Abduction of Maria Glenn : The Trial James Bowditch and Nine Others at the Suit of the King, and on the Prosecution of George Lowman Tuckett, Esq. for Conspiracy, Assault, and False Imprisonment. At the Late summer Assizes for the County of Dorset, July 25, 1818. Before Mr. Justice Park and a Special Jury. Taken from the Short hand Notes of Mr. Richardson. London: Printed for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy; 47, Paternoster-Row, [1818].

(228 x mm) pp. viii, 136. Disbound. A4, B-I8, K4. Manuscript along fore edge (likely previous owner’s descriptive collection title). Final page loose but attached. Some spotting to title page,but interior clean. Overall GOOD condition.

On September 25^th, 1817, The Taunton Courier announced the elopement of Ms Maria Glenn, “a young West Indian lady of 17, entitled to a very large property on her coming of age,” with “Mr. J. B.,— a young man about 24 years of age.” The newspaper unfolds the whole story— whooping cough compelled the respectable barrister to move his children and ward, Maria, to nicer air. Here, Maria met Mr. J. Bowditch; they eloped and were discovered. Maria professed her for Mr. J. B.; however, wanted to wait until she came of age, and “some slanders of the belle passion [were] affirmed (though on the part of the ladies we protest against the heresy).” 

The newspaper article, however, was shot down by Maria’s uncle and gaurdian, who wrote that every word was untrue. In fact, Maria claimed to have been abducted and forcibly married to James Bowditch— to make him the legal owner of her fortunes. As the case grew in notoriety in Georgian England, the press steered public opinions and ultimately, Maria was arrested for perjury and forced into exile.

The case became notorious and the truth is still unclear. This trial inspired Naomi Clifford’s 2016 novelization of the events, The Disappearance of Maria Glenn: A True Life Regency Mystery.

Part narrative, part court stenography, this 1818 trial record is part of the media frenzy that stoked the Georgian interest in this abduction/elopment case.

Tuckett, G. L. (George Lowman)

Bowditch, James

Glenn, Maria

Trials (Assault and battery)--England--Dorset

Trials (Conspiracy)--England--Dorset

Trials (False imprisonment)