James was 31years old and working as a navvy in Brading Harbour. In mid October he and Maria had gone to visit her father, James Barber, and consequently moved in with him and the woman he shared his house with. On the 30th November 1878 they had all had breakfast together before Barber and his partner had left for work. When they returned to the house in the evening they found Maria Barber dead with wounds to her face, hands and neck. James Caffyn was gone but was found and arrested the next morning at Portsea. His defense argued that he had attacked her under extreme provocation and he should be found guilty of manslaughter not murder. The jury took only a few minutes to find James guilty of murder. James Caffyn concluded his defense with the following suggestion.

On the 11th February 1878 James was hung at Winchester. It was reported that he received Holy Communion and walked to the scaffold with ‘a firm step’. He died instantly.

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Jacob Caffyn 1803-1876

Jacob committed suicide by jumping in front of a South Eastern train at the Redhill junction in Surrey. A verdict of suicide while in the state of mental derangement was given. 

At the time of the 1851 census Jacob was living with his wife Sarah and his children; Frances born 1831; Peter born 1838; Margaret born 1840 and James born 1847. Jacob was working as a carrier but became a master carman (working on the trains); prior to his death he ‘had lately been in reduced circumstance’. The 1871 census shows that he was working as an agricultural labourer and living with a nephew; his wife had died the previous year.

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Edwin Caffyn 1834-1883

Edwin Caffyn was the third child born to Jacob and Sarah, he was christened in Nutfield on the 22nd June 1834. In the 1851 census he was apprenticed to his Uncle John who was a wheelwright.

In 1858 he married Isabella May Brown the daughter of Issac Brown, a victualler. They married at the parish church of St George the Martyr in Southwark. 

Edwin married for a second time in 1873 to Elizabeth Morris, a widow and daughter of George Thennell, a wool comber. They married at St Pauls in Clapham.

Edwin gave his marital state at the time of his second marriage as widowed but Isabella was still alive. In a time when divorce was not an option many unhappy couples would simple walk away from their marriages and begin afresh if illegally. In both the 1871 and 1881 census Isabella is resident in a lunatic asylum - although whether this was the cause or result of the marriage breakdown is not known.

Edwins second marriage must have been much happier than his first but tragically Elizabeth was only in her forties when she died and just a few months later, at the age of 49 years, Edwin took his own life. The inquest determined that the death of his second wife had left Edwin very depressed and as a result he had hung himself in his workshop on the 1st October 1883.

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“Caffin the Black”

Caffin the Black (he is not referred to as anything but) was executed in 1817 for the rape of a ten year old child.

The account of the event in the Times on the 26th August seems to suggest that there was some doubt as to his guilt amongst the medical community but after one delay he was nonetheless hung.

Caffin the Black was reported to be an American but not (and never had been) a slave. 

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Eleanor Caffin

In 1802 Eleanor Caffin was prosecuted for “the murder of her female bastard child on the 16th October...by throwing it into a privy”

I have not been able to trace who Eleanor is, she is one of the millions who have left little or no record behind. If it were not for this court case I would probably never have found her.

According to a witness Eleanor was not well on the 16th October but did not want any help, by the evening the witness and others were convinced she was in labour but Eleanor said not. Later on when the witness asked the local blacksmith to search; he found the body of a baby girl in the privy.

The witness said Eleanor was a good girl, a hard worker and no men seen to be interested in her. Her job was carrying loads around Covent Garden market. She had no home but slept on a straw bed in the witnesses apartment.

Eleanor was found not guilty, as the surgeon could not confirm if the baby had been born alive. In her defence Eleanor said she had not known she had been pregnant.

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William Caffyn 1807-

William Caffyn was involved in a libel case in 1849. A publication - Sam Sly - which was published from William Caffyns shop in Commercial Road, London accused the vicar of Barking of having an ‘improper relationship’ with the household cook. William Caffyns defense was that he sold the publication without being aware of the contents; once they were brought to his attention he stopped selling it. He also said that his shop acted as a post office box for the publication and he was unable to give any details of those who actually wrote the articles as he did not know them himself. 

William was found guilty and sent to prison for six months. 

In the 1851 census his wife is running the family newsagents herself as well as bringing up their young family. William is in prison again, this time White Cross Street Debtors Prison. Debtors prisons existed for those who could not pay their financial debts to society. Once the person to whom the money was owed swore to the debt at the City Court of Requests the debtor would find themselves in prison for upwards of 20 days. The prison was built in 1813 and designed to hold 400 people but on average there were 470 occupants.

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