortly after
midnight, accompanied by a lady and gen
tleman and her lover, a young1 gentleman
~of rank and fortune. ; A carriage and four
and frequent relays carried them to Grettia,
and they were married ' ?without interrup
tion. -.'?'?.?'
Distinguished Bridegrooms.
Among the weddings at Gretna Hall in
1835 was that of Richard Brinsley Sheri
dan.' This was a nephew of the dramatist
and statesman,. and the lady whom be mar
ried was said to have £70,000 or £80,000
settled upon her, and to have great expec
tations. ???;???. .
The Prince of Capua and Miss Penelope
Smyth, who eloped from Naples, were mar
ried at Gretna in May, 1835, by the worthy
'Bishop' of the diocese in consequence of
Sir John JTicholl's refusal, to grant them a
licence. The lady is said to have been
very beautiful and wealthy.
In June, 1837, Mr. Edward Conroy, eldest
son of Sir John Conroy, of the Royal
Household, was married to the amiable and
accomplished lady Alicia Parsons, daughter
of the Earl of Rosse.
In October. 3837, Lorenzo T)uca Sfojrza
Cesarina of Rome, was married to a Staf
fprdshire. lady, Miss Caroline Shirley, of
Charkey,' and so pleased was the Italian
prince and his fair bride with the excellent
accommodation, great politeness, and un
.ceasing attention of 'Bishop' Linton, thjtt
they stayed with him for several days.
In a local newspaper appeared the fol
lowing announcement:— 'Married, at
Gretna Hall, on the 28th May, 1840, arid
after, at St. Mary's Church, Marylebone,
by the Rev.- W. H.. Char 1 ton, on the 2nd of
June, the Viscount Drumlani'ig, only son
of the' Marquis of Qlueensberry, to Caro
line Ma'rgarel., yqungest daughter of 'Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Sir Wm. Robert Clayton,
Bart., iM.Pi, of Gloucester Place, Portman
Square, London.' ' '? ?
Spirit of Adventure.
Lord Brougham's act4 did not put an im
mediate stop to the marrying business a£
Gretiia, as a good many people had a 'run-
away wedding' for the sake of- adventure.'
Society was thrown into a flutter of ex
citement in 1864 when the Marquis of Has- /
tings, a nobleman noted for his exploit's on
the turf, carried off iir cupid's 'carriage
L-\dy Florence Paget, the youngest daugh
ter of the Marquis of Anglesey. ..
The lady had previously plighted her
troth to a young and handsome aspirant to
her band, and in.his^compgny she went out
shopping in London. Having entered tbs
establishment of Ma.Tsh.Hl and Snelgroye's
from Oxford-streci, she made her .exit into
Vine-street, where sho was joined -by tbo
Marcmis, and togelvher they set off for the
North.' Their, escapade., ended in a cern
mony/. which had no icgaJt validity, but it
was followed by a marriag? in proper, form
ai 'St. --'Gcorcre's, Hanover .Square ?
, The rivals for the lady's hand were sub*
aenue.ntly pitied siijavpst each other as aspir
ants for the Derby honors. The Marquid
on that, occasion was reputed to have lor.ft
£130,000 by his book, and did not long sur
vivfi.
Springfield and Gretna .Qfeen' were both
the scene of runaway : weddings, .but a«
showing that the .marriage, business was not
a monopMS7 of these two hanilfit?, it may he
noted that the' Marquis of Hastings was
married at Sark Poll Bar. which is now jn&
outside the Gretna township of munition'
'feme. '?? 3L
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