Maria Marten – The Murder in the Red Barn and the found ballad.

(Part of the following first appeared in the Between the Lines segment of Trad & Now magazine issue #16.)

On the 18th of May 1827 the village of Polstead in Suffolk, England was the setting for a crime that has passed into legend. The murder in the red barn of Maria Marten, and subsequent arrest, trial, execution and dissection of her secret lover, William Corder contained all the elements needed to generate ballads, plays (later movies), gossip and, of course, a feeding frenzy by the media. The plays were performed and ballads sung before William had been tried! The red barn was raided by folks hunting for souvenirs, and a tourist industry started immediately that continues to the present. I can recommend the following website to those interested in more details on the events and stories surrounding the murder.

http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/sebc/visit/redbarn-intro.cfm

One of the more famous ballads about the murder was printed as a broadside in London by James Catnach and sold over one million copies! The ballad is written from William Corder’s perspective; some say written by the man himself – a common sort of claim and unlikely. For the remarkable text and more information on this broadside have a look at this website.

http://www.nls.uk/broadsides/broadside.cfm/id/15013


Maria's story makes it to Australia.

There was at least one ballad based on the story sung in Australia. Some decades ago John Meredith collected three verses from Sally Sloane (1894 – 1982) sung to a very similar tune to the above broadside. This time the song was written from Maria’s perspective.

Here's Sally Sloane's tune:



More recently, in the early nineties, Rob Willis interviewed Carrie Milliner (nee Bobbin, 1926 – 2005). She had some fascinating memories of the story. As regular readers of ’Between the Lines’ will know, the Bobbins lived at ‘The Nullica’, in the bush outside of Eden. Carrie along with two of her siblings, Nance and Phoebe, took great delight in reciting for Rob a melodrama based on the red barn story that they had learned from old 78s as kids. Carrie recalled the terrifying nights listening to the record…

“Mum would play it – it seemed to always be a windy night – and our little old candles would be waving!”.
It seems the kids scared themselves silly learning and then reciting the melodrama to themselves out in the bush.
The 78 was a Regal Zonophone (EMI) release with four acts –

1. ‘The Dawn of Romance’
2. ‘The Tragedy Unfolds Itself’
3. ‘The Murder’
4. ‘The Hand of Justice: A Life for a Life’

The artists? Tod Slaughter & Company with Orchestra!

Thanks to Graham McDonald of the National Film and Sound Archive I have now heard the 78s - classics! When Carrie, Nance and Phoebe recited the drama they had one of the characters as Timothy Bobbin. I had assumed that they may have changed the name to familiarise the story but no - there he is - Timothy Bobbin. I'm sure this just added to the attraction of the story for the Bobbin family.

The story wasn’t new to them though. For generations the Bobbin family had sung a version of the song that had also been sung by Sally Sloane to John Meredith. Unfortunately the song was all but lost… Carrie finally tracked down her Auntie Annie’s hand-written songbook and with difficulty was able to decipher quite a lot of text. Interestingly the tune was the same as both Sally Sloane’s version and also the same as another jealousy ballad that had been sung by the same side of Carrie’s family – her Uncle Leaton’s ‘Rambling Bachelors’. Despite Carrie's best song collecting efforts however the text was scambled and incomplete. And despite my own searches a more complete version of the above song remained a mystery. The publishing of my search in an installment of my "Between the Lines" segement bore fruit however. Much to my delight I received an email from Amanda Bettesworth of Adelaide, South Australia which contained a copy of the original broadside!

Here is what Amanda has to say...

I recently completed a major research project on broadside ballads for my musicology degree - they are my main interest - it's a fascinating subject! Anyway, I do know of a broadside ballad which is related largely from Maria's perspective, and is very similar to Sally Sloane's version.

It is included in an essay by Tom Pettitt, entitled "The Suffolk Tragedy': Composition and Decomposition".

The ballad was printed by Thomas Ford in Chesterfield in the 1830s. According to Pettitt, the broadside itself is located in the Derby City Libraries: Local Studies Library. Accession no. 60374, #121.

And here, with many thanks to Amanda, is the complete ballad...

THE SUFFOLK TRAGEDY or THE RED BARN MURDER
Printed Thomas Ford, Chesterfield (1830s)

Young lovers all, I pray draw near
And listen unto me,
While unto you I do relate
A dreadful Tragedy.

As for cold-blooded cruelty
The like was never heard,
It is as true as ever was told
Or put upon record.

In the County of Suffolk
‘twas in Polstead Town,
Maria Marten lived there
By many she was known.

Her beauty caused many young men
To court her as we find,
At length upon a farmer’s son
This damsel fix’d her mind.

As they walked out one evening clear,
She unto him did say
William my dear, my time draws near,
Let’s fix our wedding day.

You know I am with child by you,
Then bitterly she cried,
Dry up your tears, my dear, says he
You soon shall be my bride.

In eighteen hundred and twenty seven
Nineteenth day of May,
Maria was dressed in men’s clothes,
Her mother then did say,

My daughter why disguise yourself,
I pray tell unto me,
Where are you going? For I fear
Some harm will come to thee.

Mother! I am going to the Red Barn
To meet my William dear,
His friends won’t know me on the road
And when I do get there

I’ll put on my wedding robes
Then we shall haste away,
To Ipswich Town, to-morrow is fixed
For our wedding day.

She straight went to the Red Barn
And never more was seen …
Until eleven months were past,
The mother dreamed a dream,

That her daughter was murdered by
The man she loved so dear,
In the Red Barn beneath the floor
Her body was buried there.

Three times she dreamed the same dream
Then to the father said,
I beg you will rise instantly,
And with you take the spade.

Our neighbour with his pickaxe
Will bear you company,
To the far corner of the Red Barn
Where our daughter does lie.

They went to the Red Barn,
The corner they were told,
The same spot the mother dream’d,
They raised the floor and mould,

When they had dug eighteen inches deep,
The body there they found
Tied in a sack, and mangled
With many a ghastly wound.

Her shawl, her bonnet, and pelisse
In the grave were found,
That eleven months had been
Buried under ground.

Soon as they were discovered
They were identified
To be Maria Marten’s when
She left home to be a bride.

A warrant soon was issued out
Against the farmer’s son
Who had married a Lady near
The City of London.

He soon was apprehended
And placed in a dreary cell,
For murdering the young girl
Who loved him so well.

And when his trial did come on
He at the Bar did stand,
Like a guilty criminal
Waiting the judge’s command.

The judge then passing sentence
Made him this reply:
You’re guilty of the Murder,
So prepare yourself to die.

You must prepare yourself to die
On Monday on the tree,
When hung the usual time thereon
Dissected you must be.

And when you bid the world farewell,
Prepared may you be
To dwell with Christ our Saviour
That died upon a tree.