Wraith Family Memorial (Mirfield Murders)

TWO POSSIBLE MEMORIALS - WORTH KEEPING DISTINCT. On the evening of 12 May 1847, elderly farmer James Wraith (about 77), his wife Ann, and their 20-year-old servant Caroline Ellis were murdered at Water Royd House (sometimes called Water Royd Hall), Mirfield - a crime that became notorious enough locally that the house itself became known as 'Murder House'. James Wraith had earlier that day gone to ask a neighbour's son for help moving stone on his land; the family were killed later that day or evening. A local man, Patrick Reid, was tried, acquitted of James Wraith's murder specifically but found guilty of murdering the two women, and hanged in December 1847. James Wraith had, earlier in life, been steward at nearby Blake Hall during the period Anne Brontë served there as governess (1839), though it isn't known whether the two ever met. Mr and Mrs Wraith were buried together at St Mary's churchyard, watched by large crowds, while Caroline Ellis was buried separately at the Wesleyan chapel. Sources agree a stone memorial to the murders was later placed in front of the (now former) Baptist Zion Chapel in Mirfield, separate from the churchyard grave slab - this entry currently conflates the two and needs someone to establish whether one, both, or a single relocated stone survives today, and to transcribe whichever inscription(s) can still be read. CONFIRMED AND CORRECTED VIA HISTORIC ENGLAND'S OFFICIAL LISTING: this is indeed the churchyard grave slab (Grade II listed, 1134679, '15 yards to south west of the tower of the Old Church of St Mary'), resolving the 'two possible memorials' question raised above - whether a separate stone at the former Zion Chapel also survives remains unconfirmed. More importantly, the official listing names a SECOND perpetrator missing from the account above: the killers were two Irish pedlars, Patrick Reid AND Michael McCabe, who 'travelled the neighbourhood selling small wares.' Reid was executed at York; McCabe was transported for life. The earlier account above (from annebronte.org) mentions only Reid and should be read alongside this fuller, official version.