Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Roseberry Graffiti

“Murder by a Farmer in the North-Riding” (Part 3)

It is probably a bit of a stretch to say that when Mr. Forth carved his name on this sandstone crag at the top of Roseberry Topping, he had read the report the trial of Bradshaw Brougham Graham four years earlier in the Leeds Mercury. He may have not even been aware of it, but for my purposes it ties today’s photo in nicely.

(The photo is in the correct rotation by the way. In the rockfall of 1912, the rock with Mr. Forth’s name ended up on its side at the foot of the main crag.)

I suggest if you are coming to this afresh, I advise you to read Parts 1 and 2 first.

The Trial

The first thing that immediately stands out in the Leeds Mercury’s report of the 15 December 18631“YORKSHIRE WINTER GAOL DELIVERY.” Leeds Mercury, 15 Dec. 1863. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/BB3201602154/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=405436fc. Accessed 1 Mar. 2021. is the headline:

ALLEGED MANSLAUGHTER BY A FARMER NEAR STOKESLEY.

Manslaughter? I though he was charged with murder. He was, “but the Grand Jury ignored the bill for murder, and returned a true bill for manslaughter”. In the 19th-century, at the start of every Assizes, a Grand Jury of between 14 and 23 jurors would be sworn in who inquired whether there was sufficient ground to put the accused on trial. To decide whether there was a case to answer. Prosecution witnesses were examined, and it seemed in the case of Bradshaw Brougham Graham, they returned that the charge be reduced to manslaughter2Wikipedia Contributors. “Grand Jury.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_jury#England_and_Wales. Accessed 5 Mar. 2021..

In the trial, the prosecution laid out their case which broadly followed my previous account but with some discrepancies. Graham, it said, resided at Larksfield while Johnson lived at Newham Hall. This might just be the case of reporting error.

It was heard that the incident happened “about a mile and a half from Stokesley” when they met Johnson’s servant with a horse. Johnson was described as “much intoxicated” and after Graham’s decline of his offer to ride together, became angry and said “You are too proud to get upon my horse.” and “I’ll twist your nose off if you give me any more sauce.”

As we know a struggle ensued, during which Graham struck Johnson with a stick he had. After a few minutes, Johnson tried to get up but immediately fell, “and it was at once ascertained that he was dead“.

Johnson’s servant went for assistance, leaving Graham with the body and returning half an hour later with a cart.

“A surgeon was called in, and on examination he found an incised wound on the left side of the chest in the region of the heart, and from this wound the unfortunate deceased had died. No knife or sharp instrument was seen in the hands of the prisoner nor had the prosecution any evidence to show that any such weapon had been found either upon the prisoner or near the scene of the quarrel, but, if he had been so disposed, the prisoner had ample opportunities of getting rid of any knife or other instrument he had used.”

John Mitchelson was Johnson’s servant, he was called as a witness:

I am farm servant, and in October last, was in the service of the deceased at Newham Hall. I know the prisoner, who is a farmer, and lives on his own property near. On the 19th of October my master was at Stokesley, and I went to meet him, about half-past ten in the evening, having with me a saddle horse. A short distance past Newby Grange I met him and the prisoner coming together, on foot. Master was very drunk, but Mr. Graham was not so drunk. They were walking separately, and Mr. Graham had a stick in his hand. I shouted “Holloa,” and I said to master I had brought him a horse. He said  “All right.” I got off the horse, and master asked Mr. Graham to get on. He said he would not. I said to a my master, “Come, and I will give you a leg on.” I got him on the horse, and he asked the prisoner to get on behind. He said he would not, and master said “You’re over proud to ride with me.” Mr. Graham replied, “Well, never mind.” Master said “You were proud once, but you aren’t now – you’re something like myself.” Master then said, “If you give me any of your sauce I’ll twine your nose off your face.” Mr. Graham replied, “One about your end-pudding will do for you.” My Master got as off his horse, and started to quaver about with his hands round Graham. He had nothing in his hand. Graham had his stick in his hand, and he stooped down, held his slick in both hands, and struck him over the head as full as he could. My master fell to him, and they both fell and struggled about five minutes on the ground. My master, stood up end stretched himself, looking at me, and fell backwards over. He never moved afterwards. Graham was lying on the ground at that time. I went to my master and held him up. Graham got up directly, and asked me where his hat was, and I told him it was in the middle of the road, He had his stick in his hand. He left me, and went Stokesley way. At that time he said nothing. He a went away in the direction from his house. He came back in half-an-hour, and I said, “He’s dead.” Graham said, ”No, no!” My master had nothing in his hand. When Graham came back he had nothing in his hand. He came and put his hand against my masters face, and said he breathed, but I said he did not. I got upon the mare, and galloped to Mr. Hart’s, Newby Grange, for assistance, leaving Graham with my master. I told him he was to hold master up until I came back. Mr. Hart’s man, Wm. Davidson, returned with me, and Mr. Hart came shortly after. We found Graham there, and Davidson felt master’s pulse, said he thought he was nearly gone. The prisoner said, “Let’s have him on the horse;” but I would not assist him. Davidson went for a cart, and returned in about half an hour. Graham talked only about sowing and wet times, but said nothing about my Master, who was placed in a cart and carried home. Graham left at a style leading to his own house.

On cross-examination, Mitchelson added:

The night  was rainy. The prisoner was assisting my master in threshing a few days before. He came to see my master, but came borrowing when he did come. Graham’s son had also helped my master.

Mr. Esau Smith, superintendent of police at Stokesley was called. He said “he apprehended the prisoner, and charged him with having murdered Johnson on the high road. He said, ‘Is he dead?’ Witness replied ‘Yes.’ The prisoner’s clothes were wet, and his trousers were bloody.”

Mr. Heavyside, a surgeon from Stokesley had carried out a postmortem examination. He said “the cause of death was a wound in the left breast, which enterd [sic] the cavity of the chest, penetrating between the fourth and fifth ribs and into the lung, and entering the left auricle of the heart, It would cause almost instant death, and was such a wound as might have been produced by a dagger-stick.

This is interesting that this is the first time a “dagger-stick” had been mentioned. A modern understanding of a dagger-stick would be a walking cane with a concealed blade.

Graham was defended by a Mr. Maule. He

asked the jury whether, in such a case as this, they would convict a man who had hitherto borne a blameless life, of the grave charge for which he was indicted, upon the barren evidence which had been adduced. The prosecution commenced in the dark and left them there, and they had really to act upon the unsupported evidence of one witness. The theory of the prosecution was that the prisoner had caused the death of a man with whom he had always been on friendly terms, and had afterwards got rid of the instrument with which the fatal wound was inflicted. But no witness had proved this, and Mr. Maule ingeniously suggested a counter theory, to the effect that it was equally probable that the deceased, exasperated and intoxicated, had drawn the knife to attack the prisoner, but that, in consequence of the slippery state of the road and the darkness of the night, had fallen and inflicted the injury upon himself. He appealed to the jury not to consign the prisoner and his family to misery by weighing the probabilities of two absurd theories, but to give him the benefit of the doubts which surrounded the case.

The Verdict

His LORDSHIP summed up very favourably towards the prisoner, who was Acquitted.

Life goes on.

There is some contradiction in the various reports as to where Bradshaw Graham actually farmed and also, as I said last time, whether he owned that farm himself or leased it from his father/step-mother. In February 1864, that’s just two months after the trail, a classified ad appeared in the York Herald for the sale of a 78 acre Freehold farm, at Hemlington, in the parish of Stainton-in-Cleveland “now in the occupation of Mr. Bradshaw Brougham Graham, the Owner.”3“Multiple Classified ads.” York Herald, 6 Feb. 1864, p. [1]+. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/R3211102682/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=4459555c. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021. So he did own his farm and he sold up very quickly.

Thanks to some family history research, Bradshaw Brougham Graham next appears as a witness to the marriage of his daughter, Emma Louisa Graham, to Robert Jackson on 30 November 1870 in Congregational Chapel, Redcar. He gave his occupation as a solicitor4“Ancestors of the Kay, Star, Steel(E) & Stock Families – Person Page.” Stockfamily.me.uk, 2021, www.stockfamily.me.uk/g0/p41.htm. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.. So a farming life was no longer for him and he had returned to his former profession.

In the 1881 census, Bradshaw was enumerated as living in Victoria Baths, Kirkleatham. A solicitor but not in practice. He died on 27 May 1886 at Stokesley, aged 74 of locomotor ataxy5“Ancestors of the Kay, Star, Steel(E) & Stock Families – Person Page.” Stockfamily.me.uk, 2021, www.stockfamily.me.uk/g0/p41.htm. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021..

As an aside, his fourth son, also named Bradshaw Graham (but with no middle name of Brougham) was fined ÂŁ1 and costs for game trespass on land belonging to Mr Bolckow, at Newby, on the 14th of December 18836“THE POLICE COURTS.” Northern Echo, 10 Sept. 1883. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/BA3200183443/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=2fe3521b. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.. (But the Henry Bolckow, the ironmaster, Mayor of Middlesbrough, and its first Member of Parliament, had died five years earlier so I am curious to know if there was any relation.) Bradshaw the younger, died in 1896 in Stokesley, the “fourth son of the late Bradshaw Brougham Graham, Solicitor, Redcar” and was buried at Great Ayton.7“Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries.” Daily Gazette For Middlesbrough, 22 Apr. 1896. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/R3211513551/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=a45cfc59. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.

In the 1871 census, Ayton Hall was occupied by Richard and Margaret Craggs, but it is not known if they were as tenants of the Grahams or as new owners. There is no mention of the Grahams thereafter8o’Sullivan, Dan. “AYTON HALL.” http://greatayton.wdfiles.com/local–files/individual-houses/Ayton-Hall.pdf Accessed 3 Mar. 2021. and the house has undergone many changes of ownership.

  • 1
    “YORKSHIRE WINTER GAOL DELIVERY.” Leeds Mercury, 15 Dec. 1863. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/BB3201602154/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=405436fc. Accessed 1 Mar. 2021.
  • 2
    Wikipedia Contributors. “Grand Jury.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Feb. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_jury#England_and_Wales. Accessed 5 Mar. 2021.
  • 3
    “Multiple Classified ads.” York Herald, 6 Feb. 1864, p. [1]+. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/R3211102682/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=4459555c. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.
  • 4
    “Ancestors of the Kay, Star, Steel(E) & Stock Families – Person Page.” Stockfamily.me.uk, 2021, www.stockfamily.me.uk/g0/p41.htm. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.
  • 5
    “Ancestors of the Kay, Star, Steel(E) & Stock Families – Person Page.” Stockfamily.me.uk, 2021, www.stockfamily.me.uk/g0/p41.htm. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.
  • 6
    “THE POLICE COURTS.” Northern Echo, 10 Sept. 1883. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/BA3200183443/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=2fe3521b. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.
  • 7
    “Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries.” Daily Gazette For Middlesbrough, 22 Apr. 1896. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/R3211513551/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=GDCS&xid=a45cfc59. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.
  • 8
    o’Sullivan, Dan. “AYTON HALL.” http://greatayton.wdfiles.com/local–files/individual-houses/Ayton-Hall.pdf Accessed 3 Mar. 2021.

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2 responses to ““Murder by a Farmer in the North-Riding” (Part 3)”

  1. Eric Graham avatar
    Eric Graham

    Bradshaw owned the then called Farm House Hemlington,app 73acres ,1851 census I have come to the conclusion that the farm was on the land where the Larchfield community centre now is .

    1. Fhithich avatar
      Fhithich

      For your info. from the 1895 map: https://maps.nls.uk/view/100941608#zoom=4&lat=4076&lon=5673&layers=BT

      Best explored using the NLS’s ‘Side-by-Side’ maps https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=15&lat=54.52468&lon=-1.24871&layers=6&right=ESRIWorld (Not sure if this will get you there exactly – you may have to zoom around a bit). Hemlington Hall seems to be just west of the lake.

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