After the Mundys' tenure, Southcote Manor was let to the Brisco (or Briscoe) family, who had made their money in slave trading and plantation ownership. The family were relatives of Hastings MP Musgrave Brisco and inheritors of the Pryce baronetcy. Along with one of his labourers, James Wastel Brisco was taken to court in Reading in 1874, charged with the "assault with intent to ravish" a 13-year-old servant girl. During the trial, the "Reading Observer" reported that "several rumours were in circulation that a person connected with the case had committed suicide". Brisco supposedly used his wealth and social status to dissuade witnesses from testifying and the case was apparently abandoned.