1:24pm Thursday 7th August 2008
By Kirsty Whalley
Edwin Sudbury was born in Bethnal Green on October 25 1864.
His dad William was a blacksmith, his mum Hannah a seamstress. After being educated at a deaf and dumb asylum on Old Kent Road he was apprenticed to Robert Bidgood, a bootmaker from Woolwich at the age of 16.
At around this time Cooper and son Bootmakers were building an empire in Croydon and artisans flocked to the town for employment. Among them was Robert Bidgood, fleeing debts in Woolwich.
The Bidgoods moved into 23 Bynes Road, South Croydon in 1881, where Coopers had built houses for their employees.
Three years later on May 12 1884, Edwin died of starvation aged just 19.
An inquest was called for by the doctor who had examined him a few weeks before his death.
He had found him to be very emaciated and ordered Mrs Bidgood to feed him eggs and brandy. The following week he was again called to the house by a neighbour and found Edwin no better. Shortly afterwards he died. A postmortem examination revealed that there was no food in Edwin's stomach.
At the inquest it became clear that the Bidgood's, in the words of one witness "treated Edwin like a dog".
He was often made to look after the children, such as when Robert Bidgood and his wife went away on Easter Sunday not returning until Tuesday, leaving Edwin to look after the six children, the youngest being just three.
Despite Mr Bidgood testifying that Edwin got the same amount of food as the rest of the family, the forensic evidence convinced the jury at the inquest that the Bidgood's were guilty of manslaughter.
They were taken into custody. The verdict was greeted with applause and a mob followed the police cab containing the Bidgoods, beating it with sticks and throwing stones at it.
However, once they appeared in front of the Magistrates in Croydon Petty Sessions on July 13 the case against them fell apart.
Mrs Bidgood was discharged after the magistrates agreed that although she had a moral duty to feed Edwin, she did not have a legal duty to do so.
Robert Bidgood was sent to the Surrey Assizes in Guildford to be tried for manslaughter. However at the conclusion of the hearing, the judge stopped the case saying that no jury could convict of wilful starvation on the evidence presented. They returned a verdict of not guilty and both Bidgood's walked free.
Brian Roote said: "So ended the sad tale of a young deaf and dumb lad who was treated as chattel to look after the family children, and work the boots, all for a master who probably rubbed his hands with glee on his discharge.
"It strikes me as coincidental that one of the Petty Sessions Magistrates at the hearing on July 13 was John Cooper who was the owner of the very business - Cooper Boot Factory - that employed Bidgood."
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