Marital Bliss on Trial
On a soggy July Monday in 1877 Essex, two couples were set to stand trial. Both parties were to be heard before a judge and jury, their plea, that they had ‘…ne’er made nuptial transgression/Nor since we were married man and wife/By household brawls or contentious strife/Or otherwise at bed or at board/Offended each other in deed or word/Or since the parish clerk said ‘Amen’/Wished ourselves unmarried again’ (Chelmsford Chronicle 1877).
No one had accused either couple of the contrary, and it was not as if they had been bought to the judge following any kind of domestic disorder. So, what was their incentive to actively seek such a hearing in front of crowds at Dunmow Town Hall, to prove their marital bliss?...
Bacon of course!
However, on the day neither couple showed up! Much to the probable dismay of John William Savill, a local printer/bookseller and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, who had taken an interest in and agreed to host an old Dunmow custom known as the Flitch Trials. Thought to have originated at Little Dunmow Priory (although potentially derived from even more ancient customs), the Trials were even mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and allowed for any married couple who could prove they had never wished themselves unmarried, to take home a flitch (side) of bacon.
The tradition, however, had come to a halt in the 18th and early 19th Century, a phenomenon which one journalist from The Illustrated Times blamed on the drinking habits of the previous generation of men – ‘The pop of the cork, or the gurgling of the tap, was infinitely preferred to the sound of a wife’s tongue’ (The Illustrated Times 1855).
This changed when a couple from Felstead called the Hurrell’s decided they were going to ride into Dunmow and claim it! Met with a negative response from authorities, the story goes that the people of the town were so roused that they called them back on the day of the rural fete and formed a procession of bacon and banners to Easton Park where it was being held, to the delight of everyone there (including the gentry). The Hurrell’s were awarded the bacon and made the oath quoted in the opening paragraph. Following a subsequent novel by William Harrison Ainsworth titled ‘The Flitch of Bacon’ a local committee formed, and the tradition was formally revived with Ainsworth’s support.
However, two decades later in 1877 it was still in need of some dusting off. Both potential claimants had failed to show (one couple disgusted at how the tradition had been modernised), and the weather had kept many indoors. To the rescue came James and Hannah Barrick, whom we came across during our genealogical research and led us to discovering this fascinating tradition. A local man, James was a foreman brickmaker, and searches have uncovered that he was in fact related to the Hurrell’s who had assisted in the customs revival. It was noted that they certainly were not aristocratic (and hinted far from it), but they were also noted for being ‘…highly respectable’ (Chelmsford Chronicle 1877). They had been married twenty-eight years and had twelve children (a feat which got a round of applause from the audience).
Despite saving the day they didn’t exactly scream felicity - ‘They were dressed in somber black, and looked as unsentimental a couple as could be possibly imagined’ (Chelmsford Chronicle 1877). However, James assured the jury ‘If there was another woman in the world like his wife Barrick would have no objection to take her’, and Hannah agreed she ‘…had found that she took her husband for better and not for worse’ (Chelmsford Chronicle 1877). The juries only suspicion was that they had married purely with the intent to claim the bacon.
Following the trial, they were carried on a chair by the shoulders in procession to a fete, where they made the oath, were awarded the bacon, and were met with music, performance and dancing.
The event however was highly criticised by the London Standard, as a desperate attempt to revise an old custom and a ‘dreary failure’ (Chelmsford Chronicle 1877). They had little hope that it would continue much longer, however Savill retorted that it was early days and given the terrible weather and no-show, they had been able to salvage it remarkably well, with an estimated 2,727 people risking the damp to attend the fete. He sincerely wanted to keep the tradition going, and despite the negative response from wider newspapers, local reports were much more sympathetic. Indeed, he was right to have persisted, as the custom has endured and will be open again for claims in July 2024 for anyone brave enough!
All information found has been gleaned from historic newspaper articles which can be accessed on Home | Search the archive | British Newspaper Archive. This is a fantastic family history resource, especially when seeking to explore the lives of our ancestors.
Contact us today if you have any intriguing family history stories you would like investigating!
Further Reading –
History of the Dunmow Flitch of Bacon Custom - William Andrews - Google Books
