Caroline Brown had been married to her 59 year old husband John Francis for 34 years when they finally separated, due to his drunkenness and his persistent violence towards her. Throughout their married life he had spent his wages in drink, leaving much of the responsibility on her to manage their financial affairs and to bring up their six children. The family had consisted of three sons and three daughters, all of whom were now married and living elsewhere. Finally in December 1867 Caroline got the courage to leave her brutal husband and now aged 56 herself, was thankful when she found a post as housekeeper to a widower named John Morton. Gratefully she took up her employment at his house on Howard Terrace, off Howard Hill, Sheffield.

Caroline was reputed to be a hard working industrious woman, who quickly made herself invaluable to her employer. Neighbours soon warmed to her as she was said to be a kindly woman who was generous and helpful. Meanwhile John Francis went to live with one of his married daughters in Eyre Lane, Sheffield. However soon after his wife had left him he lost his job, which seemed to compound his dissatisfaction with his life. As a consequence, he would regularly turn up at the house where Caroline was employed and make a nuisance of himself until she gave him some money to go away. The fact that his wife was living under the same roof as her employer also festered in his brain.

As a result he was often heard to say to acquaintances ‘I will cut her throat or hang for it.’ To his wife he made his threats more specific, and told her that he had only to put his penknife into her jugular vein ‘and you will be done for at once’. When this threat became known to their unnamed daughter and her husband they were quite concerned, as they knew that John Francis was quite capable of committing such an act against his wife. By November of 1868 his demeanour was causing his daughter concern, as he became more aggressive towards his wife. This had mainly been brought on because Caroline had finally snapped and told her husband that she would not continue to support him financially. She refused to give him any more money and told him that he now had to fend for himself.

As a result John Francis became suicidal and so his daughter was forced to hide all the knives and sharp objects in the house on Eyre Lane. Matters did not improve as her father was becoming more violent and argumentative, to the point where sometimes he appeared quite deranged. Over the Christmas period of 1868, John Francis went again to the house where his wife worked and knocked at the door in Howard Hill. He demanded angrily to see Caroline, but as he appeared so deranged, John Morton interfered and refused him entry. John Francis immediately began to threaten his wife, who he could see stood behind her employer in the passageway. Thankfully John Morton called on the help of neighbours, who had been attracted by the man’s shouted threats. Together they managed to eject John Francis and close and lock the doors against him.

However this did not pacify the enraged man who shook his fists at the house and threatened to kill Caroline the next time he saw her in Sheffield. He was quite capable of carrying out such a threat. On a previous occasion when John Francis had met her in the street he was so incensed that he punched Caroline in the face, causing her nose to bleed. In February 1869 once more John Francis went to her employers house and demanded to see his wife. However John Morton had now left strict instructions that the man was not allowed to enter the premises, and he was once more turned away. At this point Caroline was becoming quite concerned that she would lose the post of housekeeper as well as becoming very alarmed for her own safety. Kindly neighbours would keep a look out for her husband, and when he was spotted in the vicinity of the house they would let her know. Upon hearing this news Caroline would lock herself inside the house of her employer.

When she went out to do any shopping she always kept an eye out for her abusive husband, and took precautions against suddenly bumping into him in the street. Thankfully, within a matter of weeks she heard from her daughter that John Francis had started doing odd jobs for people and was earning some money for himself. However, in truth this money was usually spent in drink, which simply aggravated his anger against his wife. John Francis also seemed to be unable to keep away from the house in Eyre Street and on Wednesday 14 April 1869 he was, once again seen in the area in an intoxicated condition. Caroline upon hearing of this, kept herself inside the house in order to avoid him, but she knew that the situation was becoming desperate.

Later that day she was in the kitchen around 2 pm, and was in the act of removing the tablecloth after John Morton had finished his lunch. Suddenly she looked up and saw her husband standing in the kitchen in front of her. It seems that he had surreptitiously entered the house from a passage leading to the back door. For a moment she was frozen in terror as man and wife stared at each other. Suddenly he put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a penknife and rushed at her. Caroline screamed loudly as she tried to grab hold of his hands in order to prevent him from stabbing at her. However she was unsuccessful as he knocked her to the floor, before kicking out at her.

A neighbour, a woman called Mrs Bottom heard the scream and rushed into the kitchen of Mr Morton’s house, accompanied by a servant girl called Martha Ellett. However when the two women saw John Francis with a knife, standing over the prone body of his wife, Mrs Bottom was so terrified that she ran back to her own house. Meanwhile Martha watched in horror as John Francis once more kicked out viciously at his wife, before plunging the pen knife into her neck. The blood which flowed must have alarmed the frantic man, as he immediately threw the knife away from him before punching at the prone woman in a most brutal manner. Ironically all the time he was attacking her, the servant girl heard him say ‘why doesn’t thou not come and live with me again.’

Caroline, recognising her difficult position told him that ‘she would, if he didn’t kill her.’ It was at this point that Martha ran out into Howard Hill and screamed out loudly for help to passers-by. A man who had been working on some nearby allotments, heard her cry and ran to help. Other men followed and they went into the neighbouring house. There they found Caroline on the floor bleeding and trying to crawl away from her attacker. He had now picked up the discarded knife and was in the process of attempting to cut his own throat. However he found that the knife was too blunt. Nevertheless he was slashing at his throat in such a determined manner that a gash appeared. Now in his frenzy, he tore at the wound trying to open it with his fingers. Thankfully he was prevented by one of the men quickly grabbing his hands and holding them down by his side.

John Francis looked down at his badly injured wife and saw that she was still alive. Instead of showing remorse, he simply grinned at her before wishing the knife had been sharper so that he ‘could have finished her off.’ As two men now held him, Caroline was helped into a sitting position on the kitchen settle, but all the time she cried out in pain. Any movement, compounded by the kicks and bruises she had received at the hands of her jealous husband, hurt her badly. A surgeon Mr Hargitt soon arrived and he could see immediately that Caroline’s neck wound, although still bleeding was not as serious as those of her husband. Therefore he tried to examine the man’s neck, but John Francis twisted away from him.

Finally after about 15 minutes of calmly talking to the injured man, the surgeon managed to persuade him to put a few stitches into the wound in his throat. Meanwhile someone had sent for a police officer and Police Constable Johnson soon arrived and took control. He organised a cab to take the injured woman into the Sheffield Infirmary before taking John Francis into custody. Once at the Town Hall, the prisoner was placed in a cell along with another police officer to keep a strict eye on him. As a suicide risk, he was closely watched throughout that night in order to prevent him trying to make another attempt at opening the wound in his throat. However in all the time in police custody, the prisoner simply ranted and raved about the fact that the knife had not being sharp enough for him to ‘finish the job’.

On Thursday 15 April John Francis Brown was brought before the Mayor at Sheffield Magistrates Court where he was described by a reporter as being ‘an elderly man who was rather eccentric’. He was charged with the attempted murder of his wife, Caroline Brown. It was instantly noticeable that the prisoner had recovered his spirits. As the Chief Constable, Mr Jackson addressed the court, John Francis told him ‘speak up, will you, I can’t hear you.’ Dr Hargitt’s assistant, Mr Bentley gave evidence of Caroline Brown’s injuries, before adding that she was still recovering from her ordeal. After hearing all the evidence John Francis was remanded until his wife had fully recovered and was able to give her own testimony. It was noted throughout that the prisoner did not express any remorse for his actions, instead he simply displayed anger that he had not been allowed to speak in his own defence.

More remands took place as Caroline’s condition slowly improved until she was finally able to attend the court on Thursday 13 May 1869. Mr Smith, a house surgeon at the Infirmary, gave a description of the terrible wounds received by the injured woman during the attack. He also listed the number of bruises which she had received from her husband. However Mr Smith said that although the gash in Caroline’s neck was not a serious one, her other injuries had been quite significant. Thankfully she had now made a full recovery. Police Constable Johnson gave an account of arresting John Francis Brown and the prisoners admission that he ‘meant to do it, if the knife had just been sharp enough.’ The officer stated that after he had been taken into custody and all the way to the Town Hall, the prisoner used very bad language.

PC Johnson stated that John Francis had also accused his wife of having an improper relationship with her employer. Upon hearing this wild statement Caroline burst into tears and sobbed uncontrollably. She was so upset that she was finally led out of the courtroom upon the arm of a police officer. However during the proceedings, reporters noted the strange antics of the prisoner, as he gesticulated and mimicked the witnesses as they gave their evidence. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph dated Friday 14 May 1869 reported that:

‘The prisoner conducted himself in a strange manner while the depositions were being read over, and there is reason to believe that he is “crazy.” He excited the laughter of the court, in which even some of the magistrates joined.’

John Francis Brown was quickly found to be guilty of the crime and was ordered by the magistrates to take his trial at the next Assizes.

All the evidence from the witnesses seemed to point to the fact that the prisoner was clearly not in his right mind when he made the attack upon his wife, or even during his court appearance. Nevertheless he had been sentenced to appear at the Leeds Assizes on Saturday 7 August 1869 charged once again with attempted wife murder. Sadly, despite John Francis’s clear insanity, no defence counsel was allocated to him as he appeared in front of judge, Mr Baron Cleasby. His only defence was that he had claimed that Caroline had stripped the house of furniture and had taken away some of his clothing, which she passionately denied.

Witnesses gave clear evidence that the prisoner had shown no remorse for his actions and had stated several times that his only regret had been that the knife was not sharp enough. The judge summed up the evidence, before the jury returned a verdict that John Francis Brown was guilty of the charge. However they asked for leniency due, not to the prisoners clearly deranged mind, but simply on the grounds of his age. Mr Baron Cleasby took no notice of this as he sentenced the prisoner to 14 years imprisonment.