Richard Charlton

Charlton was a farm labourer sentenced to death by Mr Justice Denman at Durham Assizes for the murder of his wife. After the birth of their first child in the spring of 1875, Sarah Charlton left her husband because she became tired of him coming home drunk, and went to live with her sister at nearby Dinnington. On 5th June, Charlton went to his sister-in-law's house armed with his gun. After failing to persuade his wife to return home, he shot her dead and seriously injured his sister-in-law before turning the gun on himself. He was incapacitated for a time, due to his self-inflicted wounds, but after conviction was able to walk firmly onto the scaffold where he was hanged by William Marwood. This execution took place on the 23rd December 1875 in Morpeth.