One of my favourite books is a book called 'The Terrace Gaol' by Peter Methven. I refer to it many times to check certain things. This is where I first heard of the 'Old Granny' I'd always been curious about her so I've been looking into it and discovering who she was. It wasn't hard to discover who she was but she does still hold some mystery.
Sometime in 1920 a Mr George Mitchel M.P. visited the Terrace gaol. He was able to make a thorough inspection of the gaol and grounds. The matron showed him around the old buildings which served as the women’s quarters. He observed that the female prisoners were mainly busy with washing, ironing and mending. The matron then introduced him to a woman sitting in a small room saying “This is Granny. She is 85 years of age, and was up for vagrancy, as no one would take her in on account of her 33 convictions. The magistrate said it was his painful duty to send her to gaol for two years so that she might have a home. Drink has been her life trouble. It is a shame, poor old thing! We are doing all we can for her but still this is gaol and poor old Granny must sit here and wait for death”
George Mitchell went on to say a lump filled his throat as he looked at the white-headed old woman sitting motionless on a wooden chair, with her hands crossed and eyes fixed on the fire perhaps thinking of her few remaining hours which she, at 85 years must resignedly spend, waiting death in gaol.
A week later a letter to the editor appeared in the paper. It was from Edwin Arnold, a visiting justice for prisons. He first praised George Mitchell for being a gentleman for the good of all classes. He then started talking about Granny. He wanted the public to know how well cared for she was. He said that the governor of the prison, the gaol doctor and two matrons give her every comfort they can. She has a good fire and if needed another prisoner to help her at any time she needs help. He continued to say that despite all this, it is still a prison and he was trying to get her into a home. He enclosed to the paper all the correspondence of what he was doing to find her a place. He said it is not likely she will be left to die in the prison.
8 days later a small article appeared in the paper. It stated that Granny had been removed to a home. All this information helped me to find out who old Granny was. Looking at the police gazette I was able to go through the names of all prisoners who had been released that past fortnight from the Terrace Gaol. It also listed their age, and convictions. Only one name matched all the information I had. Frances (Fanny or Francis) Middleton. She was in prison for vagrancy, the original term was for two years in prison and she had 33 previous convictions. The only thing that didn’t match was her age. The police gazette had her at age 75 not 85 However no one else during that short time period, even came close to the information I was going by so I’m going to go ahead and say there was a typo or misunderstanding somewhere with police records as her death records her as being born in 1835 (which would’ve made her 85 in 1920)
She was originally from the UK but I could find no immigration records for her so I’m not sure when she came to New Zealand but I could see that before marriage she was known as Fanny Mills. She married Adam Middleton in 1879 in New Zealand. Adam had also come from the UK and he had arrived in Napier 2 years earlier in 1877 I couldn’t find any record of children so I’m assuming they were a childless couple.
It seemed they weren’t a particularly happy couple because on the 10th of November 1892 Adam put a notice in the papers saying he ‘would not be responsible for any debts contracted by his wife’
A couple of days later on the 19th of November 1892 Frances was fined 10 shillings for drunkenness. She would’ve been roughly 57 at this time. In October 1893 Frances took Adam to court. She was trying to sue Adam for maintenance. An order of maintenance was a court order for someone to give another person financial support, however the case was dismissed as it was shown that she had drunken habits and that she was able to support herself. I’m not sure what she did for work in 1893 but in 1894 she was listed as a cook. Adam had already given her money as well and had even tried to reform her with her drinking habits.
A couple of months later in February 1894 she was found lying on a seat drunk on Marine Parade with a lot of children around her. She was arrested and given the choice of a fine or 48 hours in Napier prison. She chose prison. Four days later she was brought before the court and charged with intoxication on Marine Parade (this was the second time in a week) Frances pleaded not guilty and said that she was stupefied so did not remember anything. An enquiry was made as to her character. A sergeant (apparently Frances was well known to the police by this stage) said that she had come down so low that she was practically a vagrant now. She was given the option of a fine of 2 pounds or seven days hard labour. She went to Napier prison and did hard labour.
She was released on the 4th of April 1894 and then on the 12th of April was in court again, charged with drunkenness. She denied it but a constable proved otherwise. Another newspaper called her a female dead beat. She was sentenced to 14 days for frequent drunkenness. Everything continued on in this manner for some time.
Around March 1896 things started to get a bit hectic for her. She was once again found by the police, this time lying in the middle of a road. This time though she wasn’t drunk and she had some money on her so she couldn’t be charged with vagrancy or drunkenness. The police had to let her go. It was said that she had no friends in town and all efforts to reclaim her had proved futile. Frances was also complaining of suffering from heart disease however a doctor had certified that she was not so affected.
In May 1896 she was once again in court for vagrancy and being drunk and disorderly (on Marine Parade in Napier again. That seemed to be a favourite spot of hers) She was convicted and discharged on condition that she left the district immediately. She was also ordered to pay the costs of cab-hire which had to be used to take her to the police station. It seemed she didn’t leave the district as required because on the 5th of June she was again locked up for being in a helpless state of intoxication.
The next year and a half was again much the same thing over and over. The authorities were obviously getting a bit fed up with her by this stage because in December 1897 aged 62 or 63 she was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment (most of the time it had varied between a few days or up to 3 months) I suspect this was an attempt to get her sober and off the alcohol. She served her 12 months, was released and two weeks later she was in court again - drunkenness and vagrancy.
I couldn’t help at this stage to wonder what had happened in her past to make her this way. The comment about her character from the constable saying ‘she had come down so low that she was practically a vagrant now’ Everything seemed to start when she was 57 years old. What happened to her prior to this? There were over 10,000 possibilities on ancestry.com but I simply don’t have the time or energy to go through all that right now. Clearly alcohol was a factor but was there something more?
Fast forward to January 1920 Frances is arrested for being drunk and also being an incorrigible rogue. Simple math would have her age around 85 however a newspaper article had her at age 78 and the Police Gazette has her at 75 either way she isn’t a young woman. She was sent to court and pleaded not guilty. A senior sergeant stated that she had been taken from the Old People’s Home owing to her behaviour and she had been found board in Napier but her behaviour there meant that she would probably not be taken in again. The Charitable Aid board could also do nothing for her. It was said that her habits were filthy. The judge decided that to give her a home he would have to send her to goal for two years.
The year before in 1919 Napier prison was reduced to a police gaol and only housed short stay prisoners so Frances was sent to the Terrace Gaol in Wellington. This is where George Mitchell found her a few months later and Edwin Arnold took up the task of finding her a place to go. The original interview with Mr Mitchell was printed on the 12th of June 1920 It appears Edwin sprung into action because a week later on the 19th he wrote into the newspaper saying that he already had permission from the government for her to be released - provided a home could be found for her, and that he was doing everything he could for her.
By the 24th of June 1920 it was confirmed that she had been moved to a home. The Police Gazette says that she was taken to the Inebriates Home. It doesn’t give the location but I did learn that people who had problems with alcohol and needed to stay at an alcohol treatment centre were largely sent to the Salvation Army Inebriates home on Pakatoa Island in the Hauraki Gulf. It wasn’t unusual for people from Wellington to be sent there as well. While it is possible Frances didn’t go there and was sent elsewhere I’m thinking it more likely that she was sent there because in December of 1926 she passed away and was buried in an unmarked grave in Hillsborough Cemetery, Auckland. If she was sent to Pakatoa her situation would have followed the usual procedure for repeat alcohol-related offenders at the time. Her death in Auckland and burial in an unmarked grave suggest she remained under institutional care until the end of her life.
RIP ‘Old Granny’
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