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Bigamists with Brentford connections: Sarah Finney

With thanks to Lorraine Dicksee for her original research into bigamists with Brentford connections.

John Peek

John Peek probably never knew who his birth parents were. It is only now almost 180 years after his birth that it is possible to identify his parents with the aid of careful research supported by DNA evidence. I haven't managed to establish his father's identity, but it was easy to ascertain that his mother was Anne Amelia Peek. Anne's father died in 1847, her mother having died much earlier in 1836 when Anne was just eight years old, so she went into domestic service at a young age. It would not be at all surprising if she had been taken advantage of by the master of the house or his son. The 1851 census shows her working as a servant at the Isleworth residence of a widowed publican and his two children, so the premises were very likely a beer house.

Anne's child, who she named John Edward Peek, was born in Isleworth in 1850 but was quickly taken into the care of his mother's married sister, Priscilla West (nee Peek), later moving to live with Anne's paternal second cousin. William Henry Peek, a waterman, & wife Martha treated John as their own son alongside their six natural children - all born in Brentford between 1846 and 1859 - and the impression is that John was never told the truth about his parentage. The only reason I suspected John was not the couple's own son was because all the other children's births were easy to find but there appeared to be no birth record for John. In the 1861 census return John and his new family can be found living at Catherine Wheel Yard in Brentford, although by this time Martha was a widow. John's mother married Edward Nicholas 18 months after giving up her baby son. Anne and Edward went on to have numerous children, but John was never on the scene.

Most likely John became an apprentice waterman to his adoptive father William; by the time of the 1871 census, at the age of 18, John was working as a mate aboard the barge 'Mary' along the Thames.

The bigamous marriage and the earlier one

Fast forward ten years and John was a lighterman living in Ealing with Sarah Finney who he stated to be his wife even though she was listed with her maiden surname. They married another five years later, in 1886 at St Paul's Church, Old Brentford, having already lived together as man and wife for eleven years. Contrary to the surname she used in the 1881 census return, Sarah told the registrar her maiden surname was Millard - this was her mother's maiden surname: Sarah was born six years before her parents married but despite this her birth was registered with her father's surname.

At the time of their marriage John and Sarah were living in Old Spring Gardens, Brentford, and look to have had a violent relationship right from the start. In October 1886, within a few months of their wedding, Sarah prosecuted him at Brentford Police Court for assault - he had taken to beating her, usually when drunk - and asked the court to agree a legal separation, but the court refused, instead binding John over to keep the peace for three months. Just one month later they were back before the magistrate who on this occasion imprisoned John for one month but again refused to authorise the separation.

In March 1887 the court saw the couple again when Sarah accused John of using threatening language towards her when he arrived home drunk and demanded money which she refused. John was fined and bound over again and so it went on (news above left).

In December 1887 Sarah pursued unpaid maintenance arrears through the Brentford Police Court and on the same day John prosecuted Sarah for bigamy. They had presumably been separated for a while, Sarah now living in Brentford's Market Place and John having to pay her maintenance of seven shillings per week, so presumably John was financially motivated to 'shop' Sarah (news above right).

Sarah had married Brentford chimney sweep George William Lewis back in 1857, but he deserted Sarah in around 1874. Within a year, Sarah was living with John Peek. It is interesting that Sarah and John were together for about 11 years before marrying. This implies they were probably waiting for a period of time to pass that would help them avoid any law breaking. It was commonly known that in certain circumstances if a person had not seen or heard from their spouse for at least seven years, they might assume their partner was deceased and could possibly have them declared as such. Some couples believed they could simply be separated for long enough and that would be sufficient to free the 'surviving' partner of their obligations to the relationship. The difficulty that presented itself was that the prosecution promised to provide witnesses to testify that George Lewis had much more recently been seen around Brentford.

After several hearings, the prosecutor remained unable to produce a witness to corroborate the fact that George Lewis had been seen recently. The best anyone could do was say that he had gone away about 12 years ago and had pretty much not been seen at all until the bigamy trial started when the prosecutor brought him to court to be identified as still being alive. The case against Sarah was dismissed.

Despite denying she understood she was breaking the law, Sarah clearly at the very least recognised she needed to be careful when undertaking a second marriage as she was already married to another man who was still alive. For what other reason would she need to use a different surname? And why say she was a spinster at the second ceremony if she believed herself to be a widow? Nobody seemed to have posed these questions, although this may possibly have been because this fact alone would not be enough to convict Sarah and it needed to be certain she knew George was alive. And did her bigamous husband John Peek know what was going on? I cannot see how he wouldn't have known. This was alluded to but John wasn't pursued for aiding and abetting once the case against Sarah failed.

George Lewis, Sarah's first husband

Sarah Finney had known George Lewis from childhood. They lived in the same street – Back Lane, Old Brentford. Sarah's father was a lighterman's labourer and George's father John a chimney sweep, an occupation he passed on to his son, and which carried George through his life. Sarah & George married in 1857 when George was in his twenties and Sarah 19 and the relationship lasted into the 1870s. In the 1861 census return they can be found living together in British School Alley, Old Brentford. George and Sarah look to have had three children, all born in Brentford: John Joseph born 1859 who died in infancy, Elizabeth born circa 1865, and Emily born 1868.

In the 1871 census return the family is shown as living in Brentford High Street with George continuing his work as a sweep. I have tried to ascertain at which number in the High Street they would have lived: the nearest neighbour I can find is cheesemonger Thomas Gomm who was a couple of doors along and assessed on the website as being at no. 72. I don't know if it's a clue, but a chimney sweep (of a totally different name – Richard Neighbour) was said to have been located at no.74 by 1901.

After 1871, I can see George nowhere until he watched over his wife's bigamy trial at Brentford Police Court in January 1888. Had he perhaps gone overseas in the interim period? I just don't know. What we can see is that after his reappearance, he used his middle name William instead of George, but he did remain back in Brentford until the end of his life, apparently never remarrying.

The aftermath for John Peek and Sarah

It also appears John Peek kept his head down after the farce of the bigamy trial. Aside from the 1901 census where I found him living alone as a boarder at the home of Mrs Joyce at 6 Harnage Road, Brentford, I have no information regarding his future. He was working as a lighterman and had told his landlady he was unmarried.

I can't see that Sarah had any children with John and she, too, seems to have stayed below the radar after escaping a penalty for committing bigamy.

Links

June Newman has Peek ancestry (also Smith, Emmett, Hooper and Mumford)

Colin Halstead has Lewis ancestry.

The Millard family features in Vic Rosewarne's history of the Catherine Wheel.

Photo and history of Old Spring Gardens, home of John Peek and Sarah Finney when they married in 1886.

Lorraine has researched the lives other bigamists with Brentford connections: Stephen Cummins Deer/Dear and Joseph Whitehead.

Published October 2026