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Issue 3 > The Last Word > Digital Newspapers
Nick Barratt awaits with anticipation as the British Library announces plans to digitize millions of historic newspaper pages from regional titles.
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Here are some of the replies we've had following Nick's appeal for stories that you have unearthed in local newspapers. If you'd like to add your own please use the form at the bottom of this page.
The Irreverent Reverend
The following stories are to be found in the Derby Mercury and other papers. At the turn of the 20th century, in a small village was a scandal to be found. Unusually this scandal was caused not by a rowdy inhabitant, but by the vicar himself.
The story starts on 2 February 1892 when 17 year old Catherine Holden was brought before the Swadlincote petty sessions, summoned there by John Vallency, the vicar of Rosliston, for disturbing the vicar during divine service. Vallency told the court that he had visited the defendant during an illness she had suffered. He felt he had been very kind to her and he felt her ingratitude. On Sunday 10 January 1892 whilst he was conducting the service the defendant had annoyed him by her constant laughing and talking. She was also trying to get the attention of some boys on the other side of the church. As he read the second reading Elizabeth Holden stood up and left the church. During cross-examination he was asked whether he had ever complained about the parishioners, which he answered in the negative. He was also asked if he was sensitive in the pulpit and when he answered by saying 'Certainly not, they could throw a cat at me and not disturb me,' the defence then asked 'Then if throwing a cat at you would not disturb you it is strange that a girl getting up and leaving the church would'. A number of witnesses for the defence were called who all said that Catherine Holden had left the church in an orderly manner due to ill health. The magistrates duly dismissed the case stating 'It ought never to have been brought to court.'
This wasn't the only time Vallency summoned people to appear at the assizes. On 21 July 1894 The Star reported the following: The Rev John Vallency, perpetual curate, on Wednesday brought an action for trespass at the local county court, and claimed 18 pence as damages against a parishioner, Miss Maria Wright, daughter of a farmer. The lady visited the churchyard weekly for the purpose of placing flowers on her sister's grave, and a short time ago the plaintiff warned her and her father to abstain from entering the place. On meeting Miss Wright as she was adorning the grave the plaintiff after sarcastic observation, swept the tributes away, and then claimed damages for the trespass stating that the grass had been injured to the extent of 1s 6d through the lady trampling on it. The judge said he would be sorry to believe that it was the law of the land that the clergyman could prevent parishioners placing flowers on the graves of their relatives, and he gave judgement for the lady with costs on the higher scale, and characterised the case as 'extraordinary and painful'.
31 January 1896 saw John Vallency back at the county court claiming damages. However this time it was against Thomas Fletcher, farmer and churchwarden. In the autumn Fletcher cut the grass and herbage within the church yard and upon which Vallency made a claim for £5 damages. Fletcher in his defence stated that he was justified to carry out this work as the churchyard presented a disreputable appearance. His honour, believing that Fletcher had carried out his duties as churchwarden, found in his favour and begged the two parties to remember that the spiritual advancement of the parishioners was more important than arguing over herbage. According to Berrows Worcester Journal of 16 May 1896, Vallency appealed against the decision and the High Court in London found in his favour. The Lord Chief Justice stated, 'that on the finding of the judge that the plaintiff was entitled to the freehold, which was a finding of fact, the court had come to the conclusion the appeal must succeed. The order of the court, therefore, would be that the judgement be entered for the plaintiff for 1s damage'.
The Leicester Chronicle of 22 Aug 1896 reported that before the Swadlincote petty sessions appeared Rev John Vallency, curate of Rosliston, and Thomas Woolett, a servant in his employ, charged on the word of John Fletcher, churchwarden of Rosliston church, with indecent and violent behaviour in the churchyard. This case seems to be a continuation of that dated 21 July 1894. The grave of the Wright relative had a mound over it. Woolett had been asked by Vallency to level the mound and during this work a member of the Wright family saw what was occurring and went to remonstrate with Woolett. An altercation ensued and Woolett tried to hustle the Wright woman out of the churchyard. Her mother then came up and started to remonstrate with Woolett who said 'I will hack up every ------bone'. Shortly after this one of the Wright sons appeared and remonstrated with the vicar. The vicar produced a revolver and was heard to say, 'I will shoot you! I will shoot you!' Wright then struck him with a stick in self defence. The bench thought that the reverend was guilty of the charges and fined him 20s in each case and costs, or in the alternative 14 days imprisonment for each charge. This case was appealed and on 19 January 1897 The Morning Post reported that the appeal had been dismissed with costs. The Standard reported that the grave involved was that of Mary Veal. The first Wright female into the churchyard was Maria Wright, the mother was Mary and the brother was Joseph. The appeal was lodged on the grounds that a criminal court could not try a vicar and only a church court could.
The Derby Mercury on 5 May 1897 reported that a consistory court had been held. Vallency was suspended for 18 months and could not come within 20 miles of the vicarage. The suspension was to take effect immediately. When asked by Vallency's legal team if he could have time to find suitable accommodation, Vallency stated 'It doesn't matter, my family and I will sleep on the roadside'. He was given time to find somewhere to live. Once the suspension was over he would have to prove his good behaviour to the consistory court during the time of his suspension before he could resume the duties of the benefice.
To see images of the newspaper articles, visit www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~engcrosl/john_vallency.htm
Nick Barratt wrote about digital newspapers in the Last Word, but he didn't mention that some 19th-century local newspapers (as well as The Times 1785–1985) are available free online via local authority library websites. Other valuable free online genealogical resources via the library include the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Who's Who and Who Was Who. I live in Surrey and any library member can get a code to access the online services (I believe other authorities also do the same). The 19th-Century British Library Newspapers are provided via the Gale service, which has two million newspaper pages, selected from London and regional titles to cover as much of the UK as possible. In all, 48 titles from the 19th century are included. In addition, the British Library has digitized the 17th- and 18th-Century Burney Collection of newspapers. The 19th-century newspapers, like The Times Digital Archive, have been OCR'd so you can search for names and places. We've found a lot of interesting family history this way - all for free!
It's interesting to read the old newspapers online but is there a way for people who don't live in England to read any of the old British newspapers?
Echoing Elizabeth Jordan: I live in Canada and would love to be able to access old regional newspapers online, especially Herts. and Bucks. papers. Is there a way, perhaps, to get an "outsiders" library card, perhaps for a reasonable fee?
Hello Elizabeth and Anne - I'm not sure that people living overseas are able to register for UK library cards to make use of the free British Library newspaper archive (I suspect not), but I'll post your query onto the Can You Help? section of the forum to see if any readers know better. You can access some of the old national papers for a fee online, such as The Times archive at http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/archive/ and The Guardian and Observer at http://archive.guardian.co.uk. Some of the tabloids can be accessed via www.ukpressonline.co.uk.
Further to Anne and Elizabeth's posts, it transpires that a 24-hour or 7-day pass can be purchased to access the British Library's 19th century newspaper collection at http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs. Thanks go to our researcher Genevieve Bovee for providing this link.