Recently, I had the pleasure to be invited onto the excellent Voices From the North East Podcast for their Halloween Special. Here is an extract of that episode. For the full episode, click the link at the bottom or visit our Podcasts page.
The Robbery
The story begins in 1816, John and Joseph Dalton were owners of a Pottery situated on the Ouseburn, near Newcastle. Their business wasn’t doing very well, and on 16 November 1816, they were served with an execution notice [date], basically the pottery went bankrupt. Following that, a Sheriff’s Officer was appointed to liquidate the business assets. To help him with this task, the Officer engaged an elderly man called Charles Stuart. Stuart’s job was to sell off the property and products of the pottery. The proceeds from the daily sale of goods were kept in the warehouse, specifically, in the counting house, securely locked up in a desk. As part of his role, Stuart lived and slept upon the premises, as a sort of onsite security.
All went well, until the early hours of 5th of December 1816. On that night, Charles Stuart was woken from his sleep by loud banging on the warehouse door. Going to investigate, Stuart was met by two men and was brutally attacked with an iron bar and left for dead. The men then proceeded to enter the counting house, smash open the locked desk, steal the proceeds of that day’s sale and disappear into the night.
At around 5am Jane Buckham and Thomas Passmore were passing the pottery, when they came across the wounded Charles Smith leaning out of the office window, he told them what had happened and asked them to fetch help.
Obviously shocked, Buckham and Passmore rushed off to alert the Pottery foreman, Mr Wilkinson, and several other pottery workers who lived nearby.
The scene witnessed by Wilkinson when he entered the warehouse, is described in the 1817 Assizes:
“Mr Wilkinson arrived in the office. There he saw Charles Stuart sitting in a chair all bloodied. His head was much bruised and there was a hole in his left cheek, large enough to admit 3 fingers.” 1
The attack had obviously been brutal, murderous, but as yet, not fatal. Stuart was in possession of his faculties and was able to identify one of his assailants, whose voice he had recognized. He named Charles Smith.
Who was Charles Smith?
Charles Smith was an Irish immigrant. He is thought to have worked at various potteries in Staffordshire or Yorkshire, before heading north to look for work. At around Easter 1816 he found employment at Dalton’s. He worked as a pan man (someone who tempered the clay) and managed to keep his job even after Dalton’s went bankrupt. He lived around 200 yards from the pottery at Stepney Bank in Newcastle, along with his wife of 7 years, and their two daughters.
Arrest and Confrontation
As soon as Charles Stuart had named Smith, Wilkinson, along with a Bailiff named Charlton, Constable Allen, Joseph Dalton, and a group of workers from the pottery all charged round to Smith’s lodgings to apprehend him.
They pulled the shocked Smith out of bed, arrested him.
While Smith was getting dressed, he was seen to throw something under the bed, it was discovered to be his boots worn the previous night and they were spotted with blood. When confronted about the blood, Smith claimed he had killed a hen the previous day. More damning evidence was soon noted. When asked to hand over the stockings he wore the previous day, he handed over a worn but unstained pair, but dressed himself in ones stained about the calf with what looked like blood, while blood was also observed on his underclothes. As far as circumstantial evidence went, Smith was looking pretty guilty.
Once dressed, the Bailiff and Constable hauled Smith back to the scene of the crime. Here he was put before the injured Charles Stuart for identification.
Smith spoke first and asked Charles Stuart what the matter was, Stuart replied:
‘“Thou rascal, thou knows well enough what’s the matter” Smith denied it but ominously added “if thou says so, its murder”’ 2
There and then, John Brown, Clerk to the magistrate took down Stuart’s deposition. Stuart’s testimony would be important in the upcoming trial.
Stuart described what he recalled of the robbery and his attack. He explained that two men came through the warehouse, and when the first man struck him, the second man, who he identified as Smith, had drawn back behind a partition, the other man then struck Stuart a second time, with an iron weapon. Charles Stuart then accused Smith of direct involvement in the attack:
“You then dragged me along and clashed me down on the floor of the warehouse like a dog, and blinded my eyes” 3
Smith denied this, to no avail.
He was to be charged with robbery.
After his long ordeal, you may be relieved to know, Stuart was finally taken to the infirmary, Here he was found to have suffered a fractured skull. The surgeons then promptly shaved his head shaved and trepanned him [cut a hole in his skull] to relieve pressure on his brain. He remained stable and conscious until 19 Dec, when his condition deteriorated. On 25 December 1816 he died of his injuries.
Charles Smith’s charges had just been upgraded to murder.
The Trial
The trial was held at Newcastle Assizes, on 11 August the following year. The defence did their best, attempts were made to cast doubt on the reliability of Stuart’s deposition, Stuart had relied heavily on recognising Charles Smith’s voice as his means of identification, and some efforts were made to identify if any other workers at the Pottery had similar Irish accents. The surgeon also testified that Stuart would have had to have been able to identify Smith before he was struck, as his injuries were so severe that afterwards it would have been hard to rely solely on his testimony of recognizing Smith’s voice.
Despite this, the circumstantial evidence seemed damning, added to that the jury had listened to the victim’s deposition unequivocally identifying Smith, plus the fact that as a worker at the Pottery, Smith had knowledge of the layout of the warehouse. The outcome was unsurprising. The jury found Charles Smith guilty of the murder of Charles Stuart.
The sentence was death. Smith was to be hanged. But worse still, following his execution, the hangman was to convey his body to Surgeon’s Hall in Newcastle to be dissected.
Smith had a short reprieve, due to some points of law, but the warrant for his execution finally arrived on 26 November and his execution date was set for 3 December 1817.
Day of execution
At around 10 am on 3 dec, Smith was taken from his gaol cell by cart to the place of execution. The gallows was sited at the low end of the Town Moor, by the barracks. There was a large crowd, public executions were viewed as popular entertainment.
Reports say he was attended by a catholic priest, and that he asserted his innocence in his gallows speech, and asked that his neighbours treat his wife kindly, as she had nothing do to with the crime.
Before he died, he was said to have requested that his body be released to his wife for a proper burial. This was refused.
Charles Smith died, knowing his punishment was not over yet….
To find out what terrible fate awaited Charles Smith, listen to the full podcast here:
Notes
- John Bell, The Trial and Execution of Charles Smith, 1817
- Ibid
- Ibid
Sources (post and podcast)
With thanks to the staff of Newcastle Central Library.
Bell, John, The Trial and Execution of Charles Smith, 1817, Newcastle Central Library Special Collection.
Low, Dr. Patrick, lastdyingwords – Capital Punishment in the North East of England 1752-1878
Richardson, Ruth, Death, Dissection and the Destitute, 2001
Rosenbloom, Megan, 2020, Dark Archives, New York
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