A true story.
The 38-year old woman who embarked unchaperoned and alone on a voyage from Liverpool to London by canal, in the third year of the reign of Queen Victoria, was facing the unknown. The date was 27th June, 1839. Six days of tedium at three miles an hour lay ahead of her, at the mercy of the elements. Yet she knew what she was doing. Hitherto a strolling player, a minor star in the showbiz firmament of the day, travel and accommodation had always been primitive for her. Now, anxious to rejoin her ardent but unstable new husband in London, she relied for protection on a natural elegance and style.
“If I’m molested,” she announced to the four assembled boatman who would have charge of her, three men and a boy, “I’ll do away with myself.”
She soon had grounds for complaint: the company—Pickfords—had failed to provide straw for her comfort in the hold. This led to an offer from the boat captain, a Pickford’s employee, to share the cabin with him—normally out of bounds—on that first evening, while the crew were busy elsewhere.
They talked about her colourful past, and he—also aged 38—was fascinated. With the boy asleep, and with one man leading the horse and the other steering, his rough and ready sympathy, and the warmth of the cabin, proved soothing. They were alone for several hours. The other two crewmen, jealous and resentful, resolved it would be their turn next.
Several times, at their various stops, she complained to canal staff of the lascivious behaviour of the two crewmen. Often, to avoid them, she took to the canal bank. Some time after midnight on the second night, the boy asked “Where’s the woman?” She was missing. Soon, as they sped on, she was fished out of the water.
An inquest next day returned a verdict of “wilful murder, against all three men and the boy”, and they were committed for trial at the approaching Assizes. At the trial, the Judge ruled “no case to go to the Jury”. But the prosecution, producing a surprise “hearsay” witness, sought a postponement. The Defence objected: the witness, a convicted bigamist, could only give evidence if granted a Queen’s Pardon, but that would be sought. It would also secure his release.
Eight months later, on the hearsay evidence of the convicted bigamist, all three adult boatmen were sentenced to death.
An 11th-hour reprieve was sought, and obtained—but for one man only. The captain, who professed his innocence throughout, was not spared. The lucky man, who admitted raping the woman, reaped the reward for penitence.
Born in 1917 and educated at Hounslow College, Ralph joined the editorial staff of Sporting Life in 1934, but later went into banking. Meanwhile, he had begun writing, and several of his sketches and scenes were produced in West End Revue.
Ralph joined the RAF in 1940 as a wireless operator/air-gunner and progressed his military career until 1961 when he retired voluntarily from the RAF to write full time. He was a frequent contributor of feature stories to the Sunday Express.
Other Books by Ralph Barker
STORIES OF ENDURANCE
NEW publication 2020. An acclaimed mountaineering classic in the same genre as Touching the Void, Ralph Barker’s The Last Blue Mountain is an epic tale of friendship and fortitude in the face of tragedy.
When the passenger liner City of Benares sailed from Liverpool on Friday, 13 September 1940, she was carrying 90 evacuee children from the bombed cities of Britain, bound under a government-sponsored scheme for a safe haven in Canada. Her sinking by U-boat four days later, without warning, in total disregard of the plight of survivors and in defiance of international law, shocked and horrified the civilised world.
In late 1942 the elderly Ellerman Line steamer City of Cairo was on a voyage from Capetown to Brazil when seven days into the Atlantic crossing the ship was sunk by a U-Boat. There were 300 persons, including women and children and crew aboard.
The story of how George Binney, a 39 year-old civilian working in neutral Sweden set about running vital cargoes of Swedish ball-bearings and special steels to Britain through the blockaded Skagerrak.
One of the greatest sea stories of World War II
Among those who fought in the ferocious battles for the skies during the Second World War, some - shot down, or forced to ditch - had to confront an exceptionally pitiless enemy: the sea.
Ten remarkable true accounts of unusual incidents and happenings to Bomber Command aircrew during World War Two.
Military History
The story of the daring RAF pilots who flew low-level torpedo attacks against German battleships in World War II.
'Ralph Barker has written a masterly anecdotal history of the flying war over France, and the courageous 'bird-men', who gave such dedicated support to the regiments deadlocked in the trenches beneath them' - Daily Telegraph
A thoroughly-researched account of this little known aspect of Second World War Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm operations.
The story of how George Binney, a 39 year-old civilian working in neutral Sweden set about running vital cargoes of Swedish ball-bearings and special steels to Britain through the blockaded Skagerrak.
One of the greatest sea stories of World War II
Among those who fought in the ferocious battles for the skies during the Second World War, some - shot down, or forced to ditch - had to confront an exceptionally pitiless enemy: the sea.
Ten remarkable true accounts of unusual incidents and happenings to Bomber Command aircrew during World War Two.
Fifteen "dramas of the air"
There can be nothing more poignant than a sequence of events which gives some occupants of an aircraft a chance of escape and others none.
The story of the first large scale bombing in history, the R.A.F.'s firebombing of Cologne, Germany in 1942.
All these stories are eloquent of devotion and endurance...all are moving. They are told graphically without sensationalism. (Times Literary Supplement)
Tales of Supreme Bravery (Daily Telegraph)
Aviation History
Sidney Cotton was an audacious man - aviator, spy, businessman, gun runner and more. He was at the forefront of photo-reconnaissance before and during WW2.
'In seeking to establish the facts and unravel the secrets of these and other famous air mysteries, Ralph Barker brings outstanding gifts of graphic description to a subject of compelling power' - The Aeroplane.
The story of the daring RAF pilots who flew low-level torpedo attacks against German battleships in World War II.
'Ralph Barker has written a masterly anecdotal history of the flying war over France, and the courageous 'bird-men', who gave such dedicated support to the regiments deadlocked in the trenches beneath them' - Daily Telegraph
The story of how George Binney, a 39 year-old civilian working in neutral Sweden set about running vital cargoes of Swedish ball-bearings and special steels to Britain through the blockaded Skagerrak.
One of the greatest sea stories of World War II
Among those who fought in the ferocious battles for the skies during the Second World War, some - shot down, or forced to ditch - had to confront an exceptionally pitiless enemy: the sea.
Ten remarkable true accounts of unusual incidents and happenings to Bomber Command aircrew during World War Two.
Fifteen "dramas of the air"
There can be nothing more poignant than a sequence of events which gives some occupants of an aircraft a chance of escape and others none.
The story of the first large scale bombing in history, the R.A.F.'s firebombing of Cologne, Germany in 1942.
An excellent account by Barker of The Schneider Trophy Races
This iconic race for seaplanes and flying boats was significant in advancing aeroplane design, particularly in the fields of aerodynamics and engine design, and would show its results in the best fighters of World War II
All these stories are eloquent of devotion and endurance...all are moving. They are told graphically without sensationalism. (Times Literary Supplement)
Tales of Supreme Bravery (Daily Telegraph)
Cricket
Biography of the distinguished cricketing family, including Bill, John, Geoffrey, Eric and Brian Edrich.
‘Stories of skill, patience, grit and swashbuckling verve retold in an urgent, compelling style. You are there on the terraces, in the game.’ - Times Educational Supplement
Kindle Edition | Endeavour Press (28 Dec. 2016)
Essays on 11 cricketers, each of whom enjoyed a 'purple patch' during his career.
The subjects include Arthur Booth, the 'forgotten' Yorkshire bowling star; Bill Alley, Bill Ponsford, Micky Stewart, and Jim Laker.