The Cropton Lane Farm Murders of 1872

Joseph Wood lived at a farm on Cropton Lane. The farmhouse was built by the Wood family in 1805. In 1872 Joseph had occupied the farm for a period of 37 years, having succeeded an uncle, he was then 58 years old. A man of inoffensive disposition but with somewhat eccentric habits, Joseph Wood was never the less a shrewd and successful farmer of the 80 acres which he owned.

For generations the Wood family had farmed the lands of Cropton, his brother John had a farm on the opposite side of Cropton Lane to his own, he also had a cousin John Wood, who was in the occupation of Low Askew Farm. Joseph was the eldest of 10 children born to Thomas and Charlotte Wood, of whom four brothers and three sisters were still living at the time. For twenty years Joseph had a housekeeper called Catherine Thompson, by whom he had 3 children; Charlotte Anne aged 16; Joseph aged 9; and Thomas aged 4. In 1870 Catherine died leaving Joseph to care for the children. After Catherine’s death Joseph became even more confirmed in his eccentric habits and was in the habit of keeping large amounts of cash in the house, sometimes as much as £300, (equivalent to £19,000 in 2019).

For 20 years Joseph had had a housekeeper called Catherine Thompson, by whom he had 3 children; in 1872, Charlotte Anne was aged 14; Joseph was aged 9; and Thomas was aged 4. The children had all taken the surname Thompson after their mother. In 1870 Catherine had died, aged only 43, leaving Joseph to care for the children. After her death Joseph became even more confirmed in his eccentric habits and was known to be in the habit of keeping large amounts of cash in the house, sometimes as much as £300 (worth £19,000 in 2019).

At that time, in Lastingham, there lived a man called Robert Charter who was 53 years old and who had a wife, Hannah, and three children, Martha 30; Sarah 28 and a son John 26 years old. Robert was a cousin of Joseph Wood and he sometimes went to Cropton Lane to help Joseph at Eastfields. At such times he would leave his son-in-law (daughter Sarah’s husband), William Hardwick, to tend his own 20 acres of land in Lastingham.

On the night of May 17th, a Friday, Charter took a wagon-load of seed barley to Cropton Lane in readiness for sowing the following day. He intended staying all week. It was late when he arrived and Joseph was waiting for him.

What transpired next is very difficult to ascertain. However, it is certain that Joseph Wood was struck about the head with an iron bar and was subsequently killed by Robert Charter. The motive seems very obscure, although Charter said in a later statement that there had been some argument over the barley and Wood had fetched a gun out to him, whereupon Charter had hit him with an iron bar and knocked him down and got the gun from him. Charter later claimed that he did not think he had hit him so hard as to have killed Joseph.

The disturbance had probably been overheard by young Joseph, the elder son of Wood, and he had come down to see what was going on. It was later alleged that the boy must have seen what had happened and so, frightened of being revealed as a murderer, Charter also killed the young boy.

He then proceeded to try to cover up his awful crime, which he did very successfully for a period of around 6 months. He took the father's body and hid it in the barn. (It was alleged that he had, sometime later, buried the father in the orchard and fed the boy's body to the pigs). Charter slept that night at the farm together with Joseph's younger son Tom, who had slept through it all. Joseph's daughter, Charlotte Anne, had recently left home to live with her grandparents at Nawton, saying that looking after the farm was too much for her alone and that 'Mr Wood would not get anyone to help me'.

Charter then fabricated a story to protect himself.

In the morning he told Thomas Stead, a man who worked for Joseph’s brother John across Cropton Lane at Westfields, that Joseph and his son had gone away for a while. When John Wood heard this he thought it was a bit odd and rather sudden. However, like other neighbours and family members, he initially thought that they had gone to Nawton to persuade Charlotte Anne to return home.

In the meantime, Charter received a letter posted from Liverpool which, supposedly, came from Joseph Wood (but which was not in Joseph's handwriting), in which 'Joseph' claimed he was writing prior to embarkation on a ship to an undisclosed destination.

The letter read as follows:

To Robert Charter,

Dear Cousin, I write these few lines to let you know that I am going to take the water, foreign, you must stay at Cropton Lane and get my affairs settled up as soon as you can, we are going either today or tomorrow, I will let you know in my next what I have done and where I am going. Excuse my bad writing, a bad pen and in haste.

Joseph Wood

John Wood, Joseph's brother, declared the letter a forgery but in the absence of any other evidence, no notification to police or any other authority appears to have been done at this stage.

Searches of Westfield Farm were undertaken but nothing was found. All enquires were dropped and Charter went on living at the Cropton Lane farm with young Thomas, Charter’s wife Hannah also came to live there from Lastingham. In July of that same year a party of Wood’s relatives had occasion to visit Charter and indeed searched the house, but nothing was found. However, the party did complain of an offensive smell. Mrs Charter said it was some putrid meat that had just been thrown out. Eventually, John Wood called in the police but initial searches found nothing.

In September, Charter handed possession of the farm over to William, another of Joseph Wood's brothers, and returned with Hannah, his wife, to their own farm at Lastingham.

At the beginning of November on clearing some straw from the barn at Cropton Lane, some clothing and a pair of boots were found and this led to a more thorough search of the surrounding area, including a pond. Several articles of clothing belonging to father and son were found. Two human hands and feet were found buried.

Nothing more was found at the farm, so police turned their search to Charter's land in Lastingham and eventually dug up the remains of the body of Joseph Wood tied in a sack. The body of the boy was never recovered.

On November 7th, Charter and his son John were taken into custody to await trial. It transpired that John Charter was innocent and he was released. William Hardwick, Charter's son-in-law, was also arrested and charged with harbouring the murderer.

Robert Charter and William Hardwick were brought before the Pickering Magistrates on Monday, November 25th, 1872. It so happened that the Court appearance coincided with the yearly event known as Martinmas Hirings, when labourers seeking work were hired by farmers; needless to say the town was bustling. The huge crowd of onlookers outside the Savings Bank Room where the hearing was conducted, booed and jeered as the two prisoners were brought from the police station in a cab.

The two men were charged as follows:

Robert Charter of Lastingham in the township of Cropton Lane, in the Parish of Middleton, charged that he did on the 17th of May 1872, feloniously, wilfully and of his malice aforethought, kill and murder one Joseph Wood. And William Hardwick also of Lastingham was charged for that William Hardwick, well knowing that the said Robert Charter to have done and committed the said felony, in manner and form aforesaid, afterwards to wit on the day and year aforesaid, did feloniously receive, harbour and maintain the said Robert Charter, against the peace of our Lady and Queen, her crown and dignity.

Neither of the two prisoners requested legal advice or assistance. This hearing lasted for almost 3 days, after which the prisoners were committed to York Castle to await trial by Jury at York Assizes.

And so, on Saturday December 7th 1872, Robert Charter and William Hardwick were taken from Pickering to York by train to await trial in the castle goal. They had a long wait as the trial did not start until Tuesday March 26th 1873. Robert Charter gave his first statement to police whilst awaiting trial, it ran as follows:

A little before 3am on Saturday May 18th, I heard noises and got up and came out. I found Wood laid against the gate-stead leading from the front garden to the stick heap in the orchard. He was dead. There was some blood about his head and on the ground. I took him into the barn and laid him in the straw, thinking I should be blamed for murdering him. I let him lie there a week and then I buried him in the orchard. About three weeks after, I found three bones of the boy in the fold-yard. It appeared as if he had been devoured by pigs. They were leg bones and I buried them against his father. I let them remain there until I was coming away, I tried to pull him out but his clothes slipped off. I took his clothes and threw them in the pond. I put the remains in a bag and buried them in one of my fields near Lastingham. No-one had any concern in it but myself. After that I began to feel concern in it. On Sunday May 19th I thought I should be blamed for it and wrote the letter, and I saw a young man coming from Rosedale and asked if he was leaving, and he said that he was going to Liverpool and going to leave the country for America. I asked him to go into the house with me and wait a few minutes until I had written a letter. He went in and I gave him something to eat and drink. I them wrote the letter and gave it to him and asked him to post it in Liverpool. I thought it would save so much trouble searching and rummaging about till things got settled. I received the letter back again a day or two later from the postman. John (his son) has nothing to do with it, he knows nothing about it. I have never seen him since the day of Kirkby Steeplechases.

This Statement was signed by Charter, and was made whilst he was in custody at Pickering, but, as a result of the claims concerning his finding of a few bones belonging to young Joseph Thompson, the search was meanwhile renewed.

In November 1872, the right femur, left tibia and scapula of a boy's body were found among the spread manure, which had been led out onto a field from one of two fold-yards. The cartilages were gnawed, which suggested the horrible idea that the boy's body had been eaten by the farm pigs. In December a vertebra and two ribs were also picked out from the manure. It was these finds which gave rise to the speculation that young Joseph had witnessed the murder and had himself been murdered as a consequence.

The second statement, also signed, but made by Charter in York Castle, ran thus:

Charter said, “He called me up to take my barley back again. I said I would take it back what was spared. He insisted on me getting up and taking it back then and there. I told him I did not want to get up. He came upstairs and said I was to get up, so I got up and went downstairs, and he said I was to go and take my barley back. I begged him to let it wait until daylight and then see. He then ran into the house and got the gun. I met him at the door and tried to get it. I missed my click. I ran behind the wall corner. He followed me with the gun. I took an iron off the wall and struck him on the head and knocked him down, and took the gun from him. I then went into the house and fastened myself in and when I came out again I found he was dead. I then took him into the barn and fastened myself in for almost an hour, I did not think I had given Joseph such a blow. I had no thought of killing him, I did not see the boy at all.”

The trial at York Spring Assizes lasted for three days and during that time many people were called to give evidence. Two surgeons from Pickering, as well as a surgeon and a doctor from York gave medical evidence and all testified as to the blows sustained by Joseph Wood's skull. Although Charter gave two statements and hinted at the fate of the young boy, he never actually said what happened to him.

All the evidence seemed to point to the fact that Charter also killed the boy, cut him up and fed him to the pigs, over a period of time. Hence the bad smell in the house when the Wood family called on Charter in September, and also the numerous human bones found scattered about the surrounding fields. The case had become a cause celebre and feelings against the two men on trial were running high, especially since the murder of a child was involved. However, for those looking forward to a guilty verdict and the death sentence there was shock and disappointment.

Because Charter exonerated Hardwick from all but the carriage and posting of the forged letter in Liverpool, the jury, under the direction of the trial judge, Lord Chief Justice William Bovill, acquitted William Hardwick of all charges. Furthermore, because of the lack of hard physical evidence in relation to the boy's disappearance, the case for a murder conviction had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt (Charter pleaded 'self-defence') and a verdict of 'Manslaughter' was returned. Charter was committed to 20 years imprisonment, a sentence which he spent initially in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight, but he was freed on licence before the end of his sentence.

Charter returned to Yorkshire, but there was nothing left for him in Lastingham: a sale of his property had been held in 1876 and the villagers had demolished the house, stone by stone. An extant nineteenth century photograph is believed to show that his house had stood where the schoolmaster's house was built in 1883, adjacent to the Darley Memorial School, now used as the Lastingham Village Hall.

The remains of Joseph and his son Joseph are buried in Cropton Churchyard.

(Copies of this paper are available from Andie Cattle: aandiec@live.com).