An Essex Tale

Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex.

Her name was Catherine Canham and she was buried in the church vault in 1752.

Catherine, known as Kitty, was very beautiful. She was born in 1720 to Robert and Judith Canham of Beaumont Hall, Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex. She was deeply loved by her parents as other children born to the couple had died young.

As she grew to womanhood she attracted many admirers and she caught the eye of the Rev. Alexander Gough who was the minister of Thorpe. He lost his heart to her. His brother warned him that it would come to no good because of Kitty’s beauty but Alexander paid no heed and Kitty became his wife.

It was not very long before she got bored with her life as a minister’s wife and she vanished. Rumours went around about her sudden disappearance. She was supposed to have been spotted in London leaving a ball with a mysterious partner. What is known is that at some later time, Kitty met Lord Dalmeny, a charming young man from a wealthy family. His Lordship asked Kitty to marry him.

Kitty was faced with a dilemma. She was a married woman! However, Lord Dalmeny never asked about her background. Faced with the choice of returning to her boring life with Alexander or the future with her new love, she chose the latter and bigamously married her new man.

For the next few years she and her husband travelled on the Continent and she revelled in her luxurious lifestyle. However, Kitty had always been frail and in l752 she fell gravely ill. When told that there was no hope of recovery, Kitty asked for pen and paper and managed to write these words:-

“I am the wife of the Reverend Alexander Gough, Vicar of Thorpe le Soken in Essex. My maiden name was Catherine Canham. My last request is to be buried at Thorpe.”

Naturally, this was a bombshell to her husband but he loved her so much that he chose to forgive her and she died in his arms but not before he promised to fulfil her last wish.

He had her body embalmed and placed in an elaborate coffin which was decorated with beautiful silver plates. This coffin was then placed in a plain wooden crate, her clothes and belongings were packed and her husband left Italy for France. There, he adopted the name Mr. Williams although why he did so is not known. He set sail for Dover and then boarded another ship which was bound for Harwich. The weather was very rough and the boat got driven into the River Colne. The Customs officers were checking all ships and when they discovered the large wooden crate they were sure that it contained smuggled goods. One officer was about to plunge his sword into the box when “Mr. Williams” drew his own sword in an effort to stop him and told him that inside the crate was a coffin which contained the body of his wife. The customs men remained doubtful and demanded the coffin be opened. “Mr. Williams” then confessed that he was not Mr. Williams but a Lord who was bringing his wife home from Italy for burial in the church of her home town.

The officers now became suspicious that Catherine might have been murdered. They placed her coffin in Hythe church so that the body could be identified and her husband was held for several days whilst various people came to view the body. Lord Dalmeny revealed he was the son of the Earl of Rosebery, that he had been born and educated in Italy. He explained what Kitty had written whilst she lay dying. So, the Rev. Gough was summoned to Hythe. He was enraged when he met the second husband and a fight nearly ensued but when they were both standing beside the coffin of the woman that they had both so deeply loved the two men turned to each other in their grief.

On the day of Kitty’s funeral the two husbands followed the magnificent hearse, dressed in deep mourning and hand in hand watched her being interred in the Church vault. Lord Dalmeny did not live for long after Kitty’s death. It is said he died of a broken heart just three years later at the age of only 31. Alexander Gough lived for another twenty two years.

Thorpe-le-Soken Church.

The local pub backs onto the church and churchyard and for countless years the ghost who haunts the inn has been thought to be Kitty. Quite why she would haunt the inn rather than her birthplace or the home she shared with Alexander remains a mystery. However, a shadowy female figure glides through closed doors, moves furniture and disarranges bedclothes. The inn has a room called Kitty’s room which dogs will never enter although the ghost is considered friendly and there is no bad atmosphere to the place.

Centuries have passed since Kitty went home to Thorpe but she is still talked about to this day and Thorpe-le-Soken remembers its beautiful bigamist with great fondness.