Further to the post on The Goat Public House, Sopwell Lane, St Albans, Jon has drawn my attention to the following entry on the St Albans Quarter Sessions Rolls for 1820:
"The Complaint and Information of Ann Dolling the wife of William Dolling of the Parish of St. Alban, labourer, taken on oath this 20th. Sept .. This complainant saith that her husband hath for some very considerable time now treated her very ill violently assaulting beating her and threatening to take away her life. That last night her husband swore that he would murder her and she is, from the violence of his temper and his being greatly addicted to drinking, very much afraid that he will --- --- to his bloody threat unless he be restrained by law. This complainant prays surety not out of malice but solely to guard her life from the effects of her husbands murderous threat."
