Shrigley abduction

The couple were married in Gretna Green, Scotland, and travelled to Calais, France, before Turner's father was able to notify the authorities and intervene.

The marriage was annulled by Parliament, and Turner was legally married two years later, at the age of 17, to a wealthy neighbour of her class.

Both Edward Gibbon Wakefield and his brother William, who had aided him, were convicted at trial and sentenced to three years in prison.

[1] At the time of the abduction, Turner was a High Sheriff of Cheshire and lived in Shrigley Hall, near Macclesfield.

He appeared to have based his plan to marry Ellen Turner on the expectation that her parents would respond as Mrs Pattle had.

On 7 March 1826,[3] Wakefield sent his servant Edward Thevenot with a carriage to Liverpool, where Ellen was a pupil at a boarding school.

The Misses Daulby were initially suspicious of the fact that Ellen did not recognise Thevenot but eventually let him take her away.

The party proceeded to Kendal, where the next day Wakefield told Ellen that her father was a fugitive.

There they met Edward's brother William Wakefield, who claimed to have spoken to Turner and got his agreement to the marriage.

In London, Wakefield, accompanied by Ellen, pretended to inquire after his brother and Turner.

Learning that his daughter had been taken to the European mainland, Turner sent his brother to Calais, accompanied by a police officer and a solicitor.

The court sentenced the brothers to three years in prison, Edward in Newgate[4] and William in Lancaster Castle.

He became involved in colonial affairs, and had roles in the development of South Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.