THE STORY OF PRINCESS CARABOO FROM DEVON
Perhaps the most well known of the Bristol characters who came to live in Bedminster was Mary Baker, or Caraboo. She was born Mary Wilcox, at Witheridge, Devon, in 1791. and from an early age gained a reputation for her wild disposition. At the age of eight she was employed at spinning wool and in the summer months drove the farmers' horses and weeded their corn etc. There was, from an early age, a trait in her character which drove her to excel her companions at sport; be it cricket, swimming, fishing and the like.
At sixteen years of age her father and mother procured a job for her in the farmhouse of the Moons family at Bradford, near Witheridge, and where she stayed for two years looking after the children. She left because the Moons would not raise her weekly wage from ten pence to a shilling. Mary returned to her father's house but because of the ill-feeling towards her by her parents, the direct result of her leaving her previous position, she left home and went to Exeter. Here she applied for a job with Mr and Mrs Brooks, he being a shoemaker. Mrs Brooks thinking the girl possibly an apprentice who had run away from her mistress, offered Mary a position, providing she could prove she was free to take up the situation. This being proved the girl was engaged to do the washing, cooking and ironing at '8 per annum. These domestic tasks were not to Mary's taste and she left after two months. With the little money received from this job she bought herself new clothes.
When she returned home, both her parents and the Moons accused her of stealing them. Sickened by their attitude, Mary set off for Exeter once more, begging as she went. On several occasions she was threatened with a whipping as a vagabond and finally, in a state of despair, she fastened the end of her apron around a tree, intending to take her own life. At the last moment she changed her mind and, in obvious distress, continued her journey. An old gentleman, seeing her in this condition, felt sorry for the girl and gave her 5/- with which she was able to continue to Taunton and then to Bristol. Here she applied to the Stranger's Friend Society, by the Drawbridge, where a Mr Freeman gave her 4/- for lodgings. Instead, Mary used the money to set off immediately for London.
The journey to London proved to be a debilitating one and the girl's health became so impaired that she lay in hospital for several months, seriously ill. After recovery she obtained a position and remained in London for three years. For some reason she disguised herself as a young man and unsuccessfully tried to find employment outside of London. On Salisbury Plain she met up with two highwaymen and they, eventually penetrating her disguise, accused her of spying on them and threatened to kill her should their suspicions prove correct. Mary at length convinced them she was innocent of this and was allowed to go, after swearing not to betray them.
As a gesture of goodwill they gave her a guinea and five shillings, which enabled her to return home to Devon with some degree of comfort. Probably by now the countryside lacked excitement for Mary because within a short time she had returned to London where she met a man called Bakeustendht or Beckerstein. They went through a form of marriage and, upon her becoming pregnant, her husband left her and went off to the Continent. She never heard from him again and to add to her misery her child later died. She once more returned to Exeter, for a short period, then begged her way to Bristol, at times pretending to be a foreigner so as to get a more sympathetic reception. In April 1817 a strange young woman, of Asiatic appearance and speaking no English, presented herself at the door of a cottage in the village of Almondsbury, Gloucestershire, north of Bristol.
For several months the young woman was something of an enigma to Mr and Mrs Worrall of Knowle Park, who had befriended her and the dignitaries of Bristol who examined her. Perplexed, the Bristol magistrates had her put in the Bristol Workhouse. The story of this girl 'Caraboo' soon became known nationwide and from all over England people came to see her and to find out where she came from and who she was. One opinion was that when the girl had pointed to herself and said 'Caraboo~, she was not indicating that this was her name, but that she was a native of Karabouh on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea. After three days in the Workhouse Mrs Worrall came and took 'Caraboo' away and had her installed in her husband's office in Bristol.
Here the girl was seen by a Portuguese and he, after listening to Caraboo, emphatically declared that he could understand every word she said and that she was a person of consequence in her own country, which was an island in the West Indies. According to him she had been brought to England against her will and then deserted. Her language was a mixture of languages used on the coast of Sumatra. Having proffered this enlightening information the Portuguese, Manuel Eynesso, disappeared and was never seen again. For some time after this Caraboo lived a life of luxury and ease, the centre of attraction for many visitors fascinated by this Princess.
Until, one day, Mrs Worrall was approached by Mrs Neale who told her that she recognised the girl as an old lodger of her's who had been trying to raise five pounds for her fare to Philadelphia. Mrs Neale said the girl Mary Baker, had told her of her intention of disguising herself as a foreigner for the purpose of begging. After the initial shock of this intelligence, Mrs Worrall forgave the girl and paid her fare to Philadelphia. Even the journey to America was not without incident for the Bristol Journal of September 1817 reported that Caraboo had gone ashore at St Helena where she met Napoleon who is said to have found her enchanting. In 1834 Mary Baker returned to England and exhibited herself in New Bond Street, Bath, where, for the price of one shilling, the public could see the once famous Caraboo. But alas, for her hopes of making money from the venture, few came to see her.
The 1851 census records that Mrs Mary Baker and her daughter, Mary Anne, (20 years old) were living at 2, Prince's Street, Bedminster. At that time Mary Baker was 60 years old and is described as 'A dealer in leeches'. As her daughter was 20 years old in 1851 she must have been born in America. Mary Baker's death is reported in the Bristol Mirror of December 31st 1864, when an inquest was held at the White Hart, Bedminster Causeway and her cause of death put down to senile decay. She was buried at Hebron Chapel on January 3rd 1865.
A modern film was made of this story PRINCESS CARABOO 1994 Phoebe Cates as Mary Baker.
Her daughter, Mary Anne Baker, died in February 1900. After her mother's death she had become quite eccentric and clothed herself in rags. Police broke into her house, No.2, Queen Street, Bedminster, after neighbours had reported not having seen her for several days. They found her dead and an inquest was held at Bedminster Police Station. Until her death she had made a living selling leeches, as her mother before her, and was reported to have been worth £800 at her death.
