Article (5): the missing £5 note

One law for all

After leaving her job in London as a housemaid for a judge’s wife, Lydia Crouchman received accusations of theft made by this lady. Her previous employer claimed that she had stolen a £5 note. After taking advice from her network, including a solicitor’s clerk, Lydia sued her employer for libel. The charge had a basis. Lydia had secured possible new employment with a Bournemouth resident. Her previous employer sent a telegram to Bournemouth concerning the supposed theft. As a result, Lydia did not get this job. Although the press made much of the case, details of the judgment have not survived.

The story illustrates how, in Victorian England, a labouring person could apply the law for protection against bullying by a social superior. Lydia’s personal and working life, when encountering people of a higher social station, would have revolved around unquestioning deference. The system operated on the basis that her social superiors could do no wrong. Lydia’s employer had lived in India; her husband worked in the Raj judiciary. Thus, the story may also illustrate how British Indians could apply concepts of servitude to extreme lengths. Later events in this lady’s life suggest at least one other example of this behaviour.

This event has little to do with Bournemouth, except that it might have become the place where Lydia took her next job. Nevertheless, the events reflect how much modern technology had by then plugged a once-isolated convalescent colony into the national network. Lydia travelled on the train to attend an interview with her prospective employer in Bournemouth. Furthermore, her accuser conducted a virtual pursuit by sending a telegram to prevent her from winning this new job. Lydia’s story also illustrates how her social superiors would, without question, band together despite having no apparent previous personal acquaintance.

For aspects of the social lives of British Indians in Bournemouth, see here and here.