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In 1637, Roger Fulwood initiated a "get rich quick" scheme which nearly cost him his life for kidnapping and marrying Sarah Cox against her will.
In Lady Antonia Fraser's book, "The Weaker Vessel - Woman's Lot in Seventeenth-Century England" describes the incident in detail.
In another book printed in 1683, called "The Reports of Sir George Croke, Justice of the Court of Kings Bench", details the court case when Roger Fulwood, the son of Sir George Fulwood, was sentenced to hang for this crime.
The incident took place in August 1637 when Sara Cox was just fourteen years old. Being a wealthy orphan she attended a girls' boarding school run by Mrs Winch at Hackney.
At the school Sara Cox was a friend of Katherine Fulwood. It was Katherine's brother, Roger Fulwood, who decided because of Sarah's wealth to improve his financial situation by marrying her. Using Katherine as an intermediary, Roger tried to persuade Sara to co-operate in the scheme but without success.
On 22 August while Sara and her school friends were taking air on Newington Common, a group of men on horseback surrounded her and put her into a waiting coach. She was taken to Winchester House in Southwark, London on the south bank of the Thames which was the residence of the Bishop of Winchester. Waiting for her was Roger's mother Lady Alicia Fulwood and she spent the night under her protection.
In the morning Sara on the pretext of being shown over the Bishop's dwelling was confronted with a marriage ceremony in the chapel. Afterwards, in order to consummate the marriage Sara's clothes were removed and she was placed in bed with Roger Fulwood.
Meanwhile Sara's friends had raised the alarm with the authorities after her abduction from Newington Common. After a search the Lord Keeper's Sergeant-at-Arms caught up with Roger Fulwood and his accomplice, Richard Bowen. All of them were subsequently brought before the Lord Mayor of London at one o'clock in the morning.
As well as Roger Fulwood and Richard Bowen, Nicholas Young the Bishop of Winchester's housekeeper was also involved.
Roger Fulwood was put on trial for his life on 3 September: by an "Act of the reign of Henry VII, taking of women against their wills for 'the lucre of their substance' and either marrying them or 'defiling' them had been made a felony." The Lord Mayor petitioned King Charles I about the crime on 17 September.
However, Lady Fulwood submitted her own petition to King Charles I claiming it was not a serious crime and she begged for mercy. On 25 November 1637 Fulwood and Bowen were both pardoned for their lives and for their estates, which as felons they would have forfeited. The final act of this incident was the annulment of the marriage.
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