Adultery, Fornication, etc

Until 1854 a wide range of matters was dealt with by the Church rather than in civil courts; so alleged crimes such as Adultery, Incest and Fornication were judged in Ecclesiastical, or Consistory, Courts. In addition, administration of Wills (Probate) was overseen by the Diocese or Archdeaconry - although by the late 1700s this was being delegated to the local level.

An archive of documents from the Salisbury Diocese can be found in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre (WSHC); these documents include, for example, miscellaneous 'Matrimonial Causes' documents from the 1600s and 1700s, giving details of some of the cases heard in the Ecclesiastical Court.

One of the cases that came to trial in 1746 was that of 'Atkinson against Ferris and Chivers; Adultery, Fornication, and Incontinency'. This was the Reverend William Atkinson of Sutton Benger, accusing two parishioners of having been living together although unmarried. 'Ann Chivers, a single woman, cohabited for over 10 years with Robert Ferris and shared one and the same bed and have had five children now living.'

The sentence in this case is missing, but if found guilty they would have had to show penance by standing in the church throughout a Sunday service, covered in a white sheet and holding a white stick upright in each hand. They would then have had to read out aloud a document explaining their sin and asking for forgivenesss.

They were undoubtedly found guilty, as there is a page in the parish Baptisms register which shows the baptisms of four of their children on one day: 25 December 1746, Cornelius, John, Martha and Jane, the children 'of Anne Chivers by Robert Ferris'.

Unfortunately, we do not know what happened to Robert and Anne; there is no record of them having got married, nor is there a record of their deaths in Sutton Benger in the following years. Their son Cornelius did stay in the village, living to the age of about 70. The parish records show that he was married twice, and had abut six children with his first wife.

William Atkinson - Vicar of Sutton Benger (?1744-1765) - had plurality with both the vicarage of Lacock and the rectory of Fisherton Anger; his name only appears in Sutton Benger parish registers occasionally, and clearly he spent much of his time elsewhere.

Is there any particular story from Sutton Benger’s past that you want to know more about? Please get in touch:

by phone: 01249 721731
by email: hello@bengertrails.co.uk