Spencer Cowper - The Sarah Stout Affair

The Sarah Stout Affair

Cowper served on the Home circuit, and was acquainted with a Quaker family called Stout in Hertford, who had supported his father and brother during elections in the area. The Stout’s daughter Sarah fell in love with him, even though he was already married to Pennington Goodere.

One evening at the Spring assizes Cowper went to Sarah's home to pay her the interest on a mortgage. He returned home and the next morning Sarah was found dead in the river. The prosecution asserted that because the body was floating when found, that it must have been put in the water after death. To support this idea, evidence was given by the famous physicians Samuel Garth and Hans Sloane. It appears that there was no other evidence to support the charge. The defendants were acquitted.

At the time different allegations were made concernng the affair, including the one that the Tories of Hertford wanted to hang a member of a prominent Whig family and another that the Quakers, wanted to clear themselves from the stigma of suicide. Pamphlets were published on both sides, and there was an unsuccessful attempt to reignite the case.