A full report of the trial of James Blomfield Rush for the murder of Mr. Jermy and his son, of Stanfield Hall, in the county of Norfolk, commencing on wednesday March 28 and concluded April 4, 1849 at Norwich Assizes.
- Rush, James Blomfield, -1849.
- Date:
- [1850]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A full report of the trial of James Blomfield Rush for the murder of Mr. Jermy and his son, of Stanfield Hall, in the county of Norfolk, commencing on wednesday March 28 and concluded April 4, 1849 at Norwich Assizes. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![who then came into possession. He resided principally at Stanfield; nearly rebuilding the Hall, and greatly improving the property. ° THE LATE ISAAC JERMY, ESQ., was born on the 23rd September, 1789. He was educated at Westminster School, and graduated at Clinst Church, Oxford. On leaving college, he became a student of Lincoln’s Inn, and was called to the bar as a member of that Society. For some time he practises with success on the Norfolk Circuit, and was eventually appointed Recorder of Norwich He married, early in life. Miss Mary Ann Beevor, daughter of the late Sir Thomas Beevor, and sister to the present Baronet. This lady died in 1823, leaving two children; viz. the son, who was murdered on the evening of the 28th of November, and a daughter, married to the Rev. W. Jephson, who has recently seceded from the Established Church of England to that of Rome. In 1832, Mr. Preston (the name Mr. Jermy retained till tire death of his father) married a second time, the lady being Miss Fanny Jephson, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Jephson, Prebendary of Armagh, in Ireland. This lady died in October, 1835, leaving a daughter, Isabella, only a few weeks’ old at the time of her mother’s death. About two j^ears after (October 2, 1837), his father, the Rev. George Preston, died, leaving him heir to Stanfield, and his other entailed property. Shortly after the death of his father, Mr. Preston took the necessary steps for complying with that stipulation in the w'lll of Wm. Jerm}-, that the pos- sessor of his estates should assume his name and arms. In August, 1838, the late Recorder took the name and the arms of Jermy, b}’ license from the Crown. Mr. Jermy, jun., was married, and has left an infant daughter, now heiress to the family property. THE PRISONER RUSH. James Blomfield Rush is a man well known in West Norfolk, where Le had for many years carried on the business of a farmer and land agent, and also of an appraiser and auctioneer. He is an illegitimate child, his reputed father being a gentleman farmer of good property, near Wymondham. His mother was Mary Blomfield, daughter of Mr. James Blomfield, farmer, miller, and baker, of Tacolnestone. She was engaged to be married to the gentleman of whom Rush is the supposed son; but the suit was broken off, and Miss Blomfield brought an action for “breach of promise.” She obtained a verdict, and large damages, which appear to have formed the marriage portion with Mr. Rush, of Felmingham, a tenant of the Rev. George Preston, under whom he had commenced holding in 1811. The prisoner was two years old at the time of the marriage. Mr. Rush permitted him to take his name; and from that time he has been kno-wn as James Blomfield Rush. Mr. Rush, who had no children of his own, appears to have been a kind father to young James; and, being a good farmer, and the first eight or nine ye irs of his tenancy having been good farming years, he saved money, and could afford to give his adopted son a good education, at the school of Mr. Nunn, of Eye. Soon after he left, he turned his attention to agriculture. In 1824, he took a farm at Aylsham, under the Rev. Samuel Pitman; and such was his character then, that he was enabled to form a matrimonial connection with one of the most respectable families in the neighbourhood. He married Miss Soames, of Aylsham, in 1828. when he removed to Wood Dulling, taking the Dalling Hall Farm, in that parish, under W. E. L. Bulwer, Esq. This farm, he says, he improved very much, laying out a great deal of money upon it. During h;S tenancy', a wheat stack was destroyed by' fire: and it has been asserted that Rush w-as apprehended, and indicted as the incendiary. The bill, however, never went before the Grand Jury. It has further been said, that, on his applying to the Insurance Office for the amount of insurance on the property destroy ed, the office declined paying the money, leaving him to his remedy at law, which he never sought. This is not the fact. The amount of damage done was a.“certained and fixed by Mr. Pratt, land surveyor, and the office paid it. During his residence at Wood Dalling, in 1830, a large number of persons as-embled at Foulsham, aud commenced destroying the thrashing-machines used in that parish. They' were dispersed by a company of horsemen, under the direction of Sir Jacob Astley, the Hon. G. J. Milles, and P. Hoileau, Esq. One man was taken into custody near Ru.--b'.s ]iremises, by Mr. Thaxted, Sir Jacob’s gamekeeper, who was rescued from custody' by aome of Rush’s men, .acting, it was said, under his orders; and Rush was indicted at the March A.s.sizcs, in 1831, “for aiding and assisting in tb.at rescue.” No verdict, however, was taken, and Rush was discharged, on entering into his own recognizance to keep the peace. Rush’s tenancy under the lute Rev. George Preston commenced in 1835, under an agree- ment for eighteen y'ears, from Michaelmas, at £110 per annum ; and, says Rush, in a pam- jffiJet published by him last year, “ he also gave me an agreement for my father-in-law, for the Huiiie time, at X130 per aHiiuT;.” At Michaelmns, 1830, Rush took the StaiiDcld Hall farm, on a lease for twelve years, at a rental of £500 per annum. This was contrary to the sdviccofhis father-in-law, who. Rush asserts, never forgave him for taking the property';](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28407404_0018.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
