The Shearwood Sisters

My great great great grandmother, Sarah Shearwood, had four sisters and one brother. An obituary of one of her sisters, Helen Shearwood (kindly sent to me by Chris Rathbone), details a most unusual story. Their father, John Shearwood, was a solicitor and acquired a large amount of property. With the exception of an estate in Dore bequeathed to his son, the remainder he left to his wife and after her death to his daughters, but with strict provisos.

On the death of John Shearwood in 1820, the daughters continued to live with their mother at Sharrow Mount, the family home. She died in 1836. Sarah had married in 1832 and her sister Mary was also now married to a Jonathon Hobson. Mary provided in her will that her fifth of the property would go to her husband if she died first, but that he should lose that interest if he remarried.

In the event, Mary died very early in 1837 aged 43 years old. And this is where the trouble started. Two of the three unmarried daughters (Elizabeth and Helen) stoutly maintained that it was their father's intention to leave the property to the unmarried daughters and therefore they would not permit Mr Hobson to take any share. He filed a bill in Chancery but Helen and Elizabeth held possession of the deeds and refused to bring them into Court. Despite warnings from the Court of Chancery, they maintained their refusal. The Court then instructed their Sargent-at-Arms, with the support of other offices, to go to Sharrow Mount in Sheffield and bring the two ladies to London. They still refused to to surrender the deeds and were confined to the Queen's Bench Prison. FOR THIRTEEN AND A HALF YEARS.

Their release eventually came with the influence of Mr George Hadfield, who became an MP for Sheffield. He had been articled to their father and gained the consent of Mr Hobson to have them let go without purging their contempt. It was not until 1870 that the matter was mainly resolved when Mr Hobson married again and under the terms of the will, he was dispossessed of his interest in the property.

Miss Helen Shearwood was afterwards declared a lunatic. Miss Elizabeth continued in her refusal to answer any legal proceedings and the Court again ordered she be detained and was conveyed to York Castle. There she met a solicitor who persuaded her to answer the proceedings and she was allowed to return home.