HC Deb 07 June 1905 vol 147 c950
MR. VINCENT KENNEDY

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the conviction of an Ilkley labourer at Otley, on May 19th, 1905, who pleaded guilty to branding his wife's face with a toasting fork, and otherwise cruelly ill-treating her; and will he say whether this person was proceeded against in the ordinary way, and what was the penalty inflicted.

MR. AKERS-DOUGLAS

I find on inquiry that the defendant in question was convicted of striking his wife on the shoulder and was fined 2s. 6d. and costs. There was never any suggestion that he had branded her; but it appears that he suggested in cross-examination that she had "brayed" him on the face with a toasting fork.