MIRLI BOOKS
  • Home
  • Books
    • Henry's Trials >
      • Extract from Henry's Trials
    • Smethurst's Luck >
      • Extract from Smethurst's Luck
    • Murder in the Red Barn >
      • Extract from Murder in the Red Barn
    • Reverend Duke and the Amesbury Oliver
  • Talks
    • Talk on Henry's Trials
    • Talk on Smethurst's Luck
    • Talk on Isambard Kingdom Brunel
    • Talk on the Murder in the Red Barn
    • BBC
  • Publications
    • The Amesbury Union Workhouse
    • The Separate System
    • Anatomy of a Bridge
  • Peter Maggs
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Family History
    • Mirli
    • BM Creeper >
      • The Significance of Stonehenge
      • Educating Ealing I: How Lady Byron Did It
      • Educating Ealing II: Church of England Primary in the 1920s
      • All Because of Crystal Palace
      • Innocent in Ealing - Extract
      • Miss McDonald

Sins of the fathers (and mothers...)

31/10/2014

0 Comments

 
William Corder and Maria Martin, the major players in the Red Barn affair, both came to sticky ends but their children did not fare much better.

Maria had three children by three different fathers, although only her second child, by Peter Mathews, ‘A Gentleman’, survived into adulthood. Thomas Henry Martin was three years old when his mother was killed, but he grew up living with Maria’s father and step-mother, and eventually took over the Martins’ cottage for a rent of one shilling a year.

Peter Mathews had been supporting his son to the extent of £5 per quarter – which was far more than a parish bastardy order would have demanded. Presumably he carried on with the arrangement after Maria’s death. He may even have made a cash settlement on the child at some point, he could certainly afford it; he left £18,000 on his death in 1870. It is unlikely though that Thomas Henry Martin saw any of that money.

The Ipswich Journal, in December 1887, reported that Thomas Henry Martin, aged 63, had died in Maria Martin’s cottage where he had lived all of his life. The circumstances were tragic. His wife, who was several years older than him, was bedridden, ‘a helpless invalid’. He was unable to work so they were very poor. His wife heard him fall over several times but was unable to go and help him. She lay in bed for 24 hours without food or water before someone came and discovered the body…

William Corder’s wife Mary, whom he met after advertising in the newspapers for a wife, was six months pregnant at the time of his trial. The child, John Corder, was born in his grandmother’s house in Polstead three months later, but it was reported that he had a withered arm and may also have been mentally handicapped.

If a relationship of sorts grew up between the two Mrs Corders, it soon soured. Eight years later Mary Corder junior, brought an action for false imprisonment against William Corder’s sister Elizabeth, her husband Martin Harvey and others, following an incident outside their home. It seems that Mrs Corder junior was seeking financial support for herself and her son, and was convinced that Mrs Corder senior was hiding in her daughter’s cottage... 

Subsequently the newspapers reported that Mrs Corder junior and her son were effectively destitute. Mary Corder junior died in Colchester in 1857, but John Corder lived for another 35 years. He died in an asylum in Essex in 1893.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Welcome to the Mirli Books blog written by Peter Maggs

    Archives

    April 2025
    December 2024
    October 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Website and Contents © Peter Maggs 2025
  • Home
  • Books
    • Henry's Trials >
      • Extract from Henry's Trials
    • Smethurst's Luck >
      • Extract from Smethurst's Luck
    • Murder in the Red Barn >
      • Extract from Murder in the Red Barn
    • Reverend Duke and the Amesbury Oliver
  • Talks
    • Talk on Henry's Trials
    • Talk on Smethurst's Luck
    • Talk on Isambard Kingdom Brunel
    • Talk on the Murder in the Red Barn
    • BBC
  • Publications
    • The Amesbury Union Workhouse
    • The Separate System
    • Anatomy of a Bridge
  • Peter Maggs
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Family History
    • Mirli
    • BM Creeper >
      • The Significance of Stonehenge
      • Educating Ealing I: How Lady Byron Did It
      • Educating Ealing II: Church of England Primary in the 1920s
      • All Because of Crystal Palace
      • Innocent in Ealing - Extract
      • Miss McDonald