Rachel Ward (@racheltranslates.bsky.social)

A Prison Romance – Guest Post by Elaine Thornton I was delighted when Elaine Thornton contacted me about another story she had unearthed some new information about, so I'll hand over to Elaine to tell you more about a tale with an unexpected ending. While looking through the Home Office papers for 1786 for an earlier article on Margaret Nicholson, I came across an intriguing letter. It was addressed to Lord Suffield, who had been the Member of Parliament for Norwich for the preceding thirty years; he had just relinquished his seat and been raised to the peerage. The letter, dated 29 October, was from a Norfolk squire, Jacob Preston of Beeston Hall, who told Suffield that he was writing on behalf of ‘ https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2026/03/30/a-prison-romance-guest-post-by-elaine-thornton/