11th July 1826. Twelve men sat in the Jury benches at the Lincolnshire Assizes, held in the brand new neogothic court at Lincoln Castle. They were about to hear a case which the prosecution believed “could not be stated without disgracing our nature, violating the feelings of decency, and even in some measure injuring the cause of morality.”
However, the jury were informed, the plaintiff had no choice: such a case must be brought before them.
The trial was reported in vivid and colourful detail in the Stamford Mercury.
Joseph Mawby was a married father of one, a coal-merchant and maltster and retired publican. He was moderately wealthy and had lived at the prosperous fenland town of Market Deeping, just north of Peterborough, all his life, as had his father and grandfather before him. He had bought a case against John Barker, a labourer of the same town.
Mawby had been publicly slandered by John Barker and felt he must defend himself – or else “be overwhelmed with infamy for ever” due to “the foulest slander which the worst feelings of malice or the most sordid calculations of interest had even induced a man to invent.”
Barker had accused Mawby of sodomy, a crime punishable by death, and Mawby would not rest until either John Barker was forced to publicly recant his accusation and pay damages, or else prove to the court that his accusations were true. The stakes were high: sodomy was punishable by death, and the court well remembered the case of David Thompson Myers who had been hanged at Peterborough fourteen years previously.
The character witnesses for Joseph Mawby were called up: various residents of Market Deeping and Deeping St James attested that John Barker harboured a personal vendetta against Joseph Mawby, and had for some years been spreading rumours about Mawby’s behaviour. He had said that Mawby had made a pass at him, “putting his arms round my neck, and pulling and hauling me about like a great wench.” He told them he had seen Mawby coming out of a “hovel” on the edge of town on several occasions with other men, and had caught him in the act at least once – the other man with his breeches down, his “breast over a rail, and Mawby doing something indecent with him.” The most shocking accusation was that he had even caught Mawby in an indecent situation with a horse.
Earlier that year a large notice had been chalked onto a wall below the church. At first reading it was slightly cryptic: “Absconded and taken the road to Lincoln, taking with him a gang of boats, the old Sodomite’s son, or grandson to the Standgate highway robber. Whosoever will bring him to Sodomite’s inn, shall be liberally rewarded.”
To locals however the reference was clear: Mawby had that year sold some boats; his son had recently gone to Lincoln market; and the “Sodomite’s inn” must reference The New Inn, Mawby’s former premises on the Market Place. The witnesses agreed that the crude and libellous message must have been written by Barker.
Next up were witnesses for John Barker, aiming to demonstrate that Mawby was a man “given to those abominable propensities”. Barker’s friends and brother confirmed that they too had seen Mawby at this hovel, which was “known to be a place of resort for bad practices.” They had seen Mawby making a pass at Barker, and had broken into the hovel with Barker to catch Mawby in the act with unknown other men – who had escaped before they could be apprehended.
The Judge summed up before the Jury went to deliberate. No evidence had been presented that Barker had written the libellous message, and they were to discount it. Otherwise, the Judge believed the evidence seemed flimsy: the stories from Barker and his associates did not add up, and Barker had never attempted to bring Mawby before the court on accusations of sodomy.
The Jury took just ten minutes to find Barker guilty of slander, and awarded Joseph Mawby damages of £200 – equivalent to £14,000 today.
The New Inn is now called the Deeping Stage. The hovel of ill repute is long gone.
Further Reading:
A Queer History of Cambridgeshire 