In April of 1853 there lived in Sheffield an 18 year old girl called Mary Ann Stocks, who saw herself as being a very independent young woman. Her father was a constable in the Sheffield Police force and probably because of his job, he was very strict with her. Naturally this meant that Mary Ann kept her own counsel on many matters which would annoy him. One of those secrets that she kept from him was the fact that she had started a relationship with a much older man. He was 38 year old Stephen Brown, who flattered the younger girl, and told her that he was from Ashover in Chesterfield.

When he asked her to marry him Mary Ann agreed without hesitation, but given her father position he suggested that they marry in secret. Mary Ann was happy to comply with his wishes and the couple made their plans accordingly. She hugged the secret knowledge to herself as he made arrangements for them both to be married at Rotherham Parish Church [now the Minster] on Sunday10 April 1853. Mary Ann had only told a few friends of her intentions, including two girls who acted as her bridesmaids. Consequently on the morning of her wedding she rose early and left the house as usual at 7.30 am. Instead of going to work though, she met Brown and the pair set off for Rotherham.

Consequently it was sometime in the afternoon before her father, James Stocks was informed that his daughter hadn’t shown up for work that morning. He spoke to some of her friends and workmates and the truth came out. He was told that she had run off to get married that morning at Rotherham. To compound matters, some of his daughters workmates were very suspicious that Brown was already married. Using his police contacts Constable Stocks quickly established that not only was Brown already married and had a wife in Chesterfield, but also that after the wedding the pair had returned back to Sheffield. At that very moment they were both installed in a furnished room off Pond Street.

Taking another officer with him, it was around 8 pm when Stocks went to the house and broke open the door of the bedroom the pair were sharing. There he found them both in bed. Stocks told Brown that Mary Ann was his daughter and that very morning he had committed bigamy with her. Brown denied this and informed Stocks that he was not taking his ‘wife’ away and a struggle ensued. Stocks managed to pull Mary Ann out of bed and hand her over to the safety of his colleague. He then proceeded to give Brown a sound thrashing, leaving the man bleeding on the floor of the bedroom he had so recently shared with his daughter.

The following day Monday 11 April, Constable Stocks went to the Town Hall in order to take out a summons against Brown for bigamy. He found his daughter’s seducer was already there and was making out a counter summons against him for assault. The Chief Constable of Sheffield, Mr Raynor was in his office that morning, when he heard the sound of raised voices coming from the police office. Going to the door he demanded to know what the noise was all about. Stephen Brown saw the Chief Constable and insisted that he wanted his ‘wife’ back. He also told him that he intended taking a summons out against PC Stocks for the assault the previous day.

Mr Raynor brought both men into his office and the story of the illicit wedding came to light. Brown showed him a marriage certificate dated the day before at Rotherham, but Stocks told his superior that he had heard that Brown was already married, therefore he wanted him charged with bigamy. Brown told him that was a lie and that he had never been married before. After listening to both accounts, Mr Raynor told Stocks to get proof of Brown’s previous marriage and to bring it to him as soon as possible. On Wednesday 13 April therefore, Stocks travelled to Chesterfield where he succeeded in obtaining a copy of the certificate of marriage. It clearly stated that the marriage of Stephen Brown and a woman called Jane Todd took place in July 1844.

Returning back to Sheffield, Stocks told Mr Raynor that he had spoken to Mrs Brown and made arrangements for her to travel to Sheffield to attend the magistrates court. A summons was taken out against Brown, who was arrested and taken before the stipendiary magistrate. He was given bail and ordered to return back to the court the next morning, when the evidence against him would be heard. On Thursday 14 April 1853, it was just after 10 am when Constable Stocks and his daughter were walking towards the magistrates court at the Town Hall to give their evidence. What they did not know was that Brown had spotted father and daughter in a street off the Wicker. He decided to follow them, still determined on extracting his revenge.

As the officer and his daughter approached Waingate, just opposite the Town Hall, Stocks suddenly found himself seized from behind. Twisting around he saw that it was Brown and that he had a pistol in his hand. To his horror, the man placed the gun next to his head and fired. Thankfully the gun misfired, giving Stocks sufficient time to knock the pistol to the floor. Stocks could barely believe it therefore when Brown brought out a second gun and once again tried to shoot the officer. Thankfully bystanders had seen the tussle and the man was grabbed by two other men who were passing. Between the three of them they frog-marched him to the Town Hall where Stephen Brown was arrested and searched.

Both guns were closely inspected and were found to be heavily charged with powder and ball. It would seem that if the first gun had not misfired, then Stocks would undoubtedly be dead. Later that same day, Brown was brought before the magistrates charged with both the serious attempt to injure Police Constable Stocks as well as bigamy. However the bench made the decision to ignore the prisoners summons for assault against Constable Stocks. They then proceeded to try the prisoner on the charge of bigamy. The Police constable was the first witness and he gave his account of snatching his daughter from the arms of the man he knew to be a bigamist.

He said that as he broke in the room where Brown and his daughter were, he shouted at him that she was his daughter and he wanted her to be restored back to him. The prisoner coolly replied that she was his ‘wife’ and that her father had no claim on her now, as they had been married that morning. At that point the prisoner was asked if he had anything to say. Audaciously it was Brown who called Stocks a villain for dragging his ‘wife’ out of his bed. The magistrate Mr Butcher reminded the prisoner:

‘You are the villain of the piece. Stocks was perfectly justified in retrieving his daughter and thrashing you. You deserved all you got, and if you had married a daughter of mine under such circumstances, I would have thrashed you even more severely if I could’

Mr Raynor then asked for a remand, which the magistrates granted.

Stephen Brown was brought back before the bench on Friday 15 April and James Stocks once again was the first to give evidence. He told the court that he had been a constable in the Sheffield police force for the last 13 years, and swore that he had never met the prisoner before he heard that his daughter had been abducted by him. The officer described rescuing her from the prisoners clutches and his journey to Chesterfield to prove his bigamy. He then described the attack, as he and his daughter were making their way to the Town Hall. Constable Stocks stated that he had suddenly felt something hard pressed against the lower part of the back of his head, and heard Brown say ‘Thou’s had thy turn, now I’ll have mine.’

The courtroom was silent as he described hearing the gun go off, before he knocked at the hand holding the pistol. The witness said that the weapon fell onto the pavement, but as he looked up the prisoner was pointing a second gun at him. Without thinking, Stocks said that he pushed Brown up against a wall, before two men who he later found out were called James Watts and Henry Rickards came to his rescue. The three men managed between them to get the prisoner inside the Town Hall where he was arrested and charged. However Brown already had his own version ready. He claimed that he had attacked the girl’s father, but not with a gun but with a stick with which he had poked him in the head.

The prisoner then accused Stocks of using unnecessary violence on him and during the struggle that followed, he had struck him half a dozen times quite viciously. He said that as a result he still had lumps at the back of his head. However Stocks’ evidence was followed by the two witnesses James Watts and Henry Rickards, who confirmed the officer’s account before Rickards described how the had disarmed the prisoner. He said that after the struggle, he took the guns into the Town Hall and handed them over to Mr Raynor. The Chief Constable then gave his evidence of Stephen Brown’s former wedding, and confirmed that his wife was a woman called Jane Todd. He told the court that he had hoped that she would be able to give evidence, but she could not appear at that time as she had just given birth to a baby. Mr Raynor produced a medical certificate to authenticate this from a Chesterfield surgeon.

However he said that had found another witness who had acted as bridesmaid at the same wedding, who could give evidence against the prisoner. He asked for a remand for an unstated period in order for that witness to be able to attend the court, which was granted. When the bench reconvened on Friday 29 April the two charges against Stephen Brown were read out. The magistrates decided that the first charge of the attempted murder of James Stocks was the most serious and therefore that would be proceeded with first. The girl herself, Mary Ann Stocks was brought into the court to give evidence, and the crowded courtroom seemed to be very interested to view the young girl, who was at the centre of this case.

She looked nervous, but gave her evidence in a firm clear voice. The witness told the court that she lived with her father in Andrew Street, on the Wicker and that she had become acquainted with the prisoner about six or seven weeks previously. Mary Ann said he was was lodging at a house near to Andrew Street and so they became acquainted as she walked back and forward to work. He told her that he was single. Mary Ann described how the prisoner started to ‘pay his addresses’ to her without her parents knowledge or consent, before she described the wedding at Rotherham Parish Church. The young girl confirmed that after the wedding they returned back to Sheffield, where Brown took her to a furnished room in Pond Street.

Mary Ann’s voice dropped as she described how her father had burst into the room and taken her home that very same night. Recovering herself slightly, the witness finally gave an account of the attempted murder of her father. She confirmed that Brown had pointed a gun at him, which thankfully had misfired. The Chief Constable was the next witness and he stated that when Brown was at his office, he had categorically said that he had never been married before. Even when the witness had shown Brown the certificate of marriage, the man still continued to deny it was his and demanded that his ‘wife’ be returned back to him. Mr Raynor also described the two guns which had been handed in to him after being used in the attack.

He said that were both found to be heavily charged and seemed to be in good repair. He reminded the court that if the first gun had not misfired, the prisoner would be facing a much more serious charge. After hearing all the evidence, the bench then proceeded with the second charge of bigamy. Mary Ann Stocks repeated her testimony of her marriage with the prisoner on Sunday 10 April at Rotherham. Then a young woman called Maria Barker introduced herself to the court, as the wife of Edward Barker of Chesterfield. She confirmed that she had attended the marriage of her friend Jane Todd to the prisoner, which had also taken place at the Rotherham Parish Church, on 4 July 1841.

Barker told the court that the couple had not been married very long, when the prisoner left his new wife and went away looking for work. After that Brown returned for a short while, before leaving home once again. The witness said that after this last time, Jane Todd had told her that she never saw him again until 1850, when they bumped into each other at Chesterfield Races. The witness said that the prisoner asked Jane to come to Sheffield and live with him again, but she refused. When asked a question by one of the bench, Barker confirmed that Jane Todd was still alive and living in Chesterfield. Cross-examined by the prisoners defence solicitor Mr Fretson, she admitted that Jane was now living with another man, who was a net maker named William Miller. The couple had lived together for the past four or five years and had two children together.

Mr Raynor then reminded the court of the prisoners statement to him, that he had never been married before he produced the two wedding certificates. These were shown to Brown and he was asked if he had anything to say. The prisoner under advice from his solicitor replied that he hadn’t. The magistrates then ordered him to be committed to take his trial at the next York Assizes. Stephen Brown was brought before Mr Justice Erle at the Yorkshire Summer Assizes on Wednesday 13 July 1853, charged with the malicious shooting of Police Constable James Stocks at Sheffield. Mr Gresham the prosecution, opened the case and gave the details to the court, after which he asked the prisoner, who was undefended if he had anything to say.

Brown made a long rambling statement, denying vehemently that he had enticed the girl away from her father. Instead he claimed that she had been the one who had encouraged him to marry her. The defendant said that he had not been the one who had sought the acquaintance with Mary Ann, which had been brought about by some neighbours. He claimed that a friend who lived next door to the house he was lodging in, had brought her to him one Sunday night and told him ‘Stephen I have brought you a wife’. Brown said something along the lines of ‘you are very kind’ before Mary Ann came into the house and sat with him on the sofa. He told the court that his friend then urged him to pay for some ‘courting ale’ and he willingly gave them some money.

Brown said that for several nights afterwards Mary Ann had come to his house of her own accord to see him. He told the judge that instead of her father statement that she had been a dutiful daughter, Mary Ann had told him that she was desperate to leave home because her father was so strict with her. The prisoner said that she had told him the situation had become so bad, that she had seriously considered killing herself on two different occasions. Thankfully both times she had lost courage and had gone back home. Significantly, Brown said the girl had told him on more than one occasion that if someone did not take her away from home soon, she would certainly make away with herself.

The prisoner claimed that he had married with her encouragement, rather than it being the other way round. The judge reminded Brown that they were dealing with the case of the shooting at the girl’s father, not for the bigamy offence. Brown then agreed that he had followed Stocks and his daughter up the Wicker in order to tell him this. However he said that when he tried to talk to him, the man just wouldnt listen. Brown said that as they got near to the Town Hall, he had simply tapped Stocks on the shoulder with his finger, not with a gun, He claimed that he had kept the other hand in his pocket, holding onto a gun which he had concealed there. His new account now said that when Stocks attacked him, he had automatically pulled his hand out of his pocket to defend himself, and had withdrawn the gun by accident.

However Brown let himself down badly by being forced to admit that he had two guns in his possession that day. The prisoner concluded by denying ever having pointed either of the guns at the girls father. Constable Stocks then took the stand and again described the prisoner deliberately pointing the gun at him, which had been witnessed by his daughter. Mary Ann Stocks confirmed her fathers account, before the court heard from the two witnesses at the scene James Watts and Henry Rickards. They both confirmed the fact that the prisoner had pointed a gun at Stocks and that it had misfired. At this point the prisoner shook his head and told the judge ‘do what you like with me, its all the same. I can see that its a made up thing amongst you all to swear as you like’.

The judge, Mr Justice Erle summed up the case for the jury and said to them that they had to decide if the gun had been pointed at Stock’s head with the intention to murder him, or whether the prisoner only wished to inflict some grievous bodily harm. His lordship said that if the jury were satisfied that Brown had pulled the trigger, fully intending to empty the contents into the head of James Stocks, then they must find the prisoner guilty of attempted murder. The jury consulted for a few minutes before finding the prisoner guilty. Mr Justice Erle agreed with them, but added that he should defer judgement in order to be consistent with what was due to public justice. The prisoner was the dismissed.

Stephen Brown was brought back into court the following Tuesday 19 July 1853 for sentencing. The same judge told the jury:

‘There is too much evidence to ignore from witnesses that the prisoner had fully intended to shoot PC Stocks. The fact that he had loaded two pistols showed that his intentions were quite clear. It could not be overlooked that he had pointed both of them at the father of the young woman who he had already ruined. The prisoner had therefore entrapped a young girl into an illegal marriage in order to achieve his object, and because of that he was bound to pass on him a most severe sentence’.

He then sentenced Stephen Brown to be transported for fifteen years. He was transported on the convict ship Stag along with another 224 convicts and they landed in Western Australia to begin his sentence on 23 May 1855.