Matilda Scutts ca 1817-ca 1851

(also a death of a child Matilda Elizabeth Lawrence [Camberwell 4 48] but whether she was the daughter of William & Matilda Lawrence?) [Middlesex Sessions Sept 1820. Morning Chronicle, Tuesday 21 September 1824. Ill Treatment of Children - Catherine Irving & Ann Irving her daughter was placed under a charge of having cruelly treated three children who were placed under their care as pupils - Mr. Adolphus opened the case to the Jury. The defendant Catherine Irving, was a person who had been employed by a Mrs. Bathurst in the direction of a small charitable institution, supported by that Lady, where a number of young children were boarded and educated at a cheap rate. While she was in that institution no blame could be attached to her conduct but it was afterwards that the cause of the present prosecution arose. She had subsequently set up another school on the same principle and it was for the mode of treatment she then persued that she and her daughter now appeared before them. John Scutts - I am the father of the children mentioned in the indictment by the name of Elizabeth, Sophia and Matilda Scutts; I agreed with the defendant Catherine Irving to take my children at 9s a week, she lived then opposite St. Giles Church; She was to board, wash and lodge them; I was to find them in bed and bedding; I asked her how she could afford to take them at so small a price and she said a Lady of Gift made up for the deficiency; This was on the 17th of September; for the first three months they were quite well; I used to see them every day; at the end of that time I discovered that one of the children had got the itch; the children were pretty well in body; that child died, the other children lived; I never had the bed and bedding back; Catherine Irving was then known by the name of Weeks. Eliza Scutts a pretty interesting looking child of 10 years now appeared; My Father sent me and my two sisters to Mrs. Irvings; they used to beat us very much sometimes with a stick and sometimes with their fists; the stick was as thick as a man's thumb; they used to beat my sister who died, very much and left marks on her; we were beaten occassionally three times a day; we only learned to read four times while I was there; my sister who died used to walk double after she was shoved over the scraper by Miss Irving; we had plenty of victuals then; four of us slept in a cupboard; six children slept in the bed that my father gave us; Cross examined by Mr. Phillips; We never told my father, becuse they threatened to beat us if we did. Re-examined; I used to go to bed at twelve o'clock at night or one o'clock in the morning; I used to be sent out for all manner of things; some gentleman used to come of a night; the bed was not long enough for us. Martha Williams; Saw Sophia Scutts before she died, and was of the opinion that the child died of a hurt on the back, and the itch it had got; the other two children were covered with ulcers; - Cross Examined; I did not catch the itch though I handled the children; the ulcers seemed to be of long standing. John Scutts now stated that he caught the itch from the children. Mary Rodwell; was a married woman, and knew the prisoners at the bar; I put a boy and a girl, my children, at their school; five shillings and six pence a week was to be paid for them; I went every other day to see them until January 1824; then went to Oxford, leaving the children under their care; when I returned I found both children in a state of starvation, all covered with wounds, and one of them had lost the first joint of one of her toes; I did not take them away from the school because my husband was living with one of the defendants, Catherine Irving; he continued living with her until the morning she was taken; my children were sent home then by the defendants; I went to Oxford by my husband's consent; When I had got my children I took them to the parish doctor, Mr. Burgess; he is still attending them; Frederick Hunt, one of the children, was all over bruises when taken to the Police Office; - Cross Examined; During the four weeks after my return from Oxford, I went every day to the house of the defendants; They took me before a Magistrate because I wanted my husband, I called at the house of the defendants and broke one of the doors to their room to pieces; I came and told my husband that old mother Irving was an old wretch, and unless he turned her out of the house, I would break the windows; I never told John Dale that Mrs Irving was an old wretch, and kept a house of ill fame; For the fortnight after I returned from Oxford I dined every day with Mrs Irving, if you can call it dining; During that time the children dined with me at the table; part of the time I brought my dinner with me; Some days I did not; Some days when I went to the house without anything I was not allowed to see the children; Re-Examined; Since the return of my children to me I have supported them by the allowance made by my husband, by order of the Magistrate; Charles Otto, a boy of eight years called; I was put to school to Catherine Irvings; I never had victuals enough; she used to beat me once or twice a week; there used to be black and blue marks on my back; she used to beat me with a stick and her fist; there were four of us slept in the same bed; she pawned a pair of my boots; she asked me to let her; I did so; I have never seen them since; I dont know when it was I went there; Cross-Examined; Sometimes we had bread and butter, and cheese, and pudding; but not altogether; we had breakfast at eight o'clock in the morning, dined at one o'clock or three o'clock, and drank tea at five o'clock and eight o'clock; we used to take a quarter of an hour at breakfast and dinner, and ten minutes at tea; we went to bed sometimes at eight o'clock and sometimes at nine o'clock at night. Joseph Burgess, the medical at St. Giles Workhouse; I saw Otto, Hunt, Bray and Rogers, who were children in the house of the defendants; I went there in consequence of a request by the parish officers; I found about ten children in the room, some looked thin; those boys I have mentioned were there; they were dirty and squalid and diseased with the itch; they were all dressed; The defendants were in the same state; Frederick Hunt was covered with bruises; and his head full of vermin; he appeared to have been without food for some time; Wm. Richard Big; - I am assistant overseer at St. Giles parish; I went to the house of the defendants, and found the children in a deplorable state; some were eaten up with the itch. Otto was hardly covered in clothes; when Hunt was taken to the Police Office he ate some bread and milk with great eagerness; there were two bedsteads without bedding; in one room there was an infant wrapped up in some bed clothes; the children all seemed starved. Mr. C. Philips then addressed the Jury for the defendants; The charge against his clients was one of the most important, and dreadful, if it had been supported in the manner of the indictent, and the Opening of his Learned Friend would lead them to expect; That had by no means been done, it has been said that the children had been cruelly treated by these defendants; if this had been so, the parents must of been aware of it; for they, according to their own account, had been in the constant habit of calling to see their children; If here had been any of the loathesome and disgusting appearances which the statements of the witnesses make them imagine, where were the eyes of the parents not to have seen them ? And if they saw them. where were their hearts, their feelings, that they could allow their unhappy offspring to labour to labour so long under complicated misery ? The tale was too enormous for any reasonable being to believe. In fact the accquittal of the defendants was demanded by the evidence of the witnesses for the prosecution; The children had given an account of the meals they had, and when they remembered the scanty pittance which the penury of their parents would allow to be paid for their support, could it be expected, that they were to be supplied with the delicacies of the season? As to the beating, he need not make any observation, for the Jury, as fathers, must well be able to judge the evidence of that point, whether the chastisement was more than the forwardness of the children would reasonably require, He should leave the case in their hands, perfectly convinced, that the verdict that they return must be that of Not Gulity. The CHAIRMAN; having recapitulated the evidence, told the Jury, tha the smallness of the sum paid by the parents for the maintenance of the children formed no part of the case as it regard the verdict they should find. The defendants had undertaken to perform a certain contract, and if they had not done so, the renumeration could not be urged as an excuse for such conduct. Whether unjustifiable cruelty had been exerted towards them in their mode of treatment, was for them to determine, and as they were convinced either of the affirmative or the negative so they would find their verdict. The Jury found both the defendants Guilty - Judgement deferred till the last day of the Sessions.] [Marriage, Matilda Scutts (full age) spinster, Princes Street. Father:John Hayward Scutts, cooper. William Lawrence (full age) bachelor, brewer of Phillip Street. Father:George Lawrence, brewer. William Lawrence signed his own name & Matilda Scutts made her mark. Witnesses:John Hayward Scutts & James S. Gawler. After banns by me:J Leigh Spencer, Curate. [Death] there are 2 distinct deaths recorded and also a death of a child Matilda Elizabeth Lawrence - Camberwell 4 48 but whether she was the daughter of William & Matilda Lawrence?