MURDER !

It would be nice to think that someone in your families history has been famous - or even infamous - but when they turn out to be a supposed murderer, things start to get a bit more interesting and you start to delve a bit deeper.

Then you start to find that although they intended to do the deed, and deserved their punishment (as much as any deserve capital punishment), they probably didn't do it!

There is of course no evidence to prove this point of view - but there are a whole raft of circumstantial anecdotes to suggest that things are not what they first appear. That's when you start to get really interested and start to learn much more about your ancestor - start to put fleesh on the bones. Such was the case for my ancestor - George Mellor - the luddite hung at York on 6th January 1813 for the murder of William Horsfall, near Huddersfield in 1812.

My direct ancestor (ggg grandfather) was one Joseph Mellor and George was his cousin. Joseph's involvement was probably greater than was thought at the time, however nothing was ever proven at the time - indeed - it was contradictory evidence from Joseph and his family and few employees that led to the incarceration of his cousin George. It is worthy of note that two of the five people in Joseph's employ, disappeared. Mary Dyson was collected one night by a special constable and was never seen again. There is far more to this story than meets the eye...