Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 09 December 1922
A Wife’s Hard Lot
On Saturday, at Doncaster, Denaby miner, Thomas Barnett, was summoned by his wife Margaret for persistent cruelty.
She alleged she had had a bad time with him from the first week they were married. He did not give her any money and they received assistance from his mother.
Since then he had been persistently cruel. She had been hit practically every week since they had been married. He struck her whether he was drunk or sober.
Among the witnesses called was the N.S.P.C.C. Inspector, who said the children presented a pinch, starved appearance, and had not the wife brought these proceedings the Society would have felt bound to prosecute.
The defendant said he would provide a home for his wife, but the wife declined to go back to him, and the Bench made a maintenance order of 20/– a week.