My grandmother on my father's side was Alice Elizabeth Hewitt (1907-1999) of Norton Canes, who was a daughter of Thomas Hewitt (1870-1952) and Mary Downing (1877-1959).
My father spent many years making family history notes, and there are still some gaps that I can't reconcile so I'm not sure how Alice fits into the John Thomas Hewitt side of the tree...cousins or something.
I do remember Alice talking about the "black sheep" of the family...John Thomas Hewitt. The pieces of information that come up here are basically the story I was told, but with one exception. The family wouldn't talk about it for years, but essentially William Masfen came across TWO poachers that day; John Thomas Hewitt and his father John Hewitt (b.1851, living in Stokes Lane), son of John Hewitt (1822-1873) and Louisa 'Lucy' Sambrook (1829-1864).
According to the family it was John the father who killed Masfen, and talked his son into taking the blame because, being under 21 years old, he would not have to face the hangman! The rest of the details here, how he was caught etc, are the same as I was told.
Given the above nugget of information, I found the message that quotes the Cannock Chase Post headline saying "Family says right man was executed" quite interesting. Does this mean there were doubts and rumours at the time, and that the family were coerced or advised to keep schtum, and to accept what had happened?