In yesterday’s blog, we published an account of the ghost of John Daniel, who died in Beaminster in 1728. His relations and neighbours suspected he had been murdered by his stepmother, and their suspicions were only heightened when the ghosts of John and his mother – and an apparition of John’s coffin – were spotted in the church! Was there any truth to this story? Did John and his stepmother exist? Is there any record of the land that John was supposedly left by his late father, which his stepmother might have killed him to get? We had a look at some of the documents held here in the History Centre to see what facts we could uncover…
The Parish Registers
If you read yesterday’s blog, you’ll know that the account of John’s apparition came from a document in the Weld of Lulworth collection (D-WLC/Z/22). The writer of this document told us that John’s father, Isaac Daniel, died, leaving land worth £300 to his son. John nominated his stepmother, Elizabeth Daniel, to be the next tenant of the land and, not long afterwards, was found dead.
To find out if any of this really happened, we looked first in the Beaminster parish registers (PE-BE/RE). Unfortunately for us, there are a lot of gaps in these registers, particularly in the early 18th century. But we were still able to confirm – using a register compiled from the bishops’ transcripts – that a John, son of Isaac Daniel, was buried at Beaminster on 1st June 1728. Unfortunately though, due to the gaps, we couldn’t find a record of John’s baptism.
We were however able to confirm that Isaac Daniel married his second wife Elizabeth on 12th February 1716/1717. His first marriage, to Hannah Collins, took place in Lyme Regis in February 1711 /1712. Hannah died in Beaminster in 1714 and was buried on 15th October.
Isaac junior (the son of Isaac and Elizabeth) was mentioned in the account of the apparition in D-WLC/Z/22, throwing a stone at the apparition of his half-brother. It was suggested he was born around 1718, but we were not able to find a record of his birth in the parish registers.
The Will
After the parish registers, we had a look in our wills collection, and found one for Isaac Daniel (the elder), dated 1726. This shows that he left each of his sons, John Daniel and Isaac Daniel, five shillings. All other “goods chattels and personal estate” he left to his wife Elizabeth, whom he also nominated as his executrix.
The Court Books
So, the characters in our ghost story certainly all existed, but was it true that Isaac left land worth £300 to John (and by extension, none to Isaac)? Did John really nominate his stepmother to be the next tenant, and did Elizabeth lay claim to the land after John’s death? Fortunately, we hold copies of court books and presentments for Beaminster, which shed some light on the situation…
In 1726, it was presented to the manor court of Beaminster Prima that Isaac Daniel had nominated his sons John and Isaac to be the next tenants of two pieces of land, in the event of their father’s death.
Further through the book the presentment concerning the land left to John is repeated, but a few lines were added at the bottom, reading
“the said John Daniel son of the said Isaac Daniel is since deceased therefore Elizabeth Daniel (widow and relict of the said Isaac Daniel) claimeth to hold for…her life according to the custom of this manor…the said two closes called Moore Meads and the said acre of arable land”.
So, it does at least appear to be true that Elizabeth claimed John’s land after his death. However, there is no mention of the piece of land left to John being worth £300, and it looks to be very similar to the piece left to Isaac! And there is no presentment showing that John had nominated Elizabeth as the next tenant. Perhaps he died before it could be recorded? We’re not sure.
The Newspaper Report
The big question remaining, of course, is ‘was John really murdered?’ Turning back to our original document, the writer records that, following the appearance of John’s ghost, a warrant was got from Colonel Brodrep, who convened before him all persons who might be able to offer information about John’s death. Following this, the coroner was sent for and John’s coffin was taken up for examination. The writer doesn’t mention an inquest specifically, but later newspaper reports refer to an inquest taking place in the King’s Arms in the village. They suggest that the verdict was that John had been strangled.
The Warrant
After a bit of digging, we were able to find a warrant issued to the Constables of Beaminster (D-FIL/X/8), suggesting that an inquest of sorts did indeed take place. It instructed the constables to,
“warn four and twenty lawful men of the town and to parish to be appeared before me George Filliter Gent one of his Majesties Coroners…at the Kings Arms in Beaminster…tomorrow at seven of the clock in the morning to do what shall then and there be enjoined them on behalf of his Majesty…and you are also to warn the persons hereunder names to be at the time and place aforesaid”.
The warrant is dated 5th July 1728, just over a month after John’s burial. The names of the twenty-four jurors are not known, but the list of names at the bottom (presumably those of the witnesses) include those of Elizabeth Daniel, Isaac Daniel and other members of John’s extended family, as well as other villagers.
Back to the Court Books and Parish Register
With the coroner’s jury returning a verdict of ‘strangled’, and the witnesses all claiming to have seen the ghost of John Daniel and his mother, we assumed that Elizabeth Daniel would have been arrested, or at least left the parish. Surprisingly, though, she appears to have remained in Beaminster. Returning to the court book (D1/6272), we found a presentment from 1729 in which Elizabeth nominated Henry Gould “her intended husband” to be the next tenant of the land she had claimed after John’s death.
We did not find an entry in the parish registers for their marriage, but there is an entry in 1774 marking the burial of Elizabeth, wife of Henry Gould, in Beaminster churchyard. She died at the age of 78, and we presume lived in Beaminster for her whole life. The fact that she had once been suspected of murdering her stepson appears to have had little impact – or at least, none that was documented!
The Library
We were helped in our research by a book called The Death and Times of John Daniel, held in our local studies library. Sometimes, other people have already done the work for you, so it’s always worth checking our library catalogue if you’re thinking of undertaking some research! In this case, the book didn’t have any photographs of the original documents, or specific references, but it did allow us to find the marriage of Isaac and his first wife Mary in the Lyme Regis parish register (we wouldn’t have thought to look here otherwise), and it contained a rough picture and transcription of the warrant (although no document reference!), which made us think to have a look for the document in our collection.
Conclusions: How to get away with murder?
If nothing else we can definitely say that all of the characters in the tale were real and all lived their own lives! However, whilst we can’t definitively say that John was murdered by his stepmother for the land, the signs do not look good for Elizabeth. If she did murder John though, it appears that she got away with it, and lived a long life in Beaminster. By the summer of 1728, she must have known she’d gotten away with it when even the presence of a ghost or two couldn’t help the investigators discover what fate really befell John!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this Halloween murder mystery told through some of the records we hold at Dorset History Centre. If you’d like to explore your own family history mystery, why not pay us a visit and we will see what we can do to help!