The Murder of Daniel Chilvers

Evening Gazette 30th September 1909.

Tuesday, September 28th 1909.

The murder of Dan Chilvers, age 30 who's body was found in the beck at Skelton Ellars.

At the time of the 1901 census the Chilvers family were living at 46 Back Lane. Dan was 21 at this time and worked as a tipper above ground at the Skelton Park ironstone mine.
His father, also called Daniel, was a Norfolk man and worked as a Deputy and Overman at Skelton Park Pit [See 1883 miners' photo on Bill Danby's web site.] He would have been 70 years old at the time of his son's murder, but in those times few people lived to this age.
Dan's mother, Elizabeth,would have been 55. She came originally from Northumberland, as did many local miners' families. There were five other children in the Chilvers family besides Dan; Sarah age 31 in 1909, Mary 28, Lilly 26, Harry 22 and Edwin 18. Dan was born in Boosbeck and the family seem to have moved to Stanghow and then Loftus before the birth of Edwin in Skelton.
Kelly's directory for 1909 records Daniel Chilvers as an insurance agent, living at 40 Back Lane. At some earlier date Dan had become an agent for the Prudential Assurance Company.
Mr T H Stubbs, Deputy Coroner for East Cleveland held an inquest on the Thursday following the murder at the Green Inn, Skelton Green.
The first witness was Dan's brother in law, John William Porritt, an ironstone mine deputy, who lived in the High St, Skelton.
He identified the deceased and confirmed that Dan had no worries that he knew of that would cause him to harm himself.
Mr Porritt stated that when he learned that Dan had not returned home, he set off with five others at 2.45 am to search.

Evening Gazette 1st October 1909.

Dan was a member of the Primitive Methodist Church and on Tuesday nights it was his custom to accompany the Minister back to Guisborough. They therefore searched in this direction and turned off on the Guisborough side of the Ellers.
They had a lantern and first of all found a cap and an umbrella which later turned out to be broken.
A few yards farther on they found Dan lying face down in the water.
There were yellow clay marks on his back. Two of his waistcoat buttons were off, They tried artificial respiration, but Daniel was already dead.
He always wore a gold pocket watch with a silver chain and this was still in his waistcoat pocket, but had stopped at 2 minutes past nine. Mr Porritt testified that Dan usually carried a sovereign purse, but the part of the chain to which this was normally attached was hanging loose and the lining of his hip pocket was hanging out. He could not trace Dan's last movements from the footmarks round about, but said one footprint was made by a heavy, nail-studded workboot and Dan did not wear this type of footwear.
The Rev Joseph Toyn confirmed that Dan had walked him so far back home. About a quarter of a mile on the Guisborough side of the Ellers they were met by two Church friends and at 10 minutes to nine Dan, in cheerful spirits, turned back to Skelton.

40 Back Lane. Dan Chilvers home was first right.
Straight ahead is the Ironstone miners' path to Park Pit
and Guisborough.
The likely route Dan walked with the parson to his death.

On the Skelton side of the Ellers they had passed a group of workmen, apparently out for a walk and they had exchanged greetings with the deceased.
Samuel Walker, a hawker, was one of the searchers and he added that the mud around the place where Dan lay was ankle deep and an amount was in the deceased's nose and mouth which had to be removed before attempts to revive could begin. It was not possible to say if this mud had been deliberately inserted.
Mr William Cordy, testified that on his return from Guisborough he had passed four men going in the direction of Skelton Ellers.
Police Sergeant Walker of Skelton stated that he had found 3 pennies and a threepenny bit in Dan's waistcoat pocket.