Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Sarah Turner

1840 –1906

Together with her husband, convicted of the manslaughter by neglect of one of their children

• Melanie Hilton

Unmarked grave Sarah Turner (née Ebathite) (1840-1906)

Sarah was born in 1840 in Hemel Hempstead. Her father was  John Ebathite who may have been a bricklayer’s labourer, her mother was  Sarah (née Palmer).

Despite her exceedingly unusual maiden name it has proved difficult to discover anything about her early life. In 1861 she was recorded in the census as a straw plaiter visiting another plaiter in the town.

Sarah married John Turner, a blacksmith, in Hemel Hempstead 10 December 1864. From the bare bones of the records it appears that all was well. John was in employment and several children were born to the couple. Beneath that is a dreadful story of mental incapacity and neglect.

Caroline was born in 1865 followed by Mary A (1867).

In 1871 the family lived in Chapel Street, Hemel Hempstead. Sarah was a straw plaiter making plait for the Luton and Dunstable hat industries. It was poorly paid, but had the advantage of being a home-based occupation. It would seem that, at this point, Sarah could cope with two children and contribute to the family income.

John W was born in 1875 followed by Sarah J (1876), Alice (1879) and Elizabeth G (Lizzie) (1881). Sarah now had six children under 16 to care for.

In 1881 the family lived in “League Square”, Hemel Hempstead. This area is now under the Riverside Shopping Centre Marlowes.  It was named “League Square” because the old roads and alleyways formed a square, with each side being equivalent to one league. It was the location of The Waggon and Horses and Albion Mill. Daughters Caroline and Mary Ann were employed at John Dickinson’s paper mill in Apsley.

On 22 August 1884 the terrible conditions in which the family were living were tragically revealed when surgeon Mr Harvey was called to the house which he described as being in an appallingly dirty and neglected condition. There was the body of a child – Alice, aged 6 – lying on a bed. “The dress and body were alive with vermin. The head was covered in scabs.” The child was thin but without marks of violence. The conditions were so bad that he recommended that the family be moved to the workhouse immediately as he considered the house uninhabitable.

He also noted that Sarah Turner “seemed to be in a low mental condition” and had trouble responding to his questions. “The prisoner was little above a person who could not be considered responsible for her actions.” The Bucks Herald report described her as “a strange looking woman.”

The post-mortem revealed appalling neglect and starvation – the child weighed 27 lb, almost half the weight of a healthy child of her age and she was infested with vermin.

Neighbours reported that the children were all neglected, would be running wild and were often found scavenging in the street and that they often gave them food.

When John Turner was called to give evidence he revealed that he was earning 26s a week (£104.40 in 2025) of which he gave his wife 18s. He had been “very uncomfortable. My home and children have not been kept clean…we have slept apart for months and months. I have tried everything and now I am sick of it.” He said he had considered putting the children in the workhouse, but had no explanation as to why he had done nothing about the dreadful state of the house and his children.

Sarah gave no evidence in court, but the defence called George Digby, fishmonger, who had known her since a child. He stated that her mother had never trained her in household duties and as a result she became “indolent.”

The jury found both guilty of manslaughter by neglect. The judge, in sentencing, stated that there had clearly been neglect over a long period for which there was no excuse. He considered Sarah to be “mentally weak” and heavily criticised John for failing to act to protect the children.

John was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment with hard labour and Sarah to 3 months, without hard labour.

Despite all of this, John and Sarah stayed together on their release, kept the surviving children and had another child, Lucy, born in 1887 in Hemel Hempstead. Incredibly, given this history of early deprivation, all the remaining children appear to have lived to adulthood.

The family moved to Berkhamsted and in 1891 were living in “Lock house, Grand Union Canal”, Gravel Path. John jnr was a blacksmith

The 1901 census records that Sarah was widowed and living at 7, Ellesmere Road with Lizzie (a mantle maker) and Lucy (a domestic servant) at home.

She died December 1906, aged 66, in Shrublands Avenue.