In June of 1873, a twenty two year old collier named George Nixon married his childhood sweetheart Sarah Ann who was aged just 16. However the marriage was not a happy one, mainly due to the fact that George was extremely jealous of his young wife, and that as a consequence he acted very violently towards her. After one serious assault at Barnsley, where the couple were then living, Sarah Ann took out a warrant against him, and George was forced to appear before the magistrates. He was ordered to live peaceably with his wife with sureties for his own good behaviour. George remained unrepentant however and soon after this assault on 30 November the couple decided to finally separate for good.
Sarah Ann returned back to Rotherham to live with her parents, whilst he stayed in Barnsley. Within a matter of weeks, George gave up his employment and followed his wife to Rotherham, where he managed to get lodgings on Wellgate. He visited Sarah at her parents house, and after he obtaining employment at Denaby Main Colliery, George convinced Sarah that he was going to ‘turn over a new leaf,’ As in many such similar cases she agreed to give the marriage another try. On Friday 18 December 1873 George persuaded his wife to go for a walk with him that evening, along the canal bank near to the Northfield Iron works at Rotherham. The couple were accompanied by Sarah’s 14 year old brother, William Henry.
They had arrived at a secluded spot by the bridge at Parkgate where George made an indecent question to which, mindful of her young brothers presence, Sarah refused. Suddenly George grabbed her and threw her to the ground and taking out his pocket knife he waved it in her face. At this point Sarah had enough and she told him that she threatened that she would ‘fetch him up before the magistrates again’. In reply George stated that ‘he would kill her first before he allowed her to do that to him again’. Pulling out his clasp knife, he attempted to stab his wife in the throat. Whether it was due to her struggles, or to the fact that her young brother was trying to pull the man off his sister, George only succeeded in stabbing at her collar bone.
Although initially the wound started to bleed, it was later established that he had inflicted little damage. Determined to still Sarah’s struggles, her husband then straddled her body and attempted to stab her again. The desperate girl raised her hands to defend herself, and as a result George slashed her right thumb almost in two. Throwing his knife down in anger, he then attempted to carry her bodily and place her in the water in order to drown her in the canal. George had almost succeeded when her cries for help attracted two men to the scene, who quickly separated the couple. Sarah got to her feet and ran into Rotherham still bleeding profusely from her wounds.
Arriving at the police station, she gave a statement to Sergeant Turner who was on duty at the time. The injured woman pointed out her husband who had followed her, and said ‘that was the man who attacked me’. The sergeant promptly arrested George Nixon, and when the officer asked him why he had done it, his prisoner simply stated that ‘he was determined to kill her’. Meanwhile Sarah was being treated by surgeon Mr W H Pearce, who found that although there was plenty of blood, her wounds were thankfully just superficial. Consequently on Monday 22 December George was brought before the Rotherham Police Court charged with the attempted murder of his wife.
Sarah gave evidence that she left her husband at Barnsley on 30 November and returned back to Rotherham. She told the court that on Thursday 10 December George came to Rotherham and asked her to go back to live with him if he got work in Rotherham and she agreed. But then unaccountably he lost his temper and struck her in the street. On the Friday 18 December she agreed to meet him again and once more described what happened as he tried to kill her. One of the men who had rescued the girl was called John Doherty and he told the magistrates that when the two men heard cries of ‘murder’ they found the woman laying on her back on the canal footpath with her head hanging over the side of the canal.
Kneeling over her was the prisoner who had his hands raised as it to hit her. When he saw Doherty approach he lowered his hand, but he told him ‘if you hadn’t come I would have murdered her and thrown her into the cut’. Sergeant Turner gave evidence that it was about 6pm when the woman approached him in College Yard, and pointing out the husband who had attacked her. The sergeant told the court that he had promptly arrested him, before he produced the knife which had been used in the assault. Sergeant Turner was asked by a member of the bench if the prisoner had been sober at the time, and the officer stated that he was. When George was asked to explain his attack, he claimed that he had simply acted out of passion.
He said that he had heard that his wife had deceived him with another man, and repeated again the threat that ‘even if sentenced that he would ‘do for his wife when he got out of prison’. The magistrates consulted together only for a short time before finding the prisoner guilty. Consequently George Nixon was brought before the Leeds Assizes on Monday 6 April 1874 in front of judge, Mr Baron Pollock. The judge told him that ‘the attack was a very determined one and if not for the intervention of the two men, he might be facing a much more serious charge’.
Mr Vernon Blackburn, his defence counsel, told the court that his client had acted under the most provoking of circumstances, and emphasised the fact that the wounds inflicted on his wife were only of a superficial nature. The jury agreed and they returned a verdict that the prisoner was not guilty of attempted murder, but guilty of the lesser charge of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm. Mr Baron Pollock then sentenced George Nixon to 18 months imprisonment.