Local stories tell of the ghost known as the White Lady of Skutterskelfe.
I was told that she’s more likely to be a trick of the light, from the mist that gathers where the road crosses the beck – though I have heard that somebody claims to have seen her recently.
This story suggests we might expect the ghost of Skutterskelfe to be a butler instead.
The manor of Skutterskelfe was sold by the Layton family to the Bathursts of Clints and Arkengarthdale in the middle of the 17th century.
The founder of the family fortune was Dr John Bathurst, who was Oliver Cromwell’s physician and MP for Richmond in Yorkshire from 1656-8.
In 1727 his great-grandson Charles Bathurst, who was then aged about 24, decided to run for Parliament hoping to regain the seat his great-grandfather had held.
He stood jointly with Sir Marmaduke Wyvill, who had been unsuccessful in an earlier attempt with Charles’ father in 1713. With their friend the Mayor as returning officer (and with the assistance of a large number of unqualified people whom he allowed to vote for them) Bathurst and Wyvill were duly elected – but on their opponents’ petition the result was overturned.
[1]
Charles did not attempt to stand for Parliament again – because, according to local tradition, he had become insane.
He was certainly a man of hasty temper, as can be seen from the story that he threw a waiter down the stairs of the King’s Head at Richmond. The poor man’s leg was broken and when the innkeeper plucked up the courage to remonstrate with Mr Bathurst – who owned the inn – he was told simply to “put it in the bill.”
In 1730 he killed his butler.
The story is to be found in the
Archaeologia Aeliana, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity, Vol 5 (1861) from
Marske, by the Rev James Raine. It was published by the
Society of Antiquities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the oldest provincial antiquarian society in the country, founded in 1813, and celebrating their bicentenary this year. Their early publications are digitised and available online.
Here is the account of the murder, from a footnote to Mr Raine’s work:
The following narrative of a more fatal encounter is from his own statement and that of his servants, preserved among the Chaytor Archives.
On Dec 1, 1730, Charles Bathurst, Esq., on returning from Stokesley to Skutterskelf, between 9 and 10 at night, found that his butler, David Bransby, who had served his father and himself many years, had that day been quarrelling with the stable boys and other servants.
Speaking to Bransby, Mr B asked what was the reason, and calling the others, desired they would agree, gave Bransby and them each a broad piece of gold, and told Bransby that he loved him as well as any of the rest, and made each drink a horn of ale.
Mr Bathurst drank two or three horns with his cousin, Mr John Motley, whom he had for many years supported, and was about to drink another, when Motley refused to drink, alleging the ale to be of a different kind from what they had drunk before.
Bathurst insisted it was the same as he had drunk of himself, and, on some words, Motley said he was acting like a coward. Bathurst then took him to a room where swords hung, and bade Motley take one and see which was the greatest coward, and drew another himself. Motley would not, and on Bathurst saying,
"You are the greatest coward, and not I"
went out and Bransby with him, when Bathurst remarked,
"It is a fine night, let them be locked out."
He does not appear to have wished them to be kept out long, for on retiring to his bedchamber he took his sword to lay by his bedside to prevent any sudden attempt upon him by Motley, but requested his servant Crowder to take it down as soon as he was in bed and hang it up.
In undressing he wanted some ribbon for sleeve strings to bind his shirtbands, and sent Crowder for it. He heard a very great disturbance, and Crowder on his return told him that he had the ribbon from Bransby who was now come, and that he bade him tell his master so. Bathurst replied
"Perhaps my cousin Motley is likewise come in and will drink his horn of beer, Very likely. I shall take my sword down myself, and hang it up."
He went down with his clothes loose, and in his slippers, having pulled off his shoes and stockings. Crowder followed him down and saw Bransby lying dead on the floor.
It seems that on arriving in the passage twixt the hall and the kitchen, Bathurst had heard Bransby swearing in the kitchen that neither his master nor anybody else should come into it, and if they did he would stab them and be their death with the poker.
He must have come out into the dark passage, and there Bathurst did not see his antagonist but only his red-hot poker, with which in both hands he assaulted his master and burned his coat breast. The latter, apprehending a second thrust, and to prevent further mischief, made a push with his sword and happened to give Bransby a wound in his right side, who instantly died, but even in his staggering endeavoured to strike with the poker.
The surgeons said that Bransby must at the time of his death have had his arm extended and his body bent forward, and on the next day, Dec 2, the coroner's inquest found that the wound was given in self-defence, and that Bransby was almost tipsy at the time.
Counsel however advised Bathurst that as he was not bailable, he had better keep out of the way till near the assizes, as no flight had been found at the inquest, and that he had better make conveyances of his estate, as a verdict either of manslaughter or se defendendo would be accompanied with forfeiture at law, and require pardon.
W.D.H.L.
According to the Newcastle Courant of 12 December 1930, reporting the incident after the inquest before the local jury and before the Assizes met, when Charles Bathurst went downstairs he
was met by his Butler David, who had then a Poker in his Hand, which he had taken red Fire-hot out of the Kitchen Fire; and being then concerned in Drink, swore he would be the Death of any one that offer'd to come into the Kitchen; and taking the Part of Mr Motley, push'd at Mr Bathurst with the Poker, which burnt the Breast of his Coat, and having his Hand lifted up, in order to repeat the Push, Mr Bathurst having no other way of avoiding the Mischief intended him, pushed at him with his Sword, which killed him on the Spot: the Truth of all which evidently appearing upon the Coroners Inquest, the Jury brought in their Verdict, that the Fact was done by Mr Bathurst se defendendo: for which unhappy Accident, to a Servant whom Mr Bathurst had a very great Value for, agreeable to his known good peaceable Nature, he is at present under a most unexpressible Concern
The verdict at the inquest that, faced with a butler "concerned in drink" and wielding a four foot long red-hot poker, Charles Bathurst had acted in self defence, left him in a difficult position. Counsel's advice was that no bail was available and that he had better hide himself away until the trial. Meanwhile his lawyers were very concerned at the possibility that Mr Bathurst's personal estate – his household goods, stock and the lead that was already mined – might be forfeited if the verdict went against him. Counsel's opinion was that if the trial upheld the verdict of self defence, the personalty would be confiscated and then automatically restored. But if the trial brought in the verdict of manslaughter, there would confiscation and there might not be restitution [2] .
On 23 February 1731 they made an attempt to settle the matter before there was any risk of confiscation by petitioning the King for pardon, but the Attorney General advised on 4 March that the King should not grant a pardon before the trial [3].
The papers at Northallerton Archives have no record of the result of the trial and I can find nothing in the digitised newspapers but, fortunately for Charles Bathurst, he did not lose his estates. By 1737 it seems he had recovered his equilibrium – possibly the episodes can be put down to excessive alcohol in an age of very heavy drinking or perhaps the traditional tale of his insanity has little basis – because on 16 February 1737 he married Anne Hendry at Crathorne parish church. She was the daughter of John Hendry, yeoman of Norton and Elton, Co Durham.
After his death in 1743 and that of his wife in 1747 they passed to his three sisters, as he had no children of his own. The estate was much encumbered with debts and liabilities and Skutterskelfe was eventually sold in 1754 to the Hon George Carey, whose wife Isabella Ingram had inherited the estate at Rudby from her father.
Notes:
[1] see
The History of Parliament Online
[2] Description of documents held at Northallerton County Record Office, reference ZQH 7/22
[3] The National Archives, reference SP 36/22/120
here
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