Jane Agnes (Banford) Sutcliffe (1840 - 1913)

Born 1840 in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom

Wife of Webster Sutcliffe — married 1874 in New Zealand

Died 1913 at about age 73 in Northcote, Victoria, Australia

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Biography

Jane Agnes Banford was born at Great Malvern, Worcestershire and Christened there on 28 June 1840. She was the eldest daughter of William Banford and Harriet Meade.

In 1861, Agnes is 21 and living Sherrard's Green, Great Malvern, Worcestershire, England with her parents William and Harriet Banford and siblings Edward, 17, Mary, 14, Richard, 5. Her father William is recorded as a farmer with 220 acres and employing 3 workmen. The census also records visitor Harriett Lambert along with 3 farm servants.

Agnes was 23 when she married James Alfred Price of Lower Townend, Bosbury, Herefordshire. The couple were married at Claines, Worcestershire on 4 Nov 1863.

She remarried using her maiden name in New Zealand in 1874. She and husband Webster Sutcliffe went on to have 2 children in New Zealand; William Webster Sutcliffe in 1879 and Harriet Elizabeth Banford Sutcliffe in 1881.

The couple migrated to Melbourne, Australia where Agnes operated a lodging house in West Melbourne. In 1886, husband Webster was charged with repeated viotent assaults on his wife. He was fined and made to pay bonds of surity to keep the peace with his wife for 12 months.

In 1895, Jane Agnes Sutcliffe is described as a middle-aged nurse residing at Drummond-street, Carlton, when she was charged with medical practitioner Henry Marshall Fenwick, of Carlton with performing an illegal operation (to procure a miscarriage) on Matilda Simpson, at Carlton, on the 12th October 1894. The pair were also charged with the same crime in relation to Mary Salter on or about 28th September 1894 and Matilda Castlehow on 11 May 1894. The witness was trainee nurse Rebecca Rosengrave. The jury was successfully convinced that the witness was vengeful and unreliable and both Dr Fenwick and Nurse Sutcliffe were acquitted.

A year later, Agnes found herself charged with the manslaughter of Elizabeth Hall following an illegal operation at Carlton. She was again acquitted of the charge in March 1896.

Agnes was again charged in October 1896, this time for the murder of Eleanor Mary Gardner. Eleanor had gone to hospital under an assumed name and explanation for her illness. In reality she had developed septicemia following an operation to terminate a pregnancy. On her deathbed, Eleanor admitted her true identity and incriminated nurse Jane Agnes Sutcliffe as the purveyor of an illegal abortion.

On the basis of the trustworthiness of a death bead confession, Agnes was charged with Murder and convicted in March 1897, receiving a death sentence. The sentence was commuted to 10 years with hard labour, though she ultimately went on to serve 6 years in the Female Prison at Coburg. She was released on 21 May 1903.

Agnes passed away at Northcote, Victoria in 1913.

Sources

• "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JS62-MGM : 19 March 2020), Jane Agnes Banford, 1840.
• "England and Wales Census, 1861," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7FN-G2Y : 3 March 2021), Agness Banford in household of William Banford, Great Malvern, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom; from "1861 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 9, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
• "Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries." Worcestershire Chronicle, 18 Nov. 1863, p. 2. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.rp.nla.gov.au/apps/doc/CL3243397943/BNCN?u=nla&sid=bookmark-BNCN&xid=af35e44c. Accessed 11 Nov. 2022.
• "[Announcements of Births, and also of Marriages, when the words 'No cards sent' are appended to the notice, will in future be charged for as Advertisements, at half-a-crown each, which should be prepaid]." Berrows Worcester Journal, 14 Nov. 1863, p. 8. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.rp.nla.gov.au/apps/doc/R3208967127/BNCN?u=nla&sid=bookmark-BNCN&xid=3f4f77ad. Accessed 11 Nov. 2022.
• "England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers, 1535-1963," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGLS-GKLX : 13 September 2022), James Alfred Price and Jane Agnes Banford, 4 Nov 1863; Marriage; citing Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom, p. , Warwick County Record Office, England; FHL microfilm .
• "New Zealand, Civil Records Indexes, 1800-1966," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24V-667S : 4 October 2016), Webster Sutcliffe and Jane Agnes Banford, 1878; citing Marriage, New Zealand, registration number 1878/1530, Archives of New Zealand, Wellington.
• "POLICE INTELLIGENCE." The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) 13 September 1886: 6. Web. 11 Nov 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11572625>.
• "ALLEGED ILLEGAL OPERATION." The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) 30 March 1895: 11. Web. 10 Nov 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9352198>.
• "Alleged Malpractice." Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954) 16 February 1895: 23. Web. 10 Nov 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220540097>.
• "A Woman's Death." Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954) 10 October 1896: 19. Web. 10 Nov 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221204624>.
• "ALLEGED MANSLAUGHTER." The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954) 30 March 1896: 4. Web. 10 Nov 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article241282621>.
• "UNDER SENTENCE." The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954) 2 March 1897: 5. Web. 10 Nov 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article241119607>.
• public Records Office Victoria. Central Register of Female Prisoners (VPRS516) Jane Agnes Sutcliffe
• Victoria deaths. Registration number 10826 / 1913, SUTCLIFFE, Jane Agnes.Place of event: Ncote Vic Australia. Mother's name: Hart MEADE, Father's Name: Bamford