The account of the abduction is taken from a variety of sources: Maria’s own affidavit (published in the first of Tuckett’s pamphlets), evidence given in court, Tuckett’s two published pamphlets and newspaper reports, as well as Henry James Leigh’s correspondence with his wife Anne and colleague Thomas Fooks.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Abduction of Maria Glenn: The Trial of James Bowditch and Nine Others, at the Suit of the King, and on the Prosecution of George Lowman Tuckett, Esq. Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, London 1818
The papers of Mr and Mrs Henry James Leigh of Taunton, Somerset County Archives (A/CYW)
The papers of Fooks and Darlington Solicitors of Sherborne, Dorset County Archives (D/FFO/17/36)
Judge James Alan Park’s notes of the 1818 trial of the Bowditches at Dorchester, National Archives (PRIS 4/31)
CONTEMPORARY PAMPHLETS
George Lowman Tuckett, ‘Narrative of the Conspiracy for the Forcible Abduction of Miss Maria Glenn; Containing an Account of the Personations of That Young Lady, and the Proofs of Her Innocence.’ A. J. Valpy, London, 1821
George Lowman Tuckett, ‘Sequel to ‘A Narrative of the Conspiracy for the Forcible Abduction of Miss Maria Glenn, &c.’ Containing an Exposure of the Alleged Crimination of Miss Glenn, by Mary Whitby.’ A. J. Valpy, London, 1822
The judgment of the Court of King’s Bench, in the prosecution of the King against James Bowditch, and nine others, for a conspiracy for the forcible abduction of Miss Maria Glenn, on discharging the rule for a new trial, on the 9th February, 1819. J.W. Marriott, Taunton, 1819
The Trials of Maria Glenn and Mary Whitby for Wilful and Corrupt Perjury against the Bowditches, which took place in the Court of King’s Bench before the Lord Chief Justice and Special Juries, on Monday and Tuesday the 2d and 3d Days of October, 1820. J.W. Marriott, Taunton, 1820
CONTEMPORARY PUBLICATIONS
Edmund Butcher, ‘An Excursion from Sidmouth to Chester, in the Summer of 1803, Part 2’. H.D. Symonds, London, 1805
Benjamin Pitts Capper, A Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom. Richard Phillips, London, 1808
Edward Goldsworthy, Recollections of Old Taunton, 1883, reprinted by Barnicotts Publications, Taunton, 1975
R. Montgomery Martin, History of the West Indies (Vol 5). London, Gilbert and Rivington, 1838
Vere Langford Oliver, The History of the Island of Antigua, One of the Leeward Caribbees in the West Indies, from the first settlement in 1635 to the Present Time. Mitchel and Hughes, London 1894
Charles Shephard, An Historical Account of the Island of St Vincent. W. Nichol, London, 1831
Charles Shephard, The Colonial Practice of Saint Vincent. Charles Hunter, London, 1822
Joshua Toulmin, (revised James Savage 1822), The History of Taunton, in the County of Somerset. John Poole and James Savage, Taunton, 1822
A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors, 1696-1709. A Selection of Leading Cases in Criminal Law: with notes. Little, Brown, Boston (1869)
Biography and Obituary 1833. Vol XVII. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman, London
The Lives of the Chief Justices of England, from the Norman Conquest Till the Death of Lord Tenderden, Volume 3. London, John Murray, 1849
GENERAL
Roy and Lesley Adkins, Eavesdropping on Jane Austen’s England. Little, Brown, 2013
Nancy Armstrong, Desire and Domestic Fiction: A Political History of the Novel. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1987
Abby Ashby and Audrey Jones, The Shrigley Abduction: A Tale of Anguish, Deceit & Violation of the Domestic Hearth. Sutton, Stroud, 2005
J. M. Beattie, The First English Detectives: The Bow Street Runners and the Policing of London 1750-1840. Oxford University Press, 2012
Robin Bush, The Book of Taunton: The Story of a County Town. Barracuda Books, Chesham, 1977
Paula Byrne, The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things. Harper Press, 2013.
Kate Chisholm, Fanny Burney: Her Life. Chatto & Windus, London, 1998
Judith Flanders, The Invention of Murder. Harper, London, 2011
Judith Flanders, Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain. Harper Press, London, 2006
William Gibson, Religion and the Enlightenment, 1600-1800: Conflict and the Rise of Civic Humanism. Peter Lang, Bern, Switzerland, 2007
Douglas Hay and Francis Snyder, Policing and Prosecution in Britain, 1750-1850. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1989
Douglas Hay, Peter Linebaugh, John G. Rule, E. P. Thompson, Cal Winslow, Albion’s Fatal Tree. Allen Lane, London, 1975
Richard Holmes, Coleridge: Early Visions. Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1989
Olwen Hufton, The Prospect Before Her: A History of Women in Western Europe, 1500-1800. HarperCollins, London, 1995
Vivien Jones, Women in the Eighteenth Century. Routledge, London, 1990
Christopher Lasch, ‘The Suppression of Clandestine Marriage in England: The Marriage Act of 1753,’ Salmagundi, No. 26 (Spring 1974). Published by Skidmore College
Peter Linebaugh, The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century. Verso, London, 2003
Wendy Moore, Wedlock: How Georgian Britain’s Worst Husband Met His Match. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2009
E. Neville Williams, The Eighteenth-century Constitution: 1688-1815. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1960
Joan Perkin, Women and Marriage in 19th Century England. Routledge, London, 1989
N. A. Pickford, Lady Bette and the Murder of Mr Thynn. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 2014
Roy Porter, English Society in the Eighteenth Century. Allen Lane, London, 1982
Rebecca Probert, Marriage Law and Practice in the Long Eighteenth Century: A Reassessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009
Nicholas Roe, Fiery Heart: The First Life of Leigh Hunt. Pimlico, London, 2005
Anne Stott, Wilberforce: Family and Friends. OUP, 2012
Claire Tomalin, The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1974
Claire Tomalin, Jane Austen: A Life. Viking, London, 1997
John Treherne, The Canning Enigma. Jonathan Cape, London 1989
Maureen Waller, The English Marriage: Tales of Love, Money and Adultery. John Murray, London, 2009
Ben Wilson, The Laughter of Triumph: William Hone and the Fight for the Free Press. Faber and Faber, London, 2005
Amanda Vickery, The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England. Yale University Press, 1998
Amanda Vickery, Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England. Yale University Press, 2009
Kate Williams, England’s Mistress. Hutchinson, London, 2006