{"id":2553,"date":"2024-01-28T15:43:08","date_gmt":"2024-01-28T15:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=2553"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:23:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:23:15","slug":"debauchery-in-penrith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/","title":{"rendered":"Debauchery in Penrith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Debauchery in Penrith<\/em> is part 1 of a series on a local Victorian solicitor, but also the story of a young woman shabbily treated by her boyfriend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Gibson Cant<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Gibson Cant, a Penrith solicitor with strong convictions about Justice, took on variously the police, a local newspaper, and wasn\u2019t adverse to arguing with judges. In court, he was prone to dragging up irrelevancies and complaining when told to stick to the matter in hand. This did not help him or his clients!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was admitted solicitor in 1852. By 1872, he had practised in Penrith 21 years, and had been clerk to Lord Lonsdale (the Lieutenancy of the two counties) for 16 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A volunteer with the Inglewood Rifles, he was promoted from Ensign to Lieutenant in 1862.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1866, he married Barbara, \u2018youngest daughter of the late William Lindsay, Esq\u2019. They went on to have three daughters, living in Croft House, Graham Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The John Westmorland \/ Sarah Jane Robertshaw case<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It was in July 1866 that he appeared in court on behalf of John Westmorland, a 23-year-old journeyman tanner and skin merchant of Penrith and Temple Sowerby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debauchery in Penrith<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

John Westmorland was in court for seducing Sarah Jane Robertshaw, daughter of Robert Robertshaw, landlord of the Castle Inn, Penrith, and a manufacturer of soda water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her father was suing him for \u00a3500. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His case was presented by a Mr MacOubrey. Thomas Gibson Cant appeared for John Westmorland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Westmorland\u2019s father had \u2018a business of great respectability and influence \u2018at Penrith and Temple Sowerby and was \u2018a man with his \u00a330,000 or \u00a340,000\u2019 and his son was managing his business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Westmorland had \u2018debauched\u2019 Sarah when she was only 19 and \u2018made her the mother of a bastard child\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019d thought he intended marriage, but he\u2019d \u2018cast her off\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019d been in delicate health for months after the birth. The bastardy agreement was \u00a35 a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah said she\u2019d known John since August 1864, and had \u2018yielded to him\u2019 first in December 1864, and a few times after. She thought he wanted to marry her, though he hadn\u2019t promised to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An emotional appeal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It has to be said that Mr MacOubrey did lay it on thick in his opening address. Appealing to any fathers on the jury \u2018with an Englishman\u2019s heart in him\u2019 as to how they\u2019d feel if a daughter of theirs has been so used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIf ever there was a cruelty\u2026. the man who perpetuated the villainous and vicious wrong of debauching a poor virtuous young woman was the most wicked, the most traitorous, and the most wretched man that ever lived.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Of John Westmorland specifically:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cHe found this girl the fairest flower and he cast her as a faded flower.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018paltry compensation\u2019 the jury could award her father would be a lesson \u2018not only to Mr Robertshaw but to all other young scoundrels who inflicted such wrongs in the locality\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mr Cant said the whole case was just a way to \u2018squeeze money\u2019 out of John Westmorland\u2019s father. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was the father <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018to pay for the delinquencies of this son and rob his other seven children?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

If a reasonable verdict were given, John Westmorland \u2018might be able to pay out of his two or three shillings a week pocket money\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The jury set damages at \u00a3200. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Carlisle Journal<\/em> reported the story. The Whitehaven News<\/em> reported it pretty much word for word. As did the Carlisle Patriot<\/em>. But it was the Journal\u2019s report only that Thomas Gibson Cant took exception to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first libel case<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In July 1868, the Carlisle Patriot<\/em> reported that the Carlisle Journal<\/em> was to be sued for libel on the grounds that Mr MacOubrey\u2019s case was reported in full, while Mr Cant\u2019s was reported \u2018very briefly and very imperfectly\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defence would be that it was a fair and accurate report of the court case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are phrases I learned as a defence against libel when I was training to be a journalist! And even if the law on Privilege (fair and accurate reports of court cases are immune from libel prosecutions) didn\u2019t come in until 1888, you\u2019d think that if a newspaper had opined that John Westmorland was a scoundrel, it might have been considered \u2018fair comment\u2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turned out later that Mr Cant\u2019s complaint included that one phrase was put in inverted commas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aftermath<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In August 1868. John Westmorland, of 38 Old London Road, Penrith, journeyman tanner, was adjudged bankrupt. The libel case was dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Jane Robertshaw went on to marry furniture salesman Thomas Lowther and have more children. John Westmorland\u2019s son, Robert Henry Robertshaw, was part of their family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Thomas Gibson Cant did not forgive the Carlisle Journal<\/em> for the perceived slight against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was to drag it all up, and a lot more, in 1873<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But first, he was to take up the cause for Justice against Penrith police<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debauchery in Penrith is part 1 of a series on a local Victorian solicitor, but also the story of a young woman shabbily treated by her boyfriend. Thomas Gibson Cant Thomas Gibson Cant, a Penrith solicitor with strong convictions about Justice, took on variously the police, a local newspaper, and wasn\u2019t adverse to arguing with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[186],"class_list":["post-2553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-penrith"],"yoast_head":"\nDebauchery in Penrith - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Debauchery in Penrith is a timeless tale of a bloke \u2018casting off\u2019 his girlfriend when she found out she was pregnant. This case was in 1866.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Debauchery in Penrith - Cumbrian Characters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Debauchery in Penrith is a timeless tale of a bloke \u2018casting off\u2019 his girlfriend when she found out she was pregnant. This case was in 1866.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cumbrian Characters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-28T15:43:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-15T14:23:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/debauchery-in-Penrith-Cumbrian-Characters-Thomas-Gibson-Cant.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"492\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"396\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"HarrietP\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GnaOxdown\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GnaOxdown\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"HarrietP\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Debauchery in Penrith - Cumbrian Characters","description":"Debauchery in Penrith is a timeless tale of a bloke \u2018casting off\u2019 his girlfriend when she found out she was pregnant. This case was in 1866.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Debauchery in Penrith - Cumbrian Characters","og_description":"Debauchery in Penrith is a timeless tale of a bloke \u2018casting off\u2019 his girlfriend when she found out she was pregnant. This case was in 1866.","og_url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/","og_site_name":"Cumbrian Characters","article_published_time":"2024-01-28T15:43:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-15T14:23:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":492,"height":396,"url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/debauchery-in-Penrith-Cumbrian-Characters-Thomas-Gibson-Cant.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"HarrietP","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GnaOxdown","twitter_site":"@GnaOxdown","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"HarrietP","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/"},"author":{"name":"HarrietP","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ca7d1ea06be5c263e8aaedf7f4af34c7"},"headline":"Debauchery in Penrith","datePublished":"2024-01-28T15:43:08+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-15T14:23:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/"},"wordCount":831,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ca7d1ea06be5c263e8aaedf7f4af34c7"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/debauchery-in-Penrith-Cumbrian-Characters-Thomas-Gibson-Cant.jpg","keywords":["Penrith"],"articleSection":["crime"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/","url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/","name":"Debauchery in Penrith - Cumbrian Characters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/debauchery-in-Penrith-Cumbrian-Characters-Thomas-Gibson-Cant.jpg","datePublished":"2024-01-28T15:43:08+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-15T14:23:15+00:00","description":"Debauchery in Penrith is a timeless tale of a bloke \u2018casting off\u2019 his girlfriend when she found out she was pregnant. This case was in 1866.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/debauchery-in-Penrith-Cumbrian-Characters-Thomas-Gibson-Cant.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/debauchery-in-Penrith-Cumbrian-Characters-Thomas-Gibson-Cant.jpg","width":492,"height":396,"caption":"debauchery in Penrith, Cumbrian Characters, Thomas Gibson Can't,"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/28\/debauchery-in-penrith\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Debauchery in Penrith"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/","name":"Cumbrian Characters","description":"Family history is so much more than names and dates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ca7d1ea06be5c263e8aaedf7f4af34c7"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ca7d1ea06be5c263e8aaedf7f4af34c7","name":"HarrietP","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Harriet-CoA-avatar-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Harriet-CoA-avatar-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Harriet-CoA-avatar-1.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"HarrietP"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Harriet-CoA-avatar-1.jpg"},"description":"Journalist and amateur genealogist","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.pinterest.co.uk\/harrietpears\/","https:\/\/x.com\/GnaOxdown"],"url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/author\/harriet\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2553"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2594,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553\/revisions\/2594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}