In 1851 there was a most notorious family that lived in Rotherham, called the Tattersall’s. Both mother and father were well known to the police authorities for their drunkenness, and it was said that their sons John aged 20, and William aged 18, had inherited their parents bad habits. They also had a younger brother called George who was only 14, but even at that young age showed signs of following in the family footsteps. On Monday 31 March the family was all drinking in the Swan Inn with several others, including a stove grate fitter called George Mortomley. As the evening wore on, he was invited back to the Tattersall’s house on Westgate to carry on drinking. Some time later, Mortomley left the Tattersall’s house and bought a half a gallon of ale from a nearby beer house called Jackson’s, which he took back to the house to carry on drinking. As is inevitable with alcohol, an argument broke out between the family and Mortomley, was accused of insulting Mrs Tattersall.

Mortomley, anxious to avoid a confrontation walked out of the house, but he had not got far before he was set upon by all three Tattersall brothers and thrown to the ground. Even the youngest, George wielded a poker and hit Mortomley three times over the head. The poor man tried to protect himself with his arms, which as a result were bruised and bleeding. To his horror he saw that the eldest William had something bright in his hand, as he told him ‘I’ll give you some of this’ and he received a vicious cut on the nose. Mortomley managed to get to his feet, but the two men and the boy continued beating and kicking at him, until he shouted ‘murder, murder’ at the top of his voice. Police constable Timms who was on duty not far away, heard the shouts, and rushed to the scene where he found Mortomley bleeding profusely from head wounds and the cut on his nose. He arrested William, John and George Tattersall and they were taken to the police cells and searched. William denied having a knife in his possession and none was found on him. He told the constable that Mortomley had started the fight in the first place. William claimed that he had brought some ale to the house, and shortly afterwards he upset their mother before abusing young George. A surgeon was called to deal with Mortomley wounds, which were quickly stitched up. When PC Innes returned back to where the attack had taken place, he found a clasp knife with blood on the blade. He showed the knife to Mortomley who identified it as his own. When William, George and John appeared in court the following day they were found guilty of cutting and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and all three were sent to take their trial at the next assizes. They  applied for bail, but it was only granted in the case of George and John.

When one of the assize judges, Mr Justice Williams discussed the case with the Grand Jury before the trial commenced in July 1851, he told them that from the depositions it would seem that William Tattersall was the only person to actually use the knife. However he told the jury that if they agreed, then the question they had to consider was how far the other two brothers were responsible for his having done so. Mr Justice Williams told them that:

‘if several persons are engage in assaulting another man, they are all answerable for the acts of each other in what is called common purpose. Therefore if you think there is evidence of common purpose then you must find a true bill against all three prisoners. But if you find there was no common purpose, and that William alone was intending grievous bodily harm, you must find a true bill against that prisoner alone and throw out the bills against the other two’. 

This Grand Jury agreed and the case against John and George Tattersall was dismissed.

Therefore William Tattersall stood alone in the dock at the York assizes on Tuesday 16 July 1851 before Mr Justice Platt, charged with the attack on George Mortomley. The prosecutor, Mr Pickering described the row which had developed involving ‘one of the worst families in the town’. PC Innes described how he had gone back to the scene of the crime and found the knife, which had been identified as one belonging to Mortomley. The constable suggested that knife had dropped through a hole in the mans pocket during the struggle, and the prisoner picked it up and used it. William’s defence counsel Mr Overend blamed the incident on the prisoners ‘intemperate parents’ who on the night in question were very drunk. He claimed that Mortomley attempted to render them even more inebriated, before he insulted Mrs Tattersall and was driven out of the house. Mr Overend suggested that Mortomley had taken the knife out to defend himself, and in the scuffle had cut himself on the nose, before William picked it up. A respectable, unnamed witness gave William a most excellent reference, before the jury found him not guilty on the charge of cutting and stabbing, but guilty of unlawful wounding. They also recommended him to mercy in view of his young age. The judge agreed and sentenced William to just one month’s imprisonment.

There is little doubt that if indeed this was one of the worst families in Rotherham, the people of the town and the legal authorities might have been hoping for a much longer sentence.