TWO retired school teachers are hoping Lancashire Evening Telegraph readers can help fill in the gaps of a famous mystery and scandal surrounding the family of a former Blackburn MP.

Audrey Jones and Abby Ashby are currently investigating the abduction of the daughter of mill owner and Blackburn MP William Turner in March 1826.

From their research so far, they believe Ellen Turner, whose father owned a calico printing works in Mill Hill and was heiress to one of the area's biggest fortunes, was taken from her boarding school in Liverpool when she was just 15-years-old by Edward Gibbon Wakefield and forced to marry him in Gretna Green.

They say Mr Turner's brother Robert, who owned mills in Helmshore, Rossendale, then paid more than £5,000 and pursued an Act of Parliament to have the marriage annulled.

Audrey and Abby, of Hale Barns, Cheshire, are compiling information for a history project and may write a book about the case.

Audrey said: "It is a most interesting story and was very famous at the time. Edward Gibbon Wakefield was an amazing man who gave a quite plausible excuse for taking Ellen and told her it would help her father if she married him.

"From Gretna Green he took her to Calais but when William Turner found out he sent people to fetch her and pursued Wakefield though the courts which ended in a sensational trial in Lancaster which attracted people from all over the country.

"Edward Wakefield went to prison for three years at a time when Britain shipped convicts to Australia and New Zealand and he was so touched by their plight he later helped found the Commonwealth and is very famous over there. They have statues and places named after him."

But despite discovering plenty of information about Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Audrey and Abby have been less successful in researching the Turner family and Ellen in particular.

They believe that after the marriage was annulled Ellen married Thomas Leigh of Lyme Park, a magistrate who had fallen in love with her when he dealt with Wakefield's case.

They say the couple met after William Turner re-built Shrigley Hall in Cheshire which adjoined Thomas Leigh's own estate but that the marriage was short because Ellen died aged 19 in childbirth, leaving a daughter.

"We would like to hear from anyone who knows anything about William or Ellen Turner because we really want to get to the bottom of this case," said Audrey.

Audrey can be contacted on 0161980 7416 and Abby on 0161 980 8853.

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