A Railway Outrage or a Joke?

The Rev John Robert Kennedy Bell, just past 40, married with three children, was typical of the hundreds of “poor curates” – scouring the English countryside, literally begging for preferment, however temporary.  In 1892, he was employed as a locum tenens in Little Bedwyn, a Wiltshire village bordering Berks. 

On the evening of Thursday, May 12, the Rev. Bell was returning from Newbury to Bedwyn via the Great Western’s night train. At the stop in Hungerford, 16-year old Fanny Abery, - who worked at the Hungerford post office – came aboard the third class carriage returning home to Bedwyn. By some prior arrangement, she was supposed to have brought along Mr. Bell’s mail which she admitted she'd forgotten.  Rev. Bell never denied that he called her a “naughty girl” and – as a joke – said he would put her over his knee and “smack her.” Fanny was not having any of it, joke or not. At Bedwyn station, she reported the clergyman assaulted her. She claimed he pulled her on to his lap, tried to kiss her and assaulted her. The Rev. Bell was later arrested on a charge of indecent assault.  When taken to the Hungerford nick, he explained the girl had over-reacted; he'd been just “having a joke.” 

In Police Court, Fanny told her story again. They were alone in the carriage. From Hungerford to Bedwyn took eight minutes and she struggled with the Rev. Bell for about half that time. John Taylor, the Bedwyn station manager, recalled she made the report to him but he didn't think Fanny seemed unduly upset. When the girl's mother later came to complain, he turned it over to the police. The clergyman’s lawyer called it the mistaken testimony of a hysterical girl. She had no injuries, no marks, and no tears in her dress. The case had drawn great attention in the area and a second young lady (16-year old Kate Britton) had come forward. On that same night, on that same train, in Kintbury, she also had to fend off an amorous clergyman.  The Hungerford magistrates ordered Bell be kept six weeks in jail awaiting the Berkshire Quarter-Sessions.

The trial was held in Reading in late June; the second charge was never prosecuted, only Fanny Abery’s testimony was heard. The "tall, nice-looking girl" again detailed the alleged assault and ensuing struggle. After reporting it at the station, she ran home in tears and missed the next two days of work.  Arthur Spokes, Bell’s counsel, attacked Fanny’s credibility. She had, he claimed, a “flirty” reputation and Rev. Bell had cautioned her earlier about her “boyfriends.” There were also discrepancies in Fanny’s account, from the two court appearances some weeks apart. Alice Martin, another village girl, saw Fanny that night and her friend made no mention of any problem with Mr. Bell.  Alice noticed nothing unusual in Fanny’s behavior. 

Spokes, opening his defense of the Rev. Bell, praised the clergyman’s “pure and unsullied character.” He called the usual character witnesses, including Mrs. Bell, who described the curate as “the purest man that anyone could have for a husband.”  Spokes insisted a clergyman was due to be believed over a frivolous girl making a "reckless charge.” The jurymen made very quick work of the charge, finding the Rev. Bell not guilty.  The decision was greeted with a smattering of applause.  

Despite his acquittal, Mr. Bell’s stay in Little Bedwyn was over. The verdict did not remove the cloud over his name. Bell became obsessed with the newspaper coverage of his trial.  Most of the papers reported Bell had been charged with “assaulting two young ladies.” He had been branded a serial profligate. He sent letters demanding retractions; even the mighty Times published an apology. Bell wasn’t satisfied and sued the Times and numerous other papers. At that trial, new evidence was introduced that Rev. Bell was seen drinking in Newbury before boarding the Bedwyn train. The man insisted, however, he was not drunk that night. In the end, he won his case but at what cost? The newspapers were required to pay damages of --- 40 shillings each.  

The Rev. John Robert Kennedy Bell was adjudged a bankrupt in October 1893.  Assisted, supposedly, by the Bishop of London, Bell crossed the Atlantic, spending several years as an Episcopal clergyman in Canada and upstate New York. He returned to the U.K. and died in Surrey in 1908.

How the Vicar Came and Went, the latest collection of tales of clerical scandals, is now available at Amazon.