Hi Maddys52,
Thanks for all your help with my query - I really appreciate this a lot.
I may hang fire just now in ordering the certificate as it can be expensive enough ordering certificates just for my own family. I suppose we don't know 100% if this would be the right Michael but my gut feeling is that this is the right Michael which you have located.
I am sure this will be the right Michael which you have found who was given the Conditional pardon in 1866. What a discovery you have made! That man seems to have had more lives than a cat!
However, although I 100% believe you about the pardon I can't seem to see this myself on the link - how can I locate it? It is probably just me and I am not clicking on something which I need to but can you advise me?
If Michael died in 1873 he died 3 years before my Great x 2 Grandfather James who died in Durham on 24 August 1876. After 1881, when as a widow, she was living with her eldest child, called Mary Watson, I have never been able to find out what became of my Great x 2 Grandmother Elizabeth.
This is Dorothy Bewick's burial record and her sister Jane's at St Wilfred, Kirkharle:
'Dorothy Bewick buried 23 October 1855 age 66
Waterloo near Blyth, murdered'
1856
'Jane Robson Sweethope 9th February 72 yrs'
Jane's burial was the next one immediately following Dorothy's burial. The place where my Grt x 2 and Dorothy lived was called Waterloo Cottages. Some newspapers say my ancestors had two children at that point and some say six. They actually had five children at that time and may have had their niece living with them too. After the murder of Dorothy they went on to have four more children, two of these children died very young and are buried in Hexham.
Although, it appears that my Great x two Grandparents were married I have bought copies of my Great Grandfather's (Simon Peter) birth certificate and what I believe is my ancestors' marriage certificate and I believe they did not actually marry until 30 May 1859 - James Conroy and Elizabeth Fitzpatrick Bachelor and Spinster at the RC Church at Stella in Gateshead. On the marriage certificate his age is given as 30 and hers as 31. Their son Michael was also baptized at this Church in 1857.
As for Jane Anderson, Tibby's daughter who was implicated in the murder, the newspapers say she became a 'Best' on marriage. I have not been able to find her marriage as yet.