Broadside entitled 'Shameful Case of Incest'

Commentary

This report begins: 'A Full, True and Particular Account of that most extraordinary, shameful and disgraceful case of Incest between the Minister of the parish of Logie, in Ross-shire, and his own sister. She was seized with the pains of child-birth, while playing at her piano . . .' The report was sourced from the Inverness Courier of December 1836.

Just as stories of incest and abuse fill today's press, they made popular reading in the nineteenth century, too. This story is all the more shocking because it concerns a clergyman and his sister. The poor woman ran away with her baby, after her brother had confessed his part in its conception. She was apprehended yet escaped a second time. The author of the piece, kindly, hopes that they will 'elude detection'.

Broadsides, cheap and accessible, were often used as moral forums with 'lessons of life' included in the narrative. Broadside authors tended to see themselves as moral guardians and teachers in society. As such, publishers often disseminated 'educational' texts outlining the social and personal consequences of undisciplined or immoral behaviour.

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