Episode 14: Sarah Whitehead, The Bank Nun
Sarah Whitehead, ‘The Bank Nun Ghost’
Reproduction of a 19th-century print from The New Wonderful Magazine
Welcome back to Paranormal Pajama Party!
I couldn’t be more thrilled to kick off the second season tonight, and I’m beyond excited to dive into another season of chilling tales and thought-provoking discussions with you.
Our first party guest of the season is the ghost of Sarah Whitehead, also known as the Bank Nun. Her mysterious figure has been spotted haunting the Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, and the London Underground station nearby since the mid-19th century, dressed in mourning black and searching endlessly for her lost brother.
Unmarried in Regency England
Sarah’s tragic tale is marked by grief, desperation, and the societal constraints of Regency-era England.
Life for working-class and middle-class women at the time was nothing like “Bridgerton” would have you believe. Women were often relegated to roles as caretakers, expected to manage household duties and care for family members, particularly male relatives. Their education was limited, focusing on “female skills” such as humanities, music, and art, designed to make them suitable companions for their future husbands.
Marriage was considered the ultimate goal for women, providing them with financial security and social standing. However, unmarried women faced societal stigma and were often viewed as unnatural, and a burden on their families.
They had limited control over their finances and depended on their male relatives for support. The welfare system at the time offered little assistance to single women, leaving them vulnerable to poverty – it even happened to Jane Austen.
Sarah and women like her found themselves without the support of a male relative, forced to navigate a society that offered little to no opportunities for independence or self-sufficiency.
Penny dreadfuls
After her death, James Malcolm Rymer, an early writer of penny dreadfuls, came across Sarah’s haunting tale and, likely inspired by his own life story, adapted the tale of Sarah and her brother into the serialised (and sensationalised) story, “The Lady in Black, or, the Widow and the Wife.”
Rymer’s version of Sarah’s story, published as a penny dreadful, introduced a new narrative that portrayed Sarah as a Gothic madwoman named Marian who becomes a central figure in a thrilling tale of love, betrayal, and revenge. It helped perpetuate Sarah’s story, transforming her into a legendary figure.
Penny dreadfuls, including “The Lady in Black, or, the Widow and the Wife,” played a surprising role in boosting literacy rates among the working class. Although marketed to boys, their engaging and addictive nature motivated young Victorian women to learn to read.
By providing affordable and entertaining reading material, penny dreadfuls played a crucial role in breaking down barriers to literacy and education, empowering working-class women of the next generation with a few more opportunities for independence than Sarah Whitehead ever had.
Sources
Nesvet, Rebecca. “Miss Whitehead, ‘The Bank Nun’”. BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net. Web.
Brandon, D., Brooke, A. (2009). Haunted London Underground. United Kingdom: History Press.
How Gruesome Penny Dreadfuls Got Victorian Children Reading – Atlas Obscura
Wilson, H. (2017). The Book of Wonderful Characters. Forgotten Books.
Hill, B. (2001). Women Alone: Spinsters in England, 1660-1850. Yale University Press.