The Shrigley abduction of Ellen Turner

Background. Ellen Turner was the only child of William Turner, a wealthy resident of Pott Shrigley, Cheshire, who owned calico printing and spinning mills. At the time of the abduction, her father served as High Sheriff of Cheshire and lived in Shrigley Hall. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, thirty years old and a former King's Messenger, conspired with his brother William and stepmother Frances to marry Ellen for her inheritance, expecting her parents to respond similarly to a previous case involving Mrs Pattle.

Abduction and Deception. On 7 March 1826, Wakefield sent his servant Edward Thevenot to Liverpool, where Ellen was a pupil at a boarding school. Thevenot took her to Manchester to meet Wakefield, who falsely claimed her father's business had collapsed and that he had agreed to take her to Carlisle. The party proceeded to Kendal, where Wakefield reiterated that her father was a fugitive. They met William Wakefield, who claimed to have secured Turner's agreement to the marriage.

Legal Aftermath. The couple married in Gretna Green, Scotland, and traveled to Calais, France, before Turner's father notified authorities. The marriage was annulled by Act of Parliament on 14 June 1827. Edward Gibbon Wakefield and his brother William, who aided him, were convicted at trial in Lancaster on 23 March 1827 and sentenced to three years in prison. Turner was legally married two years later, at age 17, to a wealthy neighbour.