The Deathly Hallows of Bolton-le-Moors (Part I)

A Hunt for the Derby Axe

In 1651, the Earl of Derby was executed in Bolton for the part he had played in a massacre of the townspeople during the Storming of Bolton.  He was beheaded at the market cross, outside the Man & Scythe.  The headsman's axe which was used to decapitate him reportedly stayed in the hands of the executioner's family, and before changing hands a number of times over the next two hundred years, was eventually lost.

This blog post is an exploration of historical records relating to the alleged owners of the axe, the intention of which was to shed some light on where it might now be.

The Execution of James, 7th Earl of Derby
(Photo credit: Manx National Heritage)

Timeline of the Derby Axe

• 1651 - Execution of the Earl of Derby at Bolton
• The axe lies hidden Whowell's Farm for 100 years
• 1750s - Bought at auction by James Holt, clerk of Turton Chapel
• 1824 - Passes to Nathan Holt, on death of his father James Holt
• 1840s -  Passes from Nathan Holt to his nephew James Wood Holt.  James has an new oak haft fitted in attempt to sell it to Lord Londesborough, but the sale falls through
• 1859 - James Wood Holt dies
• 1860 - Axe is sold by James Wood Holt's son Richard Bradshaw Holt, to William Sharples
• 1862 - William Sharples died, and a few month later and his widow Ruth also died
• 1880 - Axe is in the possession of James Pitney Weston

Note: The original article in the Bolton Chronicle claimed that the axe was bought by William Sharples in 1851 who exhibited at the Star Inn, and which burnt down in 1852.  A letter from Richard Holt in 1880 stated that this was not the case, and the axe was not sold until 1860.

The Axe Used At The Execution Of The Earl Of Derby At Bolton.

Reproduced from Barton's Historical Gleanings (1st Series, 1881) pp111-113

The axe, or reputed axe, with which the Earl of Derby was executed at Bolton has a pretty clear and unbroken pedigree for more than 100 years. It is pretty well understood that the executioner of the Earl was a man named Whowell or Whewell, who occupied a small farm on the slopes of Edgworth Moor, between Turton, Entwisle, and Darwen, clearly to be seen by a railway traveller (looking north-east) to a towering chimney standing alone in the fields, called "Bird" or "Bird's Folly," from the circumstance of the chimney being erected some 40 years since for the services of an intended chemical works, which, how-ever, were never built. The name of "Whowell's Farm" is still retained, the same branch having been resident there prior to 1651, and 178 years afterwards. The Derby axe, tradition says, lay hidden for more than a century at Whowell's Farm, until a sale took place, more than 100 years ago, when the axe was put up by auction along with other old iron in a sack. The old iron was put into the sack to cheat the byestanders of the real contents, and thereby veil the horror with which the blood stained instrument was regarded. James Holt, clerk and sexton of Turton Chapel during the term of 70 years, being present at the sale, and knowing the precise contents of the sack, bid at the same and it was sold to him. He held possession of it until his death on the 4th of March, 1824, he being then 93 years old., His son, Nathan, succeeded to the church appointment, and inherited the axe. Nathan was a bleacher, and died at the age of 86 years, on the 18th December, 1854. Nathan Holt had a nephew, James Wood Holt, who in due course became clerk and sexton, and also succeeded to the Derby axe. In Nathan Holt's declining years this nephew had the government of the axe, and underwent divers temptations as to its sale. A nobleman, Lord Londesborough, was a bidder, when James Wood Holt had a new haft put to it, cut out of an old oak stanchion taken from the altar railing of Turton Old Chapel, when the latter gave way for the present edifice in 1840-1. James Wood Holt likewise had the blade reburnished, in the vain hope that the whole might appear to better advantage in the eyes of the nobleman. Lord Londesborough did not buy, probably through the heavy figure put upon the axe, and also because of the new haft and reburnishing. About the year 1851 the axe entered on a new career. It was sold by the late James Wood Holt to the late Mr. William Sharples, of the Star Inn, Churchgate, Bolton, premises, it is well-known are situated within a few paces from where the scaffold stood upon which the Earl was executed on the 15th October 1651. Mr. Sharples exhibited the axe in the Museum attached to the Star Inn. On the 13th July, 1852, the Star Inn and Museum were burnt down, but the Derby axe, along with some other relics, passed through the fire unscathed. The possessor of it now is Mr. James Pitney Weston. It has a convex blade, very wide, heavy, and keen.

Letter from Richard Holt

In response to the above article published in the Bolton Chronicle 1880 the following letter was received from the Son of James Wood Holt

Sir - In your report "The axe used at the execution of the Earl of Derby at Bolton" there are a few inaccuracies that I would like to correct. I am Richard son of the late James Wood Holt, and I sold the axe by my mothers instructions to Mr. William Sharples in the year 1861, some months after the death of my father, which occurred on the 9th November 1859, so that the axe could not possibly have been in the possession of Mr. Sharples at the time of the fire at the Bolton Museum. And the amount stated was considerably more than what was stated. The part relating to the axe being so long in our family is quite correct, being originally bought by Mr. James Holt sexton and clerk of Turton, and was retained by four generations in our family, or rather five if I (who disposed of it can be counted as one. I trust this information may be of use in assisting to trace a correct history of the axe

Sir, faithfully yours,
Richard Holt
tin plate worker
Darwen May 11th 1880.

The Whewell Family of Turton

Many accounts of the execution suggest that George Whewell (also spelt Whowell) volunteered to be the executioner, because his family had been attacked, or murdered, by Royalist Troops.  The parish registers of 1644 contains a list of people "slayne" during the massacre, but no members of the Whewell family are listed.

In "Brown's History of Bolton-le-Moors", published in 1824-5, an account is given of some of the circumstances around the execution, and the whereabouts of various associated artifacts.  About the executioner it says:-

"That person was however found in a petty farmer residing on the moor that separates the townships of Darwent and Turton. Upwards of a year since the rumour reached us that the family was yet existent and lived in the vicinity of Astley Bridge that the axe was yet preserved with which the Earl was beheaded and the two pieces of gold given to the headsman by his illustrious victim were yet preserved in the possession of the descendants of the executioner."

 p256, The History of Great and Little Bolton, by John Brown, 1824

Brown goes on to say that the name of the headsman was W-w-l, giving only the skeleton of his surname seemingly in order to avoid the embarrassment of his descendants.  The statement references several other artifacts associated with the execution, including the executioners block, a jug which the Earl drank from before he was killed, and even the executioners skull (which is still on display at The Packhorse in Affetside).

Whewell's Farm

James Francis in his booklet about Affetside suggested three possible candidates for the site of Whewell's home:

It is reputed that the executioner, a George Whewell, whose family had been attacked by Royalist troops, volunteered as axeman. He is alleged to have lived in the Turton area and there are three possible sites of his home, Whewells Farm in Cadshaw Valley, Whowells Farm in Broadhead Valley and Old Butterworths on the slopes of Turton Heights, which had a datestone of 1667 with initials G:W. This stone was later built into New Butterworths Farm. How the skull of the axeman came to the Pack Horse remains a mystery but it has been here since the late 1800s when the Butterworths became residents. Is this a coincidence or was there some connection with this Butterworth family, New Butterworths Farm and George Whewell?

p47, Affetside, J J. Francis, 1994, Turton Local History Society 

The ruins of Whewell's Farm in Cadshaw Valley

Astley Bridge Connection

Another clue worth pursuing when trying to track down the right Whewell family is Brown's statement that George Whewell's descendants were living near to Astley Bridge at the time Brown's book was written, in the early 1820s.  One family which this may refer to is that of Luke Whewell, a cotton-carder, who is recorded as living in Sharples and later Little Bolton (both of which would have contained parts of Astley Bridge at that time).  Luke was baptised in 1792 at Walmsley Meeting House, the son of Edmund and Betty Whewell of Gale in Sharples.  There is another baptism six years earlier, which is possibly his older brother; Edmund, son of Edmund & Betty Whewell of Higher Cadishaw, Darwn.

Tentative family tree of Luke Whewell of Sharples
Red = Abode of parents on baptism / burial

Conflicting Timeline

In trying to trace the descent of the Whewell family, it also worth noting this passage from Casserly's Massacre, which contradicts the timing of events given in  Barton's Historical Gleanings.  BHG says that that the axe came into the possession of the Holt family during the seventeen hundreds, but this excerpt suggests that the Whewells retained it as late as 1812:-

The Whowell family apparently held onto the axe until at least 1812, when it was said to be still in their possession, as one of their descendants was verbally abused in Bolton marketplace and retorted that "they still have the axe and will use it" 

p174 Massacre: The Storming of Bolton, David Casserly, 2011

The source of this information is given as the Marie Mitchell archive.  Marie Mitchell was a local historian in the late 1800s and her papers are deposited in Bolton Archives under reference ZMM.

The Holt Family of Turton

Barton's Historical Gleanings states that the axe was sold to James Holt, the sexton of Turton chapel, in a sack of old irons.  From the parish records of Turton and Bolton, cross referenced against the information in this book, we can draw up the following family tree:-

Richard Bradshaw Holt said in his letter that he was the fifth generation of the Holt family to hold the Derby axe, but this tree suggests he was in fact the fourth.  An article in the Bolton Evening News on 4th September 1877 gives the following description of the axe's time with the Holt family:-

The axe seems to have had rather an uneasy time of it the latter end of the uncle's [Nathan] and greater part of the nephew's [James Wood Holt] reign, sometimes doing home duty, might be, among coal, otherwise pitched to lie neglected in a dark lumber hole, at other times on foreign service, which means being surrendered as bail to some unconfiding neighbour and friend for a money loan.  As time moved on Turton old chapel had to give way to the present church, built on the same site 1840-41.  Pending the erection, Mr. Payley, the architect, (Lancaster) had his curiosity excited towards the axe, and James Wood Holt's exchequer not (as previously hinted), being in quite so healthy a state an offer was made but not accepted.

James Wood Holt's son, Richard, sold the axe to William Sharples in 1861, to be exhibited in his museum of curiosities.

Sharples’s Museum of Curiosities

This history of the museum is intriguing.  From 1840 we start to find records of Thomas Sharples running The Star Inn on Churchgate in Bolton.  The inn had a concert room, in which various performances were held including comic singing and dancing, parodies, acrobats, tight rope dancing, equestrian displays, gymnastics, pantomimes and musical recitals.  Thomas placed many adverts for the performances in the local newspapers in the early 1840s.

Advert for The Star Inn and Museum
Bolton Chronicle, 24th August 1844

In an upstairs room of the Star Inn, Thomas Sharples kept a museum of curiosities.  It included all kinds of novelties; wax portraits of famous people, moving models, and a full size figure of Venus, amongst many other things. It also had a a menagerie of live animals including exotic parrots, cockatoos, leopards, snakes and monkeys.  One newspaper advertisement mentions a kangaroo and antelope, although these were presumably stuffed, and there were also stuffed lizards, crocodiles and a polar bears paw.  Some of the museums more grisly exhibits included a human head from Pompei, and a human arm stripped of skin to show it's veins and tendons.  One can imagine how a macabre artifact like the Derby axe might fit with this collection of strange objects, especially housed in a room situated within a hundred or so yards of the location of the famous execution two hundred years earlier.

From Bolton Museums website

The original Sharples' Museum was destroyed by fire in 1852, but some kind of collection must have been recreated after the fire, as "The Museum and Concert Hall" was listed for sale in 1877 by the subsequent owner. 

The following is a list of key events relating to the Sharples family and the Star Inn & museum:-

• 1841 census - Churchgate.  Thomas Sharples, 38, Innkeeper, wife Hannah, 38, son William Sharples aged 17 years, daughter Jane aged 7, plus eight servants.
• 1847 Martha, first wife of William Sharples died at the Star Inn.
• 1851 census - Churchgate.  William Sharples, head, widower, 27, Innkeeper, born in Bolton with 2 servants, 2 bar maids and a brewer.
• 1851 William married Ruth Fletcher at Manchester parish church
• 1852 July - Fire destroys the museum and concert room of the Star Inn.  Three people subsequently killed when the east wall collapsed while it was being taken down by workmen.
• 1852 September - William puts an advertisement in the Bolton Chronicle offering the business for sale.
• 1856 baptism of daughter Florence, d. of William & Ruth Sharples of Great Bolton, spirit merchant.
• 1860 William acquires the Derby axe from Richard B. Holt, according to the letter from Holt. 
• 1861 census - 14 Churchgate, William Sharples, head, mar., 37, Innkeeper, born in Bolton.  Wife Ruth Rigg Sharples, age 29, born Liverpool.  Daughters; Hannah 15, Florence 4.
• 1862 - William Sharples died in July 1862.  His wife Ruth died in November the same year.
• 1863 Bolton Chronicle - License transfer; Star Hotel, Churchgate, from the late Mrs. Sharples's administrators to Mr. John Smith; Angel Churchgate, from Mr. Samuel White to Mr. James Pitney Weston.

Sharples' Star Inn, Bolton
Illustration from
Popular Leisure and the Music Hall in 19th Century Bolton
by Robert Poole

William Sharples' 1862 last will and testament makes no specific mention of the The Star or the Museum, or any of the artifacts which may have been within it at the time.   James Pitney Weston acquired The Star Inn, amongst other properties, following the deaths of William and Ruth Sharples, and presumably as part of this acquisition came into possession of the Derby axe (along with other curiosities in the museum).  He was recorded as the possessor of the axe in the 1881 newspaper article.

James Pitney Weston (1831 - 1902)

James Pitney Weston appears to have been a very colourful character.  He was an entertainer and theatre manager, who came to Bolton in the early 1860s. The newspapers of the day contain a number of reports about him including, disputes about wages with performers at his theatres, licensing applications and breaches of the conditions thereof, accusations of plagiarism, and dealings with the law.  One 1862 license application stated that "Mr. Weston was not unknown to some of the magistrates as a gentleman standing very high in his profession, and that he was proud to say with all sincerity that Mr. Weston had conducted the Bolton theatre with credit to himself and honour to the town".  Other reports are less flattering.

Advert 1858

The following list is a time line of key events in the life of James Pitney Weston (aka James Pitney):

• 1831 baptised at Somerton in Somerset, son of James and Lewana Pitney.
• 1841 census - living with family at Somerton, Somerset.
• 1851 census - living with family at Shoreditch, Middx., occupation "clown".
• 1855 married Mary Ann Blake at Oxon Church, London, daughter of Robert Blake, a well known tobacco manufacturer from Birmingham.
• 1857 first record using surname Weston.  Newspaper report of JPW apprehending a thief outside Gravesend Theatre in Kent.
• 1857 Theatre Royal, Norwich; played the clown in a comic pantomime, and was credited with arranging the comic scenes.  Described as "surnamed the Clown of all Nations".
• 1858 "First appearance of Mr. James Pitney Weston" the celebrated Equestrian Clown", in the Continental Cirque at Ipswich.
• 1860 Manager of the Theatre Royal, Churchgate, Bolton, described as "the Popular Comedian and Clown of the Theatre Royal, Manchester".
• 1860 publication of pantomime: "Mr. J. Pitney Weston's New and Original Comic Pantomime Entitled The Storm King's Dream, Or, Harlequin Rainbow and the Fairy of the Sunlit City of the Sea: Written Expressly for the Theatre Royal, Bolton : First Produced Nov. 2, 1860".
• 1861 census - living at 19 Bath Street as a lodger with his wife and sister-in-law Rose Blake.
• 1871 census - living at 18 Churchgate Bolton "Proprietor and Keeper of Royal Museum".
• 1872 Purchased the Star and Angel Inns, the Museum Concert Hall, and Theatre Royal, Bolton, for £4,900.
• 1877 The Star Inn, The Angel Inn, The Theatre Royal and Opera House, and The Museum and Concert Hall offered for sale by JPW.
• 1878 declared bankrupt, and then later the bankruptcy is annulled.
• 1881 census - lodging with the Swindells family in Castleton, described as a Theater Proprietor, married.
• 1884 Wife Mary Ann died at Rochdale.
• 1890 remarried to Rosa Emily Pannett (he declared is age as 55, she 23) at St. Stephen, Salford.  Described as a caterer.  Father named as James Pitney Weston, deceased, yeoman. Both living at 64 St. Stephen Street, Salford.
• 1891 census - not located.
• 1901 census - not located.
• 1902 - died in  Leeds, Yorkshire, and was buried at Tonge Cemetery in Bolton.

James Pitney Weston signature in 1890

James Pitney Weston, bankruptcy
The London Gazette, 5th April 1878

To be continued...