Double Suicide - A Saddington Family Tragedy

I found the following article from The Morning Chronicle in an on-line collection of 19th century newspapers. The newspaper concerned was dated Saturday 25 February 1860, and the article itself had been culled from The Stamford Mercury.

"DOUBLE SUICIDE - An extraordinary case of double suicide occurred on Tuesday night at Easton, a small village near Huntingdon. An aged couple named Saddington, both upwards of seventy years of age, who had lived many years in the village, were found drowned in a pond opposite their cottage, having nothing on but their night dresses. The policeman of the village, being on duty about eleven o'clock, heard a scream, and with another man proceeded in the direction, but were some time before they could discover anything; they, however, succeeded at last in finding the man in the pond, and after further search, discovered the woman; both were quite dead. An inquest was held the following morning before Mr Mellor, coroner, when it was stated that the deceased had been, on the previous Saturday, to the guardians at Huntingdon for relief, which it is believed was refused out of the house, but were told they might go into the union. This, it is supposed, preyed so much upon their minds as to cause them to commit suicide. It appears it was a premeditated act, as on the previous day they had disposed of their few articles of furniture, and paid off some debts owing in the village. The coroner having summed up, the jury returned a verdict, found drowned. - Stamford Mercury"

On checking the GRO indexes, I found death references in the March quarter of 1860 in the Huntingdon registration district for a George Saddington and a Mary Saddington with the same volume and page references (Vol 3b, Page 180).

As this tragedy had occurred the year before the 1861 census, and the article said that the couple had lived in the village for many years, I went back and checked the 1851 census.

Living in the village of Easton, Huntingdonshire, on the night of the 1851 census were George Saddington, age 51, a pauper and agricultural labourer, born in Stow, Huntingdonshire, and his wife, Mary, age 60, born in Dean, Bedfordshire [HO107/1748, Folio 401, Page 8, Sch No 31].

Going back a further ten years, the 1841 census for Easton contained George Saddington, age 40, Agricultural Labourer, born in Huntingdonshire, Mary Saddington, age 55, born outside Huntingdonshire, and Mary Saddington, age 15, born in Huntingdonshire [HO107/450, Book 12, Page 1]. The second Mary could be either a daughter or a granddaughter.

So now that we know who the tragic couple were, why did they commit suicide? Well, it would have been one thing to receive out relief from the local Poor Law Union, i.e. receiving money whilst remaining in their own home, but to have to go into the union or workhouse would have been considered shameful. Only the undeserving poor who lacked the moral determination to survive outside went into the workhouse. In addition, this elderly couple who had been married for many years would have been separated from each other.

For details of workhouse life, I recommend that you visit The Workhouse Website, which contains a wide variety of information about the Poor Law system in this country, and about specific workhouses. There is a page relating to the Huntingdon Workhouse, which is the one in which George and Mary Saddington might have ended, which can be found under Workhouse Locations - English Poor Law Unions - Huntingdon.

It should also be noted that suicide was still a civil crime in 1860 - it was not decriminalised until 1961. If the jury had given a verdict of suicide, rather than "found drowned", the Saddingtons would have been denied Christian burial, i.e. they would not have been allowed to be buried in the churchyard, because suicide was also considered to be a sin against God. They might even have been buried at the local cross roads, possibly with a stake through them to prevent them from rising.

It appears that there is quite a lot of information surviving about the Huntingdon Workhouse, so I hope to be able to find further details about this tragic event. If George and Mary are your ancestors, please do get in touch.