Bigamy

A PLURALIST. - The Times contained the following:- “At the West Riding Court, at Bradford, the other day, a man of fifty-six years, named Robert Dalby, a schoolmaster, lately residing at Cleckheaton, and possessed of freehold property in that locality, was charged with having, while his lawful wife, Mary Copley was alive, unlawfully intermarried with three other women.

Two months ago the prisoner was committed by the magistrates for a violent assault upon Mary Ann Mortimer, his last unlawful wife, and on his return from prison he was apprehended for the offence of intermarrying with these several women. The prisoner had married no fewer than six times. One of the wives married was dead, and the ‘whereabouts’ of one could not be found. His lawful wife now living was Mary Copley. She was married to the prisoner at the parish church, Calverley, near Leeds, in the year 1841. The marriage was proved by documentary evidence, and also by witnesses who were present.

The marriages of the other three women were proved by documentary evidence, and also by the women themselves.

The prisoner was married to Ann Roberts at the Holy Trinity Church, Hulme, Manchester, in April, 1859, to Margaret Scholes at the parish church, Rochdale, on the 11th of March, 1865; and to Mary Ann Mortimer at the parish church, Birstal, near Leeds, in August, 1870.

He lived with his lawful wife and also with some of these women for several years, and had children by them. When apprehended and charged with the offence the prisoner stated that "there was only one honourable marriage in the lot," and that was "in the case of the woman from Wales" - Ann Roberts - although this was not true, and he subsequently stated, with extraordinary coolness, that "he had been for years seeking an honourable woman to settle down with.”