According to the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent of the 16th June 1866 Ebenezer Bowman of 'Onelish' near Bakewell sued George Goodlad of Stafford Street Park for £8. 3s. 7d for "the value of milk sold to him.".
I suggest that for 'Onelish' you should read 'One Ash' where Ebenezer Bowman lived at that time.
What the present day equivalent of £8. 3s. 7d [or £8.18] is I'm not sure.
Ebenezer Bowman represented himself. The defendant was represented by a Mr. Gould.
It seems that "several hundred gallons of 'a liquid' had been supplied" by Ebenezer Bowman to Mr. Goodlad. Ebenezer Bowman wanted paying for that milk. Mr. Goodlad's defence was that he had not been supplied with milk but a "mixture of milk and water, whilst he had contracted to be supplied with pure milk.".
Mr. Goodlad's representative asked Ebenezer Bowman whether he had mixed water into the milk ~ "That has nothing to do with it ...".
The Judge responded ~ "You must answer the question."
Ebenezer Bowman ~ "Well, a good many milk sellers do it in Sheffield ..."
There then followed evidence from two men, Botfield and George Siddall who confirmed that Ebenezer Bowman had indeed instructed them to water down the milk with Botfield adding that his then employer told him that "... the people of Sheffield did not mind it, and he had no occasion to care."
Ebenezer Bowman had argued that the agreement was that he supplied watered down milk to Mr. Goodlad but this was not accepted. The judge held that the action failed and Ebenezer Bowman was "called upon to pay 30s for costs, and he complied with the best grace in the world."
Towards the end of their report the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent commented that Ebenezer Bowman "... (who appeared the personification of good nature) [stated that] I feel highly satisfied with your Honour's verdict, though I am a loser, for if other milk sellers would take the same course, the town would be better supplied with milk. (Laughter)"
Ebenezer Bowman ~ "Well, a good many milk sellers do it in Sheffield ..."
There then followed evidence from two men, Botfield and George Siddall who confirmed that Ebenezer Bowman had indeed instructed them to water down the milk with Botfield adding that his then employer told him that "... the people of Sheffield did not mind it, and he had no occasion to care."
Ebenezer Bowman had argued that the agreement was that he supplied watered down milk to Mr. Goodlad but this was not accepted. The judge held that the action failed and Ebenezer Bowman was "called upon to pay 30s for costs, and he complied with the best grace in the world."
Towards the end of their report the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent commented that Ebenezer Bowman "... (who appeared the personification of good nature) [stated that] I feel highly satisfied with your Honour's verdict, though I am a loser, for if other milk sellers would take the same course, the town would be better supplied with milk. (Laughter)"
Ebenezer Bowman was born on the 18th December 1821.
He was my great great grandfather and brother of John Bayliff Bowman.
There is no mention in John Bayfield Bowman's Farm Journal of this court appearance.
This article was researched on the website of the British Newspaper Archive.
Sounds like he was milking it for all it was worth :-))
ReplyDeleteIt does indeed Mitch ... which is surprising to say he was a Quaker.
DeleteHe wouldn't get away with it quite so easy now Charlie.Ann
ReplyDeleteIndeed ... and neither should they Ann. It's a strange matter really. Surely he should have realised he was on a hiding to nothing. I always remember and old gentleman I got talking to about Ebenezer Bowman. The old gentleman know him and said what an odd man he was. We will never know in what way will we.
DeleteI don't see a date on the webpage but a Wikianswer entry I found has £1 in 1866 worth £75.48 today, so, rounding down to £8, it was at least £603.84 worth of milk. That's a fair few "pintas"!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this Dudge. I tried to get some idea myself but failed. As you say, it's an awful lot of milk.
DeleteI suppose his comment that if fewer of the farmers and milk suppliers watered down their milk, it would be better for business is true, provided they could supply the demand!
ReplyDeleteYes, it does make you wonder if there was enough milk to go round.
DeleteAfter a day of still feeling weak over the assaults in the USA, this post of yours gave me sheer delight. I chuckled and then laughed out loud. It must have been very difficult in those days to be as forthright as we find it so easily to do now. It is also a right now. That is if we have some sense of integrity. He is just priceless. This is one of your best snippets of history. Thank you and thank you and thank you.
ReplyDeleteI was overjoyed when I found this. The original article is much longer and part of it deals with the amount of water added to the milk. Ebenezer stated that it was one gallon of water to every twelve gallons of milk. Young Mr. Botfield contradicted Ebenezer saying that "There were nine and a half gallons of milk in the mornings and he added three gallons of water : and to seven gallons of milk in the evening, he added two of water."
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it too Karyn.
I just looked at his picture again. I think he is kind of sexy-looking. You probably take after him.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought Ebenezer looked like Alan Bates [another Derbyshire lad]. Thank you for the compliment ...
DeleteWatering down milk... I guess that's what they are selling now as 0% or 1% and 2% milk, this really doesn't taste like milk anymore.
ReplyDeleteSince I was told that dairy products probably aren't the best of things for me I have started using skimmed milk in my tea and coffee and I put it on my cereals. I now find full milk really creamy.
DeleteI don't drink milk nor ad any to my tea, only few drops for my coffee it's nice if it's a little creamy and usually I buy only "organic" as If there is any traces of antibiotics I'm having bad allergic reactions.
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