David Todd - An Alleged Murder on Castle Terrace, Aberdeen.

 

When he was 8 years old, David Todd lived at Collie's Court, just off the west side of Shiprow in Aberdeen. The 1861 census shows him at the address with his two brothers, William and James, who were both 'comb-makers', and a sister, Jane, who was a 'worsted bobbin filler'. The occupation of their father, originally from King Edward, is not given, but their mother, Isabella, was a 'flax dresser'.

Move forward ten years to the 1871 census and David is to be found as an inmate of H.M. General Prison, Perth, his occupation given as a 'shoemaker'. The reason why he ended up there is to be found in a report in the Aberdeen Press & Journal of the 14th September 1870 under the headline "ALLEGED MURDER", the trial having taken place exactly 150 years ago today, on the 9th September 1870:

"David Todd was charged with the crime of murder, in so far as, on the 28th April, 1870, in Castle Terrace, the said David Todd did attack and assault James Watson, boilermaker, now deceased, then residing in Albion Street, and did with a knife, or some other sharp or cutting instrument, stab or wound the said James Watson on the neck, whereby he was mortally injured, and in consequence died, and was thus murdered.

Mr Keir appeared on his behalf and tended a plea of guilty of culpable homicide. The Advocate-Depute accepted the plea.

Mr Keir stated on behalf of the prisoner that the wound was inflicted in the course of a violent struggle between the prisoner and the deceased, James Watson. That in that struggle the deceased was the aggressor, although without a weapon and that the prisoner was put upon his self defence. Mr. Keir then read two certificates, one from Todd's employers, Messrs. McPherson, comb manufacturers, and one from Mr. Smart, Police Commissioner, both of a satisfactory nature. Mr. Keir further noticed that the prisoner had been in prison since the month of April, and in the whole circumstances of the case the ends of justice would be met by their Lordships imposing a very lenient sentence. 

Lord Cowan in passing sentence, adverted to the heinousness of the crime with which the prisoner was charged, the sentence on conviction being necessarily a capital one. It was well, however, that he had been well advised, and that the Advocate-Depute had accepted the plea of culpable homicide, which was one that implied various degrees of guilt. There no doubt was a quarrel, and the prisoner was placed on his defence, but it was not implied that his life was in danger, the other man being without a weapon. His Lordship then spoke strongly against the practice of using a knife in quarrels of that kind; it was not legal and would not be tolerated in the administration of justice. The sentence of the court is Seven Years' Penal Servitude".

Comparisons can be drawn from this article with the debate that rages today around knife crime. It is also interesting to note that the sentence of seven years' penal servitude that was handed down to David Todd is the same as that given to petty but habitual criminals that have featured in previous editions of this blog. 

His entry in the Register of Returned Convicts for Aberdeen (at the foot of the page) shows that David Todd was released from prison on licence after serving around six-and-a-half years of his sentence. From February 1876 through to the expiry of his sentence in September 1877, Todd reports to the police on a monthly basis, giving his address as 41 Jack's Brae.

Jack's Brae, Aberdeen, early 20th century.

By the time of the 1881 census, David Todd is to be found living with his mother at number 36 The Spittal. It would appear that David's father had died in the intervening period as his mother is described as an 'annuitant'. As for David himself, he is unmarried and his occupation given as a 'comb-maker', possibly employed, like many others at the time, at the Aberdeen Combworks on nearby Hutcheon Street.