PUTTING a body in a coffin sounds like a pretty good reason for wanting a stiff drink at a pub outside normal licensing hours.

This novel defence saw a criminal charge dismissed against the landlady at the John Bull Inn at Silecroft during the First World War when restrictions on the sale of spirits were very tight but keep munitions workers sober.

William Lewthwaite was chairman of the magistrates at Millom Police Court to hear the case against Elizabeth Mayson - charged with selling spirits during prohibited hours on June 29.

Mrs Mayson was the mother of Silecroft Victoria Cross winner Tom Fletcher Mason and she was aged 41 at the time of the 1911 census.

The Barrow News on July 28 in 1917 said that William Atkinson, 68, a joiner and special constable, of Bridge End, Silecroft and James Case, 55, a Silecroft labourer were also in court.

All pleaded guilty subject to an unusual explanation.

Police Sgt Sempell, of Millom, had gone to Silecroft to see Mr Atkinson. He was not at home.

The police officer saw Atkinson and Case walking down the hill towards the John Bull and going in the front door.

He was up to 500 yards away and headed for the inn on his bicycle.

The Barrow News noted: "He left the bicycle outside and as he was going by the window of the front room he heard a woman say 'Oh, a policeman'."

He went in and saw Mrs Mayson standing near the fireplace with her hands behind her back.

It noted: "Atkinson appeared to be hiding something and on looking over the man's shoulder he saw two wet marks similar to what would be left by tumblers."

The sergeant challenged the landlady about what was behind her back, saw the glasses and smelt whisky in them.

Special Constable Atkinson said: "That is mine; a small whisky. I paid for it.

"You need not make a case of it."

Sgt Sempell charged the landlady with committing an offence at 9.20pm and she started to cry.

The special constable said: "We have had an unpleasant job, putting a corpse into a coffin."

The landlady said: "I have a living to get with this licence; I hope I do not lose the licence.

"I am very sorry I sold the whisky. I did not think it was so late."

The sergeant told defending solicitor Mr Wilson Butler that Mrs Mayson had run the John Bull Inn well in the two-and-a-half years he had been based in the village.

Mr Butler told the court that Atkinson was the village undertaker and felt unwell after he and Case had put a corpse in s coffin.

He said: "What was more natural but for them to call at this inn for the purpose of obtaining some stimulant."

The solicitor argued that these were exceptional circumstances and the policeman arrived before the whisky had been drunk.

He also noted: "Mrs Mayson had been very busy putting her children to bed and did not know what time it really was.

Mrs Mayson, with her husband, had held the John Bull licence for 17 years and she had run it alone since his death two-and-a-half years ago.

Magistrates accepted the explanation and dismissed the charges on payment of five shillings and sixpence costs (27p) each.