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A boatman named Evan Salathiel had gone to 'a house of illfame' (essentially a brothel, or a lodging-house used by prostitutes,) in China with Ruth Lloyd, who is described as an unfortunate. It looks like Ruth saw her chance when he'd had a bit to drink, and seems to have stolen 10s. 6d. from him, for which she was sentenced to three years.
I found Evan Salathiel in the 1861 census, about a year before this, working as a boatman in the hamlet of Rhydyboithan, Eglwysilan. His address is Walnut Tree Bridge, which would put him somewhere in the 'Walnut Tree' part of Glyntaff, on the canal. He was a married man with three sons, Taliesin, Jachomis (sic) and John.
Ruth Lloyd meanwhile, in 1861, lived in China with her 4 month old daughter, Milla. She claimed to be a widowed dressmaker, with a lodger by the name of Jane Davies who apparently worked as a washerwoman; Ruth and Jane are likely to have been prostitutes. The street had no need of more dressmakers, washerwomen, charwomen, or lodging-house keepers. There are also a few general labourers (men,) a huckster (female,) a few iron-workers (unisex) and what appears to be a handholder (though the writing is bad so it may be something else) and a yard girl (I think; again, the writing isn't the best, I also don't know whether a yard girl was innocent or not, particularly in a house with several washerwomen.)
Whether Milla lived through her childhood is unclear. Certainly, living in the poorest of conditions with her mother in prison, in an age where child mortality was high would not have left her in good stead. What her fate would have been beyond childhood is another question mark, maybe she would have been able to make something of her life or maybe she would've become another dressmaker or washerwoman in China. I like to think the poor girl made it, somehow, to happiness, but I guess that's the optimist in me.
Bye for now!
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