DEATH FOR THREEHA'P'ORTH OF SUCKERS.

The Tragic Short Life of Thomas Christopher Claypole

St Mary's Church, Cottingham (2)

by Alan D Craxford, Brenda Eldridge and Deirdre Ann Norton

"The large populous village of Cottingham is situated in one of the loveliest districts of the county of Northampton. The historic castle of Rockingham is within two miles of it, and at the slope of the acclivity on which it is principally built extends the broad and beautiful valley of the Welland, which here divides Northamptonshire from Rutland. But not the most beautiful spots on earth can enjoy an immunity from crime." - The Northampton Herald (1)

INTRODUCTION

It has been a matter of longstanding surprise that the events we are to recount in this article have been effectively expunged from the collective memories of the families concerned and from the archives of the environs where they took place. Indeed it is only a chance remark written in a letter to our (Alan and Brenda's) father, George William Craxford, by his cousin Iris Snow (See: MURDER MOST FOUL?? IN COTTINGHAM???) over 20 years ago that allowed the circumstances of this tragedy to resurface. Discussions with contacts and family members in Northamptonshire drew a blank, and indeed George himself denied ever hearing his father (who was involved as a very young child) mention the crime.

Sarah Anne Claypole, our great grandmother, had already been the subject of quite intensive research in our endeavours to track down a missing "aunt Lizzie" (See: IN SEARCH OF JAMES ERNEST'S OLDER SISTER) who was also mentioned in Iris' letters. We have had to widen our searches beyond the Craxford family itself and have had to include the census records for Cottingham of 1871 and 1881, the English Births, Marriages and Deaths indexes and materials from the National Archives. It soon became apparent that Sarah had not one but two children before she married John Craxford and it was the death certificate of her young son which was to be the key to the whole mystery.

Plan of Cottingham village about 1887(3)

COTTINGHAM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The village of Cottingham lies to the north of the county of Northamptonshire , north of the connurbation of Corby and close to the border with neighbouring Leicestershire and Rutland. As a settlement it was mentioned in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle and the Domesday Book. It looks out across the Welland Valley and lies in the shadow of Rockingham Castle. To the east is the hamlet of Middleton with which it has a shared history. During the nineteenth century the population of just over 600 people remained fairly constant. By far the largest occupation was in agriculture and the activities supporting farming.

The main routes into and out of the village were Corby Road, Rockingham Road and Main Street (the extension of the High Street which led to Middleton). The street names have changed over the years but dwellings were clustered around High Street, Church Street, Blind Lane, Water Lane and School (or Dag) Lane. There were also a number of closes and alleys such as The Nook and Barrack Yard where further cottages could be found. The village was home to a church, a chapel and up to four public houses.

The Craxford family hailed from the village of Gretton, some eight miles east along the Welland valley. It was John Craxford's grandfather (also John) who moved into the hamlet of Middleton sometime around 1800 and where John's father, William, and three other sons were born. William stayed in the village but two of his brothers moved to the south coast near Uxbridge and a third set up a Craxford dynasty in Monmouth, South Wales. John senior died in 1848 aged 74 from multiple injuries when he was run over by a cart. At the time of our story John Craxford's brother, Thomas, was the proprietor of the Three Horseshoes in Cottingham.

Even a superficial glance at local family histories reveals a quite short list of commonly recurring surnames - and equally commonly these families intermingled in wedlock (or otherwise) or in employment over the century. As well as the Claypoles and Cranes (of whom more shortly) we come across the Beadsworths, the Tansleys and the Tilleys. Earlier generations of the Tansleys had been associated with the Bellamy and Munton families: names which would recur in our timescale. We discovered that William Craxford's brother James married a Comfort Tansley and their daughter (also called Comfort) later worked for John Claypole.

THE CLAYPOLES OF COTTINGHAM

Claypole (and its derivative spellings) is a common enough surname in Northamptonshire and many branches claim descendency from the union of Sir John Claypole and Elizabeth Cromwell (daughter of Oliver Cromwell) in 1646. Our lineage has been traced back to the middle of the seventeenth century when Robert Claypole lived in the village of Medbourne in Leicestershire. Descendents of his moved to the neighbouring village of Great Easton which stands on the border with Northamptonshire and ultimately John Claypole (born in Great Easton in 1816) moved to Middleton and then settled in Cottingham in the 1840s. There were other Claypoles in the village at the time (Samuel Claypole was born in Middleton in 1824) but they were no closer than second cousins.

Birth certificate of Thomas Christopher Claypole

Initially he was a carter but later set up a business at his home on the corner of Blind Lane and Barrack Yard where he traded as a blacksmith. He married Ann Bellamy Munton from Middleton at St Mary's Church, Cottingham in 1839.They had seven known children of whom Thomas Bellamy was the oldest son and Sarah Anne the oldest daughter. Sarah Anne was noted in one census to be a lace maker but by 1870 she had given birth to two children; a daughter, Elizabeth Alice (1867) and a son, who was registered as Christopher Thomas, in 1869.

In 1871, the scene was being set, and families had taken up residence in the houses and cottages along Blind Lane and in Barrack Yard. Sarah lived four doors away from her parents with her son. Blacksmith John and his wife Ann had their two sons, John and William, and daughter, Mary with them, and had also provided a home for Sarah's four year old daughter, Elizabeth Alice. The cottage on the Rockingham Road side of Sarah was occupied by Amos Crane and his family. The cottage on the other side was empty.

John Craxford and Sarah Anne Claypole were married at St Mary Magdalene Church,Cottingham in August 1871. He shared her cottage on Blind Lane. By the Spring of 1875, they had two children: James Ernest (1872) and Henrietta (1875)

Blind Lane, Cottingham 1871 including Amos Crane's family and neighbours	Blind Lane / Barrack Yard Cottingham 1871. Sarah Ann Claypole's neighbours

WHO WERE THE CRANES?

The Cranes have been associated with the village since before 1800 and the family had at least five sons around 1820. During the 1840s Henry, William and Amos had brushes with the law through poaching and the illegal use of firearms to kill game (4,5). Amos, an agricultural labourer, married Sophia Bradshaw in Uppingham in 1841 but settled in Cottingham where by 1871 they had raised at least eleven children.

Amos' older brother Henry, also a farm worker, married Mary Sculthorpe about 1853. They had eleven children too although it is likely that the oldest two were born prior to the wedding. By the time of the census of 1871, they were living in the High Street, Cottingham but already the family was beginning to fragment. Eldest son, Charles, had moved in with his 87 year old grandmother, also called Mary Sculthorpe. Their son Henry was lodging with his cousins, the Sculthorpe sisters Sarah, Eliza and Emma in the village of Great Oakley.

Henry Crane had a reputation of being "an odd character" and there is evidence of domestic violence towards Mary. In 1873, Mary made a complaint to the police and took out an injunction against him. He moved out of the family home, and it seems likely that Amos pointed him in the direction of the empty cottage in Blind Lane. Whether it was already falling into disrepair when he took up residence we don't know, but eye witnesses indicated that he did little to look after either the property or himself and by the time of the murder it was described as a "wretched hovel"

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THE CRIME

May 1st 1875 probably dawned much the same way that Saturdays had done for decades for the residents of Cottingham. Sarah Anne Craxford and her son Thomas had gone shopping in the village quite early and were home again by nine o'clock. While she was occupied with her housework, Thomas played outside in the garden with his three year old brother "Little Jimmy". Sarah became aware that her neighbour was talking to Thomas and that he had given him some money to buy "suckers" (sweets). On her instruction, Thomas was told to go either to Mr Chamberlain, who ran the Post Office in Church Street or to Miss Rayson, who owned the grocers shop and bakery in Corby Road. He returned with the sweets and what happened next is best summed up in Sarah's own words taken from her witness statement.

STATEMENT 1: Sarah Anne Craxford's testimony

Chamberlain's Shop, Cottingham (3)

"In about 20 minutes my child came back. He said he had given the suckers to Crane and Crane had given him five. The child gave one to me and one to his grandmother and one to his little brother. Then he went out and played with his little brother under the window. About 2 minutes after the children had gone out I thought I heard Crane's voice say 'Come you along' and I thought I heard a child's feet scrape along the ground. I ran to the door and asked the little child where Tommy was. He pointed to Crane's door. I rushed to the door. It was shut. I opened it a little way and there stood my child bleeding from its throat - the blood splashed upon me. I caught hold of my child and dragged him out and ran out into the street with him and laid him on the ground and I screamed out. The Policeman came while I was there. The child was not dead when I first brought it out but it died in about three minutes."

Village constable, PC Stringer, lived only yards away from the murder scene and arrived within minutes. He was to remark subsequently that he knew the family well and that his children used to play with the victim. After confirming that Thomas was indeed dead, he went to Crane's cottage and arrested him.

Aerial view of Blind Lane about 1930 (3). From the aspect of the plan of the village above, this picture was taken from the area North of Rockingham Road looking South.

"I spoke to Mrs Craxford and, in consequence of what she said, I went direct to Crane's house which is next door to Mrs Craxford. Crane's door was shut. I went in. He was in the room. He said 'I'm here Stringer'. He was sitting in an arm chair near to the fire, behind the door. The door opens back upon where he was sitting. I went to him and took hold of him and told him he would be charged with cutting the little boy's throat. He said: 'I done it. I meant to do it.' I took him outside to where the mother was and the child was lying. I found the child was dead. I then charged Crane with murdering the child. He repeated the words: 'I done it. I meant to do it'."

THE INQUEST

The Spread Eagle, Cottingham (3)

An inquest was held on May 4th 1875 into the death of Thomas Claypole at the Spread Eagle Inn in the village, presided over by the Northamptonshire Coroner,William Marshall and his deputy and son, William H. Marshall and before a jury of local worthies - farmers and tradesmen. As was the custom at the time, the jury viewed the body and then listened to statements from the witnesses including shop keeper John Chamberlain and evidence from the attending surgeon, Mr Thomas Greaves. Henry Crane was also present and he was allowed to conduct his own cross examination. Mr Greaves confirmed the cause of death.

"I examined the body and found a deep cut and extensive wound of the throat, of the length from three to four inches and the depth of nearly an inch. There were also two slight wounds on the right lower jaw. The wound would be inflicted by the knife produced which the Police showed to me. It was stained with fresh blood. The large vessels on the right side of the neck were divided and the wind pipe severed in two. Deceased has died from the injury received and a child of his age could not have inflicted it himself."

Death certificate of Thomas Christopher Claypole

At the end of the proceedings the jury "without hesitation returned a verdict of Wilful Murder against the man, Henry Crane". The Coroner duly issued a death certificate to that effect. Crane was formally bound over to appear at a hearing at the Magistrates Court the following day and was taken to the lockup at Kettering.

THE COMMITTAL

A special session was convened at the Court in Kettering on Wednesday May 5th 1875. Henry Crane appeared before Magistrates Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Captain Borlace Tibbits. The evidence was given again which largely duplicated the events at the inquest the previous day. An opportunity was given to Henry Crane to speak in his own defence. Eye witnesses found him to be rambling and repetitive in his evidence. He made general accusations that people around him had been trying to drug and poison his food. At one time he declared that "if he had got both of them into his house that night he would have killed them both" (possibly meaning 'Little Jimmy' as well). He also said that he never meant to harm the lad and that Thomas had run up against the knife. There was also a reference to 'Old Thomas Sculthorpe' who Crane said had burned to death some time before because he too have been drugged. Crane said he wanted revenge on the people who had done this.

He was formally committed for trial at the Northampton Assizes and was taken that same day to Northampton County Gaol.

Death certificate of Henry Crane

That, however, is not the end of the story for it appears that Henry Crane never did stand trial. A post script in the local newspaper of July 17th 1875 reported from the Summer Assizes that Crane had been removed to the Criminal Lunatic Asylum at Broadmoor in Berkshire on May 21st 1875 on the order of the Secretary of State. It would appear that he was considered unfit to plead but so far no Home Office records clarifying these events have been discovered in the National Archives. Certainly Henry Crane was in residence in Broadmoor at the time of the 1881 Census and he died there on March 29th 1885.

We have not been able to confirm or deny Crane's reference to Thomas Sculthorpe either. At one point he did say that this was his wife Mary's brother who also lived in the village. There were in fact the deaths of two Thomas Sculthorpes registered in the Kettering district (which would have covered Cottingham) in 1870. The younger man, aged 57 and presumably Mary's brother, died on November 23rd 1870 but the cause of death was "Effusion on the brain". There is no mention of burns or foul play. He was also the father of the three sisters mentioned above with whom Henry Crane's son was lodging. What is curious is that the death was registered by Sophia Crane, the wife of Henry's brother, Amos. The older man, aged 84, had died in March the same year. Although we have not confirmed this we believe this to be Thomas and Mary Sculthorpe's father.

FURTHER READING

A full transcript of the murder scene, inquest and Magistrate Court proceedings taken from the Northampton Herald can be found at STRANGE MURDER OF A CHILD AT COTTINGHAM (1)

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THE AFTERMATH

The Copyholders of Cottingham (3) Exeter Arms Landlord, George Binley, Alfred Bradshaw, J Claypole, John Chamberlain, Harry Buswell, T Curtis, C Dexter, J West, Samuel Swingler J Sturman, W Aldwinckle, JT Spriggs, Spriggs, Christopher Robert Simpson, William Reynolds, Spriggs, Charles Bradshaw, Ingram Looking out of the window behind are Louise Buswell and Anne Bradshaw

Thomas Claypole was buried in a grave in plot A of St Mary Magdalene Churchyard (link to cemetery page). There is no headstone and the site is now overgrown. Life seems to have returned to normal for the majority of the occupants of Cottingham and village life and the make up of the population remained remarkably constant over the years ahead. This constancy can be clearly seen by comparing the make up of the inquest jury that was reported in The Northampton Herald (1) ("The following gentlemen were sworn on the jury:- Mr Thos. Aldwinkle (foreman), Mr Wm Aldwinkle, farmer, Mr Wm Spriggs, farmer, Mr Wm Cooke, farmer, Mr Peake, Farmer and innkeeper, Mr Saml Reynolds, farmer and innkeeper, Mr Arthur Buswell, grazier, Mr Edward Spriggs, farmer and grocer, Mr Jesse Ingram, tailor and draper, Mr Wm Simpson, stonemason, Mr Chas Curtis, shoemaker, and Mr John Shaw, publican. Mr John Neville Chamberlain, shoe manufacturer") and a group photograph of the village copy holders (presumably sons of the same) which was taken some 25 years later.

The subsequent courses of the individual families show some interesting twists and departures. Perhaps the answer to why the memories of this murder story faded into obscurity, tentatively kept alive by just one branch - and not the most obvious one - of the tree, lies within these fascinating liaisons. John Craxford and Sarah Anne Claypole had two sons and four daughters between 1872 and 1885. John died in Cottingham in 1898.

Their son James ('Little Jimmy'), had left the village by 1891. After working in Spondon, Derbyshire, he married a girl from Stoke Prior in Herefordshire and settled in Leicester. Their second daughter, Louisa Craxford, married Arthur Beadsworth and many of their descendents (they had ten children) still live in Cottingham. Daughter Sarah Anne Craxford married Thomas Charles Tansley. Younger son, William married Beatrice Edith Tilley and moved to Leicester to become a policeman. William's daughter, Iris Snow, was the originator of the letters that started this story. Eldest daughter Henrietta had a son, Albert John, who spent his early years living with his uncle William. He served in the armed forces and became a Chelsea pensioner. One daughter, Florence, died at the age of two years.

Sarah's father, John Claypole died in April 1903; her mother the following year. Her first born daughter, Elizabeth Alice, married a farmer, William Hobbs, and moved to Kent where she founded her own dynasty.

Sarah (Claypole) Craxford late 1920s

Sarah Anne Claypole died in 1930. Her death was registered by Margaret Louisa Tansley, her granddaughter, who lived in Kettering and, we believe, married a William Marlow later the same year.

Henry Crane's wife Mary continued to live in Church Street with her five youngest children at the time of the 1881 census. At the same time, her older sons Henry and James had found lodgings with Thomas and Emily Tilley (William Craxford's future wife's uncle) in West Street, Northampton. Henry junior subsequently married Caroline Hoult and moved to Leicester where their descendents still reside.

Henry Crane's brother, Amos, died in 1879. His son, Charles, married Alice Rebecca Beadsworth in 1882 and they had (to our knowledge) eight children. Their youngest son Leonard married Eva Beadsworth, oldest daughter of Arthur and Louisa Craxford. Their descendents still live in the neighbourhood.

FOOTNOTE

Deirdre Norton and Alan and Brenda Craxford are third cousins who share a common interest in family history although they have never met. Sarah Anne Claypole was Alan and Brenda's great grandmother and their grandfather, James Ernest Craxford, is referred to in the newspaper articles as "Little Jimmy". It was the mystery contained in Iris Snow's letters which was the initial stimulus for Brenda's genealogy researches. Deirdre's great grandfather, Thomas Bellamy Claypole was Sarah Anne's brother. Curiously both branches of the family migrated away from the village to Leicester in the early years of the twentieth century.

Bizarre historical coincidence No.9.(!) Henry Crane died on the same date in 1885 as Alan's birthday. William Corder (See: THE MURDER OF MARIA: From Red Barn to Lincoln's Inn) was executed on the same date in 1828 as Brenda's birthday.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Jane Smith, author of the Cottingham History web site for her help with historical details of the village and for permission to reproduce the archive photographs. Thanks also to Catherine Dale at the Law Library, Newcastle Law School, The University of Newcastle upon Tyne; the archivists at Northamptonshire Records Office; the library staff at Northampton Central Library and the staff at the National Archives for their help in pointing our research in the right direction.

REFERENCES:

Added - May 1st 2007
Updated - June 2nd 2009

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