The Sleeping Girl of Turville
Encyclopedia
Ellen Sadler sometimes called The Sleeping Girl of Turville, was a resident of Turville
, a small village in Buckinghamshire
in the United Kingdom. In 1871, aged eleven, she purportedly fell asleep and did not wake for nine years. The case attracted international attention from newspapers, medical professionals and the public.
Born to a large, impoverished family of farm workers, Ellen was sent to work as a nursemaid at the age of eleven. Soon afterwards, she began suffering periods of drowsiness and was referred to a local hospital. After four months her condition was declared incurable, and she was sent home. Two days later, Ellen had a series of seizures and—her mother claimed—fell into a deep sleep from which she could not be roused.
Ellen became a tourist attraction for the village, and her family made considerable money from visitors' donations. As the years progressed with no sign of Ellen's waking, speculation grew that her illness was either a hoax or caused by her mother, an issue that was never resolved. In late 1880, soon after her mother's death, Ellen awoke. She later married and had at least five children.
, but she began suffering periods of somnolence
and her employment was terminated. She was subsequently attended by a local doctor, Henry Hayman F.R.C.S.
, from nearby Stokenchurch
. Ellen had been suffering for 13 weeks from "gland
ular swellings" or an abscess
on the back of her head, and symptoms consistent with a spinal
disease. The family did not have much money, so the parish
vicar, Reverend Studholme, asked Hayman to secure Ellen's admission to a local hospital, where her condition worsened. Ellen stayed at the hospital for 18 weeks before being "discharged as incurable" in March 1871.
According to Ellen's mother, upon the girl's return home on a rickety cart, she began to feel drowsy and had several seizures. Hayman states that it was two days after her discharge that the seizures occurred. He visited Ellen at her home, where he was told that the previous night, March 17, Ellen had endured a series of such attacks, after which she turned to lay "on her left side, with her hand under her head, and the lower extremities drawn upwards". It was in this position that—her mother maintained—Ellen remained for the duration of her sleep. Hayman visited Ellen many times over the next few years and he later said that he "never found her otherwise".
Ellen became something of a tourist attraction for Turville. She was visited by journalists, medical professionals, religious personnel and the "plain curious" from across the country, many of whom donated money to Ellen's family to be allowed to see her. Some paid to take cuts of Ellen's hair, until the "supply" began to run out. A Bucks Free Press
journalist recounted his visit:
A correspondent from The Daily Telegraph
visited Ellen about 22 months after she fell ill. He wrote:
By March 1873, Ellen was believed to be suffering from starvation. At first, she had largely subsisted on port, tea and milk, given three times per day. After about 15 months—while her mother was attempting to administer arrowroot
—Ellen's jaw locked closed. Subsequently, according to Hayman, she was fed "wine, gruel and other things" using the "spout of a toy teapot inserted between two broken teeth". The Daily Telegraph journalist expanded on Ellen's feeding: "The feeding implements stand on a little table by the side of the stump bedstead, and, at first sight, give you the idea that they are toys placed there to attract her attention should she, by a merciful termination of her trance, presently awake to life. The toys in question are two tiny 'teapots', each not much larger than a full-sized walnut and holding four small teaspoonfuls. One of these is filled with port wine, and the other with milk ... this quantity of liquid nourishment ... cannot weigh more than half an ounce ..." At this time, it was considered "manifestly out of the question to think of moving her". How the family dealt with Ellen's passing of urine and faeces is unclear, but in 1880, Hayman said that Ann Frewen told him that no bowel movements had occurred for five years, and that approximately every four days "a somewhat large amount would pass from the bladder".
through Ellen's sleeping body.
Much speculation appeared in the press as to the cause of Ellen's illness; some linked the case to that of Sarah Jacob, a girl from Wales who, her parents claimed, was able to survive without nourishment, through divine intervention. Sarah died of starvation in 1869, and her parents were subsequently convicted of manslaughter. A journalist for The Observer
commented, "It is to be hoped that [Sarah's case] is known in the obscure village of Turville, where—we are asked to believe—a fresh case of miraculous trance has taken place. ... [Ellen's case] very much ... incites suspicion of deliberate imposture." One correspondent to The Times
wrote, "It is by widespread publicity that such cases are multiplied, and it is difficult to overstate the harm thus done. These impostures exist through a morbid love of sympathy on the part of the children, or from the gains that accrue to the parents. Once begun, they soon pass into real disease." Another said the "ridiculous mystery" could be resolved if only Ellen were transferred, over her mother's continued objections, to a London hospital, a sentiment echoed by many. Claims that Ellen was suffering from a form of catalepsy
—a condition at the time considered "so rare that not one physician in a thousand has so much as seen a single case of it"—were also disregarded as unlikely, as was any thought of religious ecstasy
.
Nevertheless, Hayman affirmed, "every effort [had] been made to discover the deception, if any, but without effect." The Home Secretary
and local Magistrate corresponded about the case but the law was powerless to interfere, because despite accepting donations, Ellen's family never asked for money outright, and she "was not represented as a 'fasting girl
, as Sarah Jacob had been. The Daily Telegraph journalist said, "[Ann Frewen]'s manner is that of a perfectly honest woman who would be too glad if her child could be restored to consciousness." He spoke to neighbours, none of whom indicated anything other than trust in Ellen's parents and Hayman, and claimed that the family was receiving no money from Ellen's illness, although the latter point is contradicted by Hayman and others. The journalist concluded, "I have no medical knowledge, and [am] unqualified to give an opinion beyond what is justified by close observation of the ordinary kind. I went to Turville prepared to find an imposture. I have returned—puzzled."
, presided over by the county coroner
, Frederick Charsley. Part of the inquest's remit was to consider the matter of Ellen's subsequent care. Thomas Frewen was reported as being "quite evasive" when the coroner asked him how Ellen was fed, and although Hayman testified to reaffirm his stance that Ellen's illness was genuine, Reverend Studholme was less certain. However, he could not offer any evidence to this effect, even though he had made several unannounced visits to Ellen's home. Charsley concluded that Thomas could not look after Ellen, as his job left him absent from their home all day, and that the other members of the household would be too busy with its upkeep. Therefore, he turned Ellen's care over to her married sisters, Elizabeth Stacey and Grace Blackall, both of whom lived in Turville. The cause of Ann's death was found to be oedema
of the heart, from which she had been suffering for many years.
Five months later, Ellen awoke; by November, she had "fully recovered". By this time, Ellen was twenty-one and claimed to remember nothing of the previous nine years. She otherwise suffered few long-term effects, save for slightly stunted growth and a "weak eye".
. In the censuses of 1891 and 1901, the pair are listed as living in Barkham
and Caversham
, respectively. They had five children: Ann (b. 1888), Elizabeth or Mable (b. 1889), Gladys (b. 1890), Sydney (b. 1896) and Gertrude (b. 1898). Ellen and Mark appear in the 1911 census together with Sydney and Gertrude, all living in Lower Caversham. The census also records that they had six children of which one had died.
The case of Ellen Sadler has remained a part of local folklore, spawning tales of witchcraft and rumours of royal attention in Turville. The Sadler family home became known as "Sleepy Cottage", and was used for filming of the BBC situation comedy The Vicar of Dibley
. No clear cause has ever been ascribed for Ellen's condition; modern diagnoses might include narcolepsy
, or deliberate drugging, and the possibility that it was a hoax cannot be discounted. An embellished account of the story can be found in the 1973 collection, Witchcraft in the Thames Valley by Tony Barham.
Turville
Turville is a village and civil parish within Wycombe district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills, about five miles west of High Wycombe and five miles north of Henley-on-Thames....
, a small village in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
in the United Kingdom. In 1871, aged eleven, she purportedly fell asleep and did not wake for nine years. The case attracted international attention from newspapers, medical professionals and the public.
Born to a large, impoverished family of farm workers, Ellen was sent to work as a nursemaid at the age of eleven. Soon afterwards, she began suffering periods of drowsiness and was referred to a local hospital. After four months her condition was declared incurable, and she was sent home. Two days later, Ellen had a series of seizures and—her mother claimed—fell into a deep sleep from which she could not be roused.
Ellen became a tourist attraction for the village, and her family made considerable money from visitors' donations. As the years progressed with no sign of Ellen's waking, speculation grew that her illness was either a hoax or caused by her mother, an issue that was never resolved. In late 1880, soon after her mother's death, Ellen awoke. She later married and had at least five children.
Background
Ellen Sadler was born on May 15, 1859 to Ann and William Sadler, who lived in the small village of Turville, Buckinghamshire. The Sadlers were a large, impoverished family consisting mainly of farmhands; Ellen, the youngest child, shared her home with her eleven siblings. Ellen's father died while she was an infant; Ann Sadler subsequently married Thomas Frewen.Initial symptoms
In 1870, aged eleven, Ellen began work as a nursemaid in nearby MarlowMarlow, Buckinghamshire
Marlow is a town and civil parish within Wycombe district in south Buckinghamshire, England...
, but she began suffering periods of somnolence
Somnolence
Somnolence is a state of near-sleep, a strong desire for sleep, or sleeping for unusually long periods . It has two distinct meanings, referring both to the usual state preceding falling asleep, and the chronic condition referring to being in that state independent of a circadian rhythm...
and her employment was terminated. She was subsequently attended by a local doctor, Henry Hayman F.R.C.S.
Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons
Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons is a professional qualification to practise as a surgeon in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland...
, from nearby Stokenchurch
Stokenchurch
Stokenchurch is a village and civil parish within Wycombe district in Buckinghamshire England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, about south of Chinnor in Oxfordshire and west of High Wycombe. The village is a popular place to live, due to its rural location and ease of access to London and Birmingham...
. Ellen had been suffering for 13 weeks from "gland
Gland
A gland is an organ in an animal's body that synthesizes a substance for release of substances such as hormones or breast milk, often into the bloodstream or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface .- Types :...
ular swellings" or an abscess
Abscess
An abscess is a collection of pus that has accumulated in a cavity formed by the tissue in which the pus resides due to an infectious process or other foreign materials...
on the back of her head, and symptoms consistent with a spinal
Vertebral column
In human anatomy, the vertebral column is a column usually consisting of 24 articulating vertebrae, and 9 fused vertebrae in the sacrum and the coccyx. It is situated in the dorsal aspect of the torso, separated by intervertebral discs...
disease. The family did not have much money, so the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
vicar, Reverend Studholme, asked Hayman to secure Ellen's admission to a local hospital, where her condition worsened. Ellen stayed at the hospital for 18 weeks before being "discharged as incurable" in March 1871.
Fall into unconsciousness
| "The mother's narrative is that she told the little girl to pray, and that they prayed together—the child rocking herself to and from with her hands clasped, gradually losing command over herself and growing more and more convulsed, her eyes rolling wildly and her limbs twitching. When [Dr Hayman] arrived, to use her expression 'the child was fixen down.' That is to say, she had sunk into a state of insensibility, in which she now remains." |
| —A journalist recounts Ann Frewen's tale of the night Ellen fell ill. |
According to Ellen's mother, upon the girl's return home on a rickety cart, she began to feel drowsy and had several seizures. Hayman states that it was two days after her discharge that the seizures occurred. He visited Ellen at her home, where he was told that the previous night, March 17, Ellen had endured a series of such attacks, after which she turned to lay "on her left side, with her hand under her head, and the lower extremities drawn upwards". It was in this position that—her mother maintained—Ellen remained for the duration of her sleep. Hayman visited Ellen many times over the next few years and he later said that he "never found her otherwise".
Ellen became something of a tourist attraction for Turville. She was visited by journalists, medical professionals, religious personnel and the "plain curious" from across the country, many of whom donated money to Ellen's family to be allowed to see her. Some paid to take cuts of Ellen's hair, until the "supply" began to run out. A Bucks Free Press
Bucks Free Press
The Bucks Free Press is a weekly local newspaper, published every Friday and covering the area surrounding High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. It was first published on 19 December 1856. Despite its title, it covers local news for the High Wycombe region only.The paper covers local news,...
journalist recounted his visit:
Her breathing was regular and natural, the skin soft and the body warm, as in a healthy subject; the pulse rather fast. The hands were small and thin, but the fingers quite flexible; the body somewhat emaciated; the feet and legs like those of a dead child, almost ice cold ... the aspect of her features was pleasant, more so than might be expected under the circumstances ... her eyes and cheeks were sunken, and the appearance was that of death ... but although there was no colour on her cheeks, the paleness was not that heavy hue which betokens death.
A correspondent from The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
visited Ellen about 22 months after she fell ill. He wrote:
The girl's face is by no means cadaverous. There is flesh on the cheeks, which have a pinkish tint, and there is some colour in the thin lips. The eyes are calmly closed, as though in healthy sleep. I ventured to raise one of the lids and touch the eye beneath ... but there was not even a quivering of the eyelash. ... The girl's [hand] was quite warm and moist, and the finger nails were neatly trimmed. The fingers are not the least bit stiffened ... It is not a skeleton hand, neither are any of the girl's limbs so emaciated as, under the extraordinary circumstances alleged, might be expected. ... The child's body is very thin as compared with her limbs. ... There is not much substance in her flesh, however; it is soft and flabby ... [Her feet were] almost ice-cold. ... As regards the child's breathing, it is so feeble that it is almost impossible to detect it; you cannot feel it by holding the cheek to her mouth, and the only faintest flutter is felt when the hand is laid over the region of the heart.
By March 1873, Ellen was believed to be suffering from starvation. At first, she had largely subsisted on port, tea and milk, given three times per day. After about 15 months—while her mother was attempting to administer arrowroot
Arrowroot
Arrowroot, or obedience plant , Bermuda arrowroot, araru, ararao, is a large perennial herb found in rainforest habitats...
—Ellen's jaw locked closed. Subsequently, according to Hayman, she was fed "wine, gruel and other things" using the "spout of a toy teapot inserted between two broken teeth". The Daily Telegraph journalist expanded on Ellen's feeding: "The feeding implements stand on a little table by the side of the stump bedstead, and, at first sight, give you the idea that they are toys placed there to attract her attention should she, by a merciful termination of her trance, presently awake to life. The toys in question are two tiny 'teapots', each not much larger than a full-sized walnut and holding four small teaspoonfuls. One of these is filled with port wine, and the other with milk ... this quantity of liquid nourishment ... cannot weigh more than half an ounce ..." At this time, it was considered "manifestly out of the question to think of moving her". How the family dealt with Ellen's passing of urine and faeces is unclear, but in 1880, Hayman said that Ann Frewen told him that no bowel movements had occurred for five years, and that approximately every four days "a somewhat large amount would pass from the bladder".
Scepticism
Some visitors were sceptical of Ellen's illness and attempted to uncover the alleged ruse through methods such as stabbing her with pins, to no effect. The Bucks Free Press journalist was suspicious of Ann's practice of making visitors wait before seeing Ellen. Some neighbours were also "deeply sceptical", as Ellen's family was making a "healthy profit" from her illness. During summers, the family was taking as much as £2 per week (£ as of ). Others said they sometimes saw Ellen sitting by her window at night. Ann consented to "fair tests", but further suspicions were raised because medical personnel were not allowed to remain for too long, and Ann did not want Ellen to be moved to a hospital. Nor was Ellen listed as an invalid during the 1871 census. Hayman said that Ann was reluctant to allow handling of her daughter by medical personnel because they often concealed sharp objects with which to "test [Ellen's] powers of feeling". Her parents had also "strenuously opposed" Hayman's recommendation to run an electric currentGalvanism
In biology, galvanism is the contraction of a muscle that is stimulated by an electric current. In physics and chemistry, it is the induction of electrical current from a chemical reaction, typically between two chemicals with differing electronegativities....
through Ellen's sleeping body.
Much speculation appeared in the press as to the cause of Ellen's illness; some linked the case to that of Sarah Jacob, a girl from Wales who, her parents claimed, was able to survive without nourishment, through divine intervention. Sarah died of starvation in 1869, and her parents were subsequently convicted of manslaughter. A journalist for The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
commented, "It is to be hoped that [Sarah's case] is known in the obscure village of Turville, where—we are asked to believe—a fresh case of miraculous trance has taken place. ... [Ellen's case] very much ... incites suspicion of deliberate imposture." One correspondent to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote, "It is by widespread publicity that such cases are multiplied, and it is difficult to overstate the harm thus done. These impostures exist through a morbid love of sympathy on the part of the children, or from the gains that accrue to the parents. Once begun, they soon pass into real disease." Another said the "ridiculous mystery" could be resolved if only Ellen were transferred, over her mother's continued objections, to a London hospital, a sentiment echoed by many. Claims that Ellen was suffering from a form of catalepsy
Catalepsy
Catalepsy is also a term used by hypnotists to refer to the state of making a hypnotised subject's arm, leg or back rigid. "Arm catalepsy" is often a pre-hypnotic test performed prior to an induction into a full trance.-Causes:...
—a condition at the time considered "so rare that not one physician in a thousand has so much as seen a single case of it"—were also disregarded as unlikely, as was any thought of religious ecstasy
Religious ecstasy
Religious ecstasy is an altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness which is frequently accompanied by visions and emotional/intuitive euphoria...
.
Nevertheless, Hayman affirmed, "every effort [had] been made to discover the deception, if any, but without effect." The Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
and local Magistrate corresponded about the case but the law was powerless to interfere, because despite accepting donations, Ellen's family never asked for money outright, and she "was not represented as a 'fasting girl
Fasting girls
Fasting girls is a Victorian term for young females, usually pre-adolescent, who, it was claimed, were capable of surviving over indefinitely long periods of time without consuming any food or other nourishment...
, as Sarah Jacob had been. The Daily Telegraph journalist said, "[Ann Frewen]'s manner is that of a perfectly honest woman who would be too glad if her child could be restored to consciousness." He spoke to neighbours, none of whom indicated anything other than trust in Ellen's parents and Hayman, and claimed that the family was receiving no money from Ellen's illness, although the latter point is contradicted by Hayman and others. The journalist concluded, "I have no medical knowledge, and [am] unqualified to give an opinion beyond what is justified by close observation of the ordinary kind. I went to Turville prepared to find an imposture. I have returned—puzzled."
Recovery
Ann Frewen died in May 1880. The inquest into her death was held at the nearby Bull and Butcher public housePublic house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
, presided over by the county coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
, Frederick Charsley. Part of the inquest's remit was to consider the matter of Ellen's subsequent care. Thomas Frewen was reported as being "quite evasive" when the coroner asked him how Ellen was fed, and although Hayman testified to reaffirm his stance that Ellen's illness was genuine, Reverend Studholme was less certain. However, he could not offer any evidence to this effect, even though he had made several unannounced visits to Ellen's home. Charsley concluded that Thomas could not look after Ellen, as his job left him absent from their home all day, and that the other members of the household would be too busy with its upkeep. Therefore, he turned Ellen's care over to her married sisters, Elizabeth Stacey and Grace Blackall, both of whom lived in Turville. The cause of Ann's death was found to be oedema
Edema
Edema or oedema ; both words from the Greek , oídēma "swelling"), formerly known as dropsy or hydropsy, is an abnormal accumulation of fluid beneath the skin or in one or more cavities of the body that produces swelling...
of the heart, from which she had been suffering for many years.
Five months later, Ellen awoke; by November, she had "fully recovered". By this time, Ellen was twenty-one and claimed to remember nothing of the previous nine years. She otherwise suffered few long-term effects, save for slightly stunted growth and a "weak eye".
Later life and legacy
In 1886, Ellen married Mark Blackall in nearby FawleyFawley, Buckinghamshire
Fawley is a village and civil parish in Wycombe district in the south-western corner of Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the boundary between Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, about seven miles west of Great Marlow and north of Henley-on-Thames....
. In the censuses of 1891 and 1901, the pair are listed as living in Barkham
Barkham
Barkham is a village and civil parish about south-west of the centre of Wokingham in Berkshire.-Geography:The old part of Barkham is the small settlement by the parish church at and close to Barkham Street...
and Caversham
Caversham, Berkshire
Caversham is a suburb and former village in the unitary authority of Reading, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, within the royal county of Berkshire, on the opposite bank from the rest of Reading...
, respectively. They had five children: Ann (b. 1888), Elizabeth or Mable (b. 1889), Gladys (b. 1890), Sydney (b. 1896) and Gertrude (b. 1898). Ellen and Mark appear in the 1911 census together with Sydney and Gertrude, all living in Lower Caversham. The census also records that they had six children of which one had died.
The case of Ellen Sadler has remained a part of local folklore, spawning tales of witchcraft and rumours of royal attention in Turville. The Sadler family home became known as "Sleepy Cottage", and was used for filming of the BBC situation comedy The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom created by Richard Curtis and written for its lead actress, Dawn French, by Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, with contributions from Kit Hesketh-Harvey. It aired from 1994 to 2007...
. No clear cause has ever been ascribed for Ellen's condition; modern diagnoses might include narcolepsy
Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder, or dyssomnia, characterized by excessive sleepiness and sleep attacks at inappropriate times, such as while at work. People with narcolepsy often experience disturbed nocturnal sleep and an abnormal daytime sleep pattern, which often is confused with insomnia...
, or deliberate drugging, and the possibility that it was a hoax cannot be discounted. An embellished account of the story can be found in the 1973 collection, Witchcraft in the Thames Valley by Tony Barham.
External links
- Further reading – "The Sleeping Girl of Turville"
- Buckinghamshire Family History Society