“Her husband was addicted to drinking, and he expressed the belief that if he had a little child in the house it would help to wean him from his habit… witness began to dress up as to give herself the appearance of being enceinte. She went to the Coombe Lying-In Hospital and saw there a poor woman who had just been confined. This woman delivered her child to the witness…”
The 1885 Irish Probate case of Nolan v Nolan was brought by the plaintiff claiming his brother’s estate on the basis that the defendant, the supposed son of that brother was not in fact such. The deceased’s wife gave evidence of a pregnancy faked by her followed by a visit to the Coombe Lying-In Hospital (above) when she purchased the defendant from his natural mother, a poor woman.
Despite an unsympathetic summing-up from the judge, the jury believed Mrs Nolan’s story and found for the plaintiff. The below clipping from the Liverpool Mercury of 13 Feb 1885 gives an account of the evidence.
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