Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 3 August 1894
Conisborough Case – False Registration of Births
Allan Marshall, labourer, Conisborough, was charged with giving false information to the registrar of births and deaths at Balby on 24 February.
Mr. F. E. Nicholson, of Doncaster, explained that a man named Nicholson, of Cantley, had been sentenced to penal servitude for seven years for committing rape. His wife, Lucy Emma Nicholson, subsequently lived with Allan Marshall at Conisborough.
On 24 February, Marshall visited the registrar at Balby and registered the births of two children as though they were the offspring of a marriage between himself and Lucy Emma Nicholson.
Shortly afterwards, the deaths of the two children were registered, one having lived eleven hours and the other three days. Their births and deaths had therefore been entered under false particulars.
Lucy Emma Nicholson gave evidence confirming the circumstances. She admitted that the children were illegitimate but denied instructing Marshall to register them as legitimate.
Marshall explained that he had registered the children in this manner to avoid trouble for their mother.
The Bench imposed a fine of 20s. and 19s. costs, or 14 days’ imprisonment.