In the 1841 Census, he was living at Signal House, Beer, with his parents Robert and Elizabeth Woodgate and his younger siblings.
[citation needed] He was accused and put on trial at the Supreme Court of New Zealand for the murder of the newborn baby of his niece Susan Woodgate, the daughter of his brother Robert.
[1] 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).
Robert's daughter Susan continued to live with William at his dwelling, which was about 3 miles (4.8 km) from the nearest house.
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 at the time.