Charles Dawson

On 13th September 1873, Charles Dawson, an ironworker, and Mrs Martha Jane Addison, whom he lived with at Darlington as man and wife, went out drinking with three people they shared a house with. Dawson became angry because he found his shirt collar too tight and punched Mrs Addison. She left him to go drinking with some of her own friends, and later in the evening when Dawson saw her, he knocked her to the ground with a bottle and stamped on her, causing fatal injuries. He pleaded manslaughter at his trial but was convicted of murder. Sentence was carried out in Durham on the 5th January 1974.