William Henry Woodgate (1827 – 25 January 1877) was the 37th person to be hanged in New Zealand and the last to be hanged in the

Marlborough Sounds The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels. According to Māori m ...

Life and crimes

William Henry Woodgate was born at

Beer, Devon Beer is a village and civil parish in the East Devon district of Devon, England. The village faces Lyme Bay and is a little over west of the town of Seaton. It is situated on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and its picturesque cliffs, ...

, UK, in 1827 and baptised on 1 January 1828. In the 1841 Census, he was living at Signal House, Beer, with his parents Robert and Elizabeth Woodgate and his younger siblings. William married Margaret (Mary Ann) Heberley in 1863. He was accused and put on trial at the

Supreme Court of New Zealand The Supreme Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Mana Nui, lit=Court of Great Mana) is the highest court and the court of last resort of New Zealand. It formally came into being on 1 January 2004 and sat for the first time on 1 July 2004. It re ...

for the murder of the newborn baby of his niece Susan Woodgate, the daughter of his brother Robert. He was thought to be the father of her child. Susan Woodgate's grandfather, James Heberley, testified at the trial in December 1876 that the accused had been living at Point Resolution, Marlborough, for 13 years (since about 1863). After the death of William's brother Robert, William lived in a common law marriage with Robert's widow, who also subsequently died. Robert's daughter Susan continued to live with William at his dwelling, which was about from the nearest house. Defence counsel submitted that there was no evidence of murder having been committed. Two witnesses testified that they had seen Susan heavily pregnant. Susan testified that Woodgate had threatened to smother the newborn at birth and that he later told her he had done so, but she did not see the child at any time. Her sister Elizabeth testified that she had heard the cry of an infant. The case turned on whether the jury believed the sisters and whether the alleged infant had been fully delivered and whether it had been separated from its mother, according to the definition of

infanticide Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose is the prevention of reso ...

at the time. The jury deliberated for 55 minutes before finding Woodgate guilty of wilful murder. Woodgate was well regarded in the community and despite the nature of the crime there was a public outcry over his sentence. A petition was sent to the Governor but it was summarily dismissed. After the Sheriff found no one willing to execute Woodgate, his execution was postponed until a suitable person was found. At 6.30am on Thursday, 25 January 1877, eight days after the original date, he was hanged at Picton. Following his execution, his body was buried in the gaolyard next to Taherei, a previously executed criminal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodgate, William Henry 1827 births 1877 deaths Executed New Zealand people Executed people from Devon People from East Devon District People executed by New Zealand by hanging 19th-century executions by New Zealand 1876 murders in New Zealand

Life and crimes

See also

References