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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name
| image = Lily
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| birth_name
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| death_date
| resting_place
| nationality
| other_names
| occupation = Petty criminal,
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}}
'''Lily Argent''' (8 October 1886 – 13 December 1916), '''Lily Bumster''' from November 1913, was a petty criminal from [[Swansea]], [[Wales]]. She grew up in a home in which drunkenness and crime were commonplace, and received her first criminal conviction at the age of 19. She was arrested for theft, along with fellow prostitutes [[Kate Driscoll]] and [[Selina Rushbrook]], in 1905. She was found not guilty, and the experience appears to have deterred her from a life of crime; she instead became a prostitute. Following the death of her mother in 1906 Argent descended into alcoholism.
In 1913 she married Michael John Bumster, the son of the owners of the boarding house in which she was living. The relationship was to be brief, as less than a year later her husband enlisted in the army on the outbreak of the First World War. Lily Bumster, by this time suffering severe [[tuberculosis]], died in late 1916.▼
In her lifetime, Argent attracted little notice beyond official records and local newspaper accounts. Her life was examined by local historian Elizabeth Belcham in her book ''Swansea's 'Bad Girls': Crime and Prostitution 1870s–1914.''
==Early life==
Lily
The young Lily Argent grew up in an environment in which drunkenness, crime and violence was commonplace.{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=151}} She made the first of her many appearances in court in October 1898, when she testified on behalf of her mother in a case in which labourer James Davies was accused of breaking Margaret Argent's leg; Davies denied the charges, claiming that Margaret Argent had sustained the injuries falling over while trying to attack him.<ref name="SWDP 17 Oct 1898">{{cite news|url=http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3358480/3358484/49/|title=A Serious Assault|date=17 October 1898|work=[[South Wales Daily Post]]|page=4|location=Swansea}}</ref>
==Adult life==
In August 1905, having moved out of the family home in the intervening years, the 19-year-old Lily Argent received her first criminal conviction,<ref name="Cambrian 22 Sep 1905">{{cite news|url=http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3347873/3347880/172/|title=Riotous in High-Street|date=22 September 1905|work=[[The Cambrian]]|page=7|location=Swansea}}</ref> a prosecution for drunkenness.<ref name="Cambrian 11 Aug 1905">{{cite news|url=http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3347819/3347822/43/|title=As You Were|date=11 August 1905|work=[[The Cambrian]]|page=3|location=Swansea}}</ref> As was customary at the time for a first offence,{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=151}} she was discharged on condition she enter the local [[workhouse]].<ref name="Cambrian 11 Aug 1905" /> Within weeks she was arrested again and given a 10[[shilling (British coin)|s]] fine (about £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|.5|1891|r=-1}}|0}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}} terms{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}) for fighting in the High Street.<ref name="Cambrian 22 Sep 1905" /> By this time she had been discharged from the workhouse and was lodging in The Strand in Swansea.<ref name="Cambrian 22 Sep 1905" />
{{multiple image | align= right | direction= horizontal | total_width= 350 | caption_align= left | image1= Catherine Driscoll, 18 Nov 1905.jpg | alt1= | caption1= [[Catherine Lynch|Kate Driscoll]] | image2= Selina Rushbrook (née Selina Ann Jenkins), 1905.jpg | alt2= | caption2= [[Selina Rushbrook]] | footer_align= left | footer= On their arrest in November 1905, Lily Argent, along with her accomplices fellow prostitutes Kate Driscoll and Selina Rushbrook, were photographed.}} As a young woman with no means of support these arrests did not discourage her from crime, and on 17 November that year she was arrested, along with her friends [[Selina Rushbrook]] and [[Catherine Lynch|Catherine Driscoll]] (both well-known local thieves and prostitutes),{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=35}} for the theft of a [[sea captain]]'s purse containing £5 10s (about £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|5.5|1905|r=-2}}|0}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}} terms{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}).<ref name="Cambrian 24 Nov 1905">{{cite news|url=http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3347954/3347959/98/|title=Skipper's Adventure on the Strand|date=24 November 1905|work=[[The Cambrian]]|page=5|location=Swansea}}</ref><ref name="EE 23 Nov 1905">{{cite news|url=http://newspapers.library.wales/view/4158316/4158319/54/|title=Sea Captain's Adventure: Swansea Women at the Assizes|date=23 November 1905|work=Evening Express|publisher=Walter Alfred Pearce|page=3|location=Cardiff}}</ref> On this occasion, all three were found not guilty of the theft on grounds of insufficient evidence.<ref name="Cambrian 24 Nov 1905" />{{efn-ua|Swansea in this period was a major port. Prostitutes doing business with sailors would enquire as to when they were sailing out, and if the customer's ship was due to sail soon would attempt to steal their money, in the knowledge that by the time they appeared in court the victim would no longer be available to give evidence. As sailors were paid back-pay for their time at sea once on shore, they often had large quantities of cash on them, little to spend it on, little knowledge of the city, and often took the opportunity of shore leave to get drunk, making them ideal targets for prostitutes and thieves.{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=286}}}}
It appears that this narrow escape finally turned Lily Argent away from a life of crime, and she was never again to be arrested for theft, although she continued to work as a prostitute.{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=152}} In 1906 Margaret Argent died from [[cerebral softening]] and [[eclampsia]].{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=152}} Her daughter gradually became an alcoholic, and in May 1909, after not coming to the notice of the authorities for over three years,{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=152}} Lily Argent was again arrested for riotous behaviour and imprisoned for a month.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3418175/3418182/198/|title=In Spite of the Budget|date=7 May 1909|work=[[The Cambrian]]|page=7|location=Swansea}}</ref> She was arrested yet again for drunkenness in February and December 1910;{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=152}}<ref>{{cite news|url=http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3362050/3362055/60/|title=Swansea Police Court|date=8 February 1910|work=[[South Wales Daily Post]]|page=5|location=Swansea}}</ref> on the latter occasion, the arresting officer described her as "using most abusive and indecent language".{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=152}}
==Marriage and death==
By this time Argent was living in Michael and Margaret Bumster's boarding-house at 68 Strand,{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=146}} and continuing to work as a prostitute.{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=152}} Along with fellow prostitute Annie Boatwright, she was one of only two unmarried female boarders in an otherwise entirely male establishment.{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=152}} In November 1913 Argent married the Bumsters' son, Michael John Bumster. Their relationship was to be brief; on the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Michael John Bumster—who had previous military training{{efn-ua|As a 14-year-old boy Michael John Bumster had joined the [[Welch Regiment]], only to be discharged nine months later for unrecorded reasons.{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=152}}}}—enlisted in the army. On 26 October 1914 Lily Bumster was again prosecuted for assault, the last of her arrests.{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=153}} On 13 December 1916, by this time suffering from severe [[tuberculosis]], Lily Bumster died of cardiac failure, aged 30.{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=153}} She was buried, alongside her parents,{{efn-ua|Wiliam Argent died in February 1913, age 51.{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=152}}}} in the family plot in [[Danygraig Cemetery]].{{sfn|Belcham|2016|p=397}}
▲In 1913 she married Michael John Bumster. The relationship was to be brief, as less than a year later her husband enlisted in the army on the outbreak of the First World War. Lily Bumster, by this time suffering severe [[tuberculosis]], died in late 1916.
== See also ==
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*{{cite book|last=Belcham|first=Elizabeth F.|title=Swansea's 'Bad Girls': Crime and Prostitution 1870s–1914|year=2016|publisher=Heritage Add-Ventures|location=Glynneath|isbn=978-0-9575974-2-6}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:
[[Category:Welsh female prostitutes]]
[[Category:Welsh prostitutes]]
[[Category:People from Swansea]]
[[Category:20th-century Welsh criminals]]
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