They were just 13 and three
06:00, 28 Apr 2026
The Clifton Suspension Bridge(Image: BristolLive/Tristan Cork)
On a wet, autumn day, Ruby and Elsie – aged 13 and three respectively – got on the train with their father Charles Albert Browne.
Living in Birmingham, their father told them they were heading out to see some relatives on the outskirts of the city. However, nothing could be further from the truth and the trip ended with the girls being thrown over the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
But, why? The court case that followed gripped Bristolians and those further afield, with newspapers across the country covering the story at the turn of the 19th century.
The first mention of the case appears to be on September 23, when the Western Daily Press reported: “Charles Albert Browne was charged at Bristol on Monday with attempting to murder his two little girls by throwing them from the Suspension Bridge.”
Over the coming weeks, there are a few brief mentions on the case, updating on the court process and how the two girls were faring. Miraculously, they survived.
However, it was not long – a matter of a couple of months, compared to the average of about a year these days – until the case was heard by a jury. On December 2, 1896, the Western Daily Press had an extensive report on the case.
Under the headline “The Suspension Bridge case – verdict of insanity“, it began: “Charles Albert Browne, 36, was indicted for attempting to drown his two children, Ruby and Elsie, aged 13 and 3 years respectively, with intent to kill and murder them, on the 18th of September.”
The piece featured some colour, saying: “Considerable interest was manifested in the case and the court was crowded. Prisoner looked in much the same condition as when before the magistrates, and followed the proceedings with apparently an intelligent interest.”
A postcard showing the two sisters, Ruby and Elsie, with those who saved them: police officers PC Toogood, PC Baker, Wise and river pilot James Hazel
Opening the case, Mr Metcalfe for the prosecution said the evidence “disclosed a very sad of affairs” and that Browne was charged with throwing the two girls from the Suspension Bridge into the River Avon.
“The defence would be that at the time the prisoner committed the crime he was in such a mental condition that he was not responsible for what he was doing,” continues the piece. “No doubt they [the defence] will have medical evidence as to the state of the man’s mind at the time.”
The court report describes Browne as a married dad-of-two who had a grocery store in Birmingham. However, the business was not going well and a letter requesting his tenancy agreement to end was found.
The court heard how the landlord denied this request and that his mental state had deteriorated since.
On September 17, he took the two girls on a train journey, telling them were going to see some family in Blackheath, near Birmingham, but instead stayed on the train and arrived in Bristol at around 10pm.
“It was dark and raining very hard,” the piece reads. “They proceeded to Hotwells by a tramcar, leaving Temple Meads at 10.10pm.
“A constable saw the man on the bridge with the two children shortly after 11 o’clock. They were sheltering under the arches and the prisoner had put the little girl under his coat to protect her from the rain.
“There were more people than usual on the bridge, considering the time of night and the condition of the weather.
“His suggestion was that the prisoner was waiting until a favourable opportunity arrived for him to do what he ultimately did.
“The elder girl would tell the jury that they remained on the bridge about an hour, but there could be no doubt that she was mistaken in that respect, and that they were there much longer. The child was wet through and she said something to her father about going home.
“Prisoner then seemed to have taken her up in arms, carried her to the side of the bridge and tried to force her over the parapet. She clung to him and screamed, and then she caught of the ironwork of the bridge. Prisoner forced her to loosen her hold, and she fell over the side of the bridge.”
By this point it was after 2am, according to another report from December 10. The teenager dropped about 250 feet into the River Avon, which was 18 feet deep at the time, reports the Western Daily Press.
Luckily, both girls survived the fall and were rescued by some men from Pill coming up the river at the time.
They were taken to the Bristol Royal Infirmary and, despite suffering from “severe shock”, “the most surprising circumstance of all was that the child was not only living but was comparatively well” except for some slight pains in the back.
The Bristol Royal Infirmary as it appears today
The court heard how dad was arrested shortly after “looking strange and wild in his manner” near the bridge.
The eldest daughter – Ruby Browne – was described in the piece as an intelligent child who gave evidence in court. She told the jury how both sisters screamed as the father put them over the side of the bridge.
“He had put her [Elsie, the little sister] down on the ground and she was standing by. [When he picked me up and tried to put me over], I caught hold of him and tried to get hold of the railing.
“He caught hold of my hands and I loosed the railings and tumbled over.”
She told the court she couldn’t remember anything after that, but that she thought she had fallen on ground, with her next memory being in hospital.
Mr Weatherly, for the defence, told the jury he should be able to show the “the prisoner was undoubtedly insane” and that, for some time, he had been suffering with anxiety, sleeplessness, insomnia, delusions as well as homicidal and suicidal tendencies.
“One of the delusions the prisoner suffered from was that his friends thought he was a betting man and had lost a lot of money by gambling,” he continued. “He also thought his family were suffering from disease.”
A letter addressed to his wife – which he describes as “the best of wives” – was read out in court: “There is no other way out of it, as I told you the other day. I don’t know what we shall do, you know how much cash we have and you know that none of my relations would give me a penny.
“I cannot get out of the Longmore shop. I cannot get a living there, so that the only way is for me to end my wretched life.”
The court also heard that the wife wrote to the family doctor earlier in the year, saying he was “of unsound mind and unfit to be at large” and that she believed he should be in an asylum.
Wrapping up, the judge told the jury: “I am rather slow to accept the excuse of insanity, but there are some cases – and this seems to be one – in which the circumstances themselves strangely point in that direction and I am comparatively easily satisfied without additional evidence. “
“The jury after, a few moments’ consultation, found the prisoner guilty but insane,” it reads.
Later on in the month, the paper reported that the two girls were being looked after by a couple known as Mr and Mrs W. H. Greville Edwards and that the elder girl was still suffering from an injury to her back.
“They have been advised that she should undergo proper treatment for at least a year in some institution where spinal complaints are made a speciality, and they therefore appeal to the public to contribute to the necessary funds.”