Mary Mawdsley (b. c.1830)
by Lewis Darwen
Mary Mawdsley lived on the margins of society. A violent drunk, a thief and a prostitute, by the age of 30 in 1861 she had appeared at the Preston petty sessions on no fewer than 37 separate occasions for a string of public order offences. It was at this time that her regular courtroom appearances, sometimes more than once in a single week, began to capture the attention of the local press. ‘AN OLD OFFENDER’, headlined the Preston Chronicle newspaper in its first report on Mawdsley in February 1859.[1] The report detailed her arrest for drunkenness and disorderly conduct just two days after being released from prison, and on this occasion the magistrates sent her back to prison for a month. Subsequent headlines included ‘DRUNK AGAIN’, ‘A DARK HISTORY’ and ‘AN INCOURIGIBLE’.[2]
Read full account here
[1] Preston Chronicle, 19 February 1859.
[2] Preston Chronicle, 12 November 1859; 25 August 1860; 1 September 1860.
by Lewis Darwen
Mary Mawdsley lived on the margins of society. A violent drunk, a thief and a prostitute, by the age of 30 in 1861 she had appeared at the Preston petty sessions on no fewer than 37 separate occasions for a string of public order offences. It was at this time that her regular courtroom appearances, sometimes more than once in a single week, began to capture the attention of the local press. ‘AN OLD OFFENDER’, headlined the Preston Chronicle newspaper in its first report on Mawdsley in February 1859.[1] The report detailed her arrest for drunkenness and disorderly conduct just two days after being released from prison, and on this occasion the magistrates sent her back to prison for a month. Subsequent headlines included ‘DRUNK AGAIN’, ‘A DARK HISTORY’ and ‘AN INCOURIGIBLE’.[2]
Read full account here
[1] Preston Chronicle, 19 February 1859.
[2] Preston Chronicle, 12 November 1859; 25 August 1860; 1 September 1860.
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