CROYDON CHRONICLES: For six years at the end of the 19th Century, church services and the lives of clergymen in Croydon and in Southend were disrupted by the behaviour of one woman.
DAVID MORGAN with his latest discovery from the Minster archives 

You’d be forgiven for thinking that “stalking” was a very modern, 21st-century harassment crime, one that has been amplified by the use of social media and the internet.

Yet the Croydon Minster archives have led me to a case from more than 130 years ago, at the end of the Victorian age, when a curate at what was then Croydon Parish Church was at the centre of a stalking case that led to a court hearing.

The case was heard in the magistrate’s court in October 1894, when defendant and accused had to give evidence in front of the civic mayor, Alderman Samuel Rymer, the JP who was chairing the hearing.

Rev Thomas Gibson Hill lived in an apartment at 100 Waddon New Road and had a housekeeper there, Miss Dearing. Hill had gone to the police to put an end to the unwarranted attentions of a 30-year-old local woman. Frances Ann Goldfinch had persisted in pestering the curate for quite a time. She followed him around, speaking to him whenever she could, and generally embarrassing him.

Rev Hill had asked the police to take a softly, softly approach, to try to avoid any further embarrassment, or worse, scandal.

Court report: some of the evidence given to Croydon magistrates in October 1894

When Goldfinch  was brought before the magistrate, they suggested that she should leave Croydon. The Victorian version of a modern-day exclusion order. It was made clear to Goldfinch that if she left Rev Hill alone and kept out of his way, that would be an end of the matter.

It was also explained to her that if there was any repetition of her behaviour, then Rev Hill would have every right to go back to the police and she would have to face the consequences.

The conclusion of the case was adjourned for two months so that Goldfinch could show that she changed her behaviour.

Much attention was paid to a serious episode that had occurred on June 4 1894.

Goldfinch had gone to Waddon New Road late that afternoon and rang the curate’s doorbell, asking for Rev Hill. The housekeeper answered the door and returned to tell the curate, who was eating his tea, who was asking for him. Rev Hill directed Miss Dearing to inform Goldfinch that he was unavailable and could not see her.

In giving his evidence at the magistrates’ court, Rev Hill explained that he had already seen Goldfinch several times that day and had answered all the questions she had posed to him.

It was when Miss Dearing returned to the front door to tell Goldfinch that Rev Hill was otherwise engaged that the incident escalated. In his evidence to the bench, Rev Hill said that Goldfinch had remained on his doorstep for an hour and a half, repeatedly ringing the doorbell.

“It was only a hour and a quarter, sir,” Goldfinch interrupted from the dock.

Rev Hill was clearly annoyed with both Goldfinch’s interruption, as well as her behaviour on June 4. He continued telling the magistrates that because of Goldfinch’s erratic behaviour on that day, a crowd of around 30 children assembled in front of his house, drawn there by Goldfinch’s manner and unusual dress.

He had to leave his house later to visit a sick parishioner. As he started to walk along the road, Goldfinch began to follow him, and she was in turn followed by many of the crowd of children, some of them making hooting noises and calling her names.

Strange conduct: Goldfinch was making headlines again, 18 months after her previous appearance at Croydon magistrates’

Rev Hill described Goldfinch’s erratic gait, as she followed him, as if she had been drinking.

Goldfinch again shouted out in court that it was slur to say that she had been drinking when the curate knew full well that she had not touched a drop of alcohol for 12 years.

Rev Hill further explained that Goldfinch kept “shadowing” him. One day he might go to the hospital, the nursing institution and the YMCA. He would see her if he looked round before he went inside, and she would still be there when he came out again.

When Rev Hill concluded his evidence, the mayor asked Goldfinch what she had to say for herself. She readily admitted her guilt.

But she added to the mayor that she hadn’t annoyed Hill since last Wednesday and, in a petulant manner, told him she had kept out of Rev Hill’s way. She said that she had done her best and was walking more than 20 miles a day and that she couldn’t do any more.

Southend hearing: Goldfinch’s move to the coast did not change her behaviour

She had stayed in Croydon, she informed the court, as she was unable to procure lodgings elsewhere. She also told the court that she had known Hill for 12 years and that previously he had always answered her queries. Since the first court appearance he had acted “like a stranger” she added. She said that it was after her mother died that she became friends with him.

Yet, while she had, as ordered by the court, by and large avoided meeting or speaking to Rev Hill after the first hearing, she had instead bombarded him with letters. Hundreds of letters, over the course of just a few weeks.

Rev Hill knew her handwriting, so he had not opened any of them.

This had broken the spirit of the agreement from her last court appearance, Alderman Rymer ruled.

The mayor spoke sternly to Goldfinch. He sentenced her with a fine of 30 shillings with 6/6d costs (equivalent to around £300 today). She was given a week to pay, otherwise she would have to go to prison for 21 days.

When the mayor asked her if she was prepared to pay up, she replied that she wasn’t, and left the court waving her fur boa.

This was the impasse which Rev Hill had dreaded. The court had heard that Goldfinch’s father was at the end of his tether in not knowing what to do with his daughter. Mr Goldfinch had already written to the court to say that he would give financial help for his daughter to leave Croydon, but his offer had not been taken up by her.

Subsequent medical examinations carried out on Goldfinch showed nothing which suggested the authorities should treat her any differently from other offenders. And so, a week later, Frances Goldfinch was taken off to prison.

Goldfinch served her time and no more was heard from her for 18 months. But then, at the end of August 1896, another incident took place, this time in the Parish Church.

Goldfinch was charged with “behaving in a riotous, violent and indecent manner” in a place of public worship. After being remanded in custody for a week, she appeared before the bench on Saturday September 12.

In court, it was revealed what had happened.

This time it was not Rev Hill giving evidence but another curate, Rev Stephen Hughes-Games. He was taking the 10am service on the day in question, he told the court, and the defendant talked incessantly throughout the service, though not in a voice loud enough to hear what she was saying.

He told Goldfinch that if she didn’t stop talking and interrupting, he would call the police, as it was impossible to carry on the service.

Goldfinch told the police that Rev Hughes-Games had threatened her with excommunication from the church.

With evidence corroborated by William Groves, the verger, and a prominent member of the congregation, Howard Houlder, it was shown that when Hughes-Games had crossed himself during a prayer, Goldfinch has spoken loudly enough for many to hear, “That won’t save you.”

When Hughes-Games prayed the Lord’s Prayer and got to the phrase “as we forgive those who trespass against us”, Goldfinch spoke in a sarcastic voice, “No, as you do.”

Houlder told the court that Goldfinch had been a nuisance during midweek services for the past 18 months.

Goldfinch was remanded for a further week before the case was dismissed on the condition that Goldfinch had to leave Croydon. This time, she did as the court wanted.

Her destination was Southend, seemingly with the intention of leading a trouble-free life. She reached her destination and found some new lodgings. But it was not long before her “shadowing” behaviour resumed. This time the victim being Rev Thomas Varney from St John’s, the parish church of Southend.

In a court case from March 1899, Rev Varney complained that he had had to endure two years of harassment. Things came to a head when at an early Sunday service, he refused to give communion to Goldfinch, saying that she blatantly disobeyed the law. He told the court it was his job not only to administer the communion but to safeguard the communicants, several of whom had stopped attending church because of Goldfinch’s erratic behaviour.

Final letter: by July 1900, Frances Goldfinch was having statements published in local Southend papers to withdraw allegations made about her parish priest

When the bench asked Goldfinch why she did not just attend a different church, she told them that St John’s was her parish church and that was where she had a right to go.

In giving further evidence, Rev Varney explained that whenever people visited his lodgings, especially women, Goldfinch would be standing nearby, grinding her teeth loudly and pulling faces at them. The Southend vicar was most critical of the softly, softly approach to Goldfinch taken by the courts previously, and informed the magistrate of the church workers who had resigned their posts in Southend because of her.

Goldfinch was bound over for the sum of £5 and the churchman who knocked her down during an altercation outside church after her being refused communion was fined one shilling.

After that, Goldfinch found herself in the workhouse. Goldfinch’s short time in that institution seemed to have a marked and positive effect upon her.

In 1900, the local paper ran a piece on her, describing her as “Belinda” and being a changed person from the one who had caused trouble, first in Croydon and then to Rev Varney in Southend.

“She was well-known but not popular because of her past exploits,” the paper reported.

Goldfinch even wrote a letter to the paper exonerating Rev Varney, saying that he was quite correct to deny her communion.

Where did she head for?

She caught the train from Southend with a ticket for Newcastle upon Tyne. After which nothing more was heard – or reported – of Frances, or “Belinda”, Goldfinch. Unless, of course, you know different.

• David Morgan, pictured right, has been chronicling Croydon’s history for Inside Croydon for almost a decade. Morgan is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups

If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page

Some previous articles by David Morgan:

• This teacher’s Foss way always led her back to South East Asia
• ‘Cockney Wagner’ who wrote symphonies, waltzes and operas
• Mead’s Minster time to end after 32 years of church service
• The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history

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