Uncategorized – Page 6 – Death On My Doorstep (2024)

04

Mar

2018

Kesteven consists of the towns of- Bourne, Grantham, Lincoln, Sleaford and Stamford, plus the surrounding villages.

1/ Somerby Hill Fatal Accident, near Grantham, May 25th, 1907

The paper describes four people being killed, but the postcard above says it was three and several injured. It doesn’t look that serious on the face of it. It also says that it was Mr Wilkinson of Lenton who was on his way to Grantham market with goods and a dozen passengers on his waggon when the horse began to kick out. Mr Wilkinson tried to calm the beast by the head but he missed and the horse bolted down Somerby Hill and collided with a two-horse waggon. A woman named Miss Florence Piggins aged forty-seven, jumped off but landed on her head on the road and was killed on the spot. A man named George Bradford aged forty-four tried to stop the horse, but he was run down and had both legs were broken. He unfortunately died later on at Grantham Hospital. The other two deaths were 67-year-old Mrs Isaacs from Ropsley who died on her way to the hospital and Mrs Ely of Great Humby who received spinal injuries, which proved too severe as she succumbed about three hours after the crash.

2/ Fossdyke Canal (Lincoln) November 1895 (Child Murder)

A domestic servant by the name of Hannah Wright was sentenced to death at Lincoln for the murder of her illegitimate two-year-old boy, by drowning it in Fossdyke Canal (Fossdyke Navigation runs off Brayford Pool in Lincoln). She had told her sister that the father of the infant didn’t even know it existed. She went down to the canal and manually held it underwater until life was expired. When questioned about the murder, she readily admitted to killing him.

3/ Dyke Death, near Bourne August 1887

Arthur Albert Kettle aged fourteen was driving a horse and cart laden with oats and was on the way to his master’s farm. Despite being not told to do so, he rode on the shaft and he fell off and then the cart ran over his head. Kettle died within five minutes of the accident. The verdict accordingly was “Accidental Death”.

4/ Great Gonerby Churchyard Suicide (Grantham) September 1865

Mrs Sarah Farnsworth aged fifty-two, of Westgate in Grantham, left home one Tuesday and disappeared for a couple of days, then her body was found in Great Gonerby churchyard. Her daughter Elizabeth, said that her mother was always short of cash ever since she left her shop-keeping job about six years ago. A friend of her’s, Jane Ward, said that she asked her to lend her a couple of pence, which she did, she then scuttled off in a hurry. Then on Friday, a boy named Ashbourn told the local policeman John Preston, that there was the dead body of a woman in the churchyard. Upon inspection, it was found to be Sarah who was sat upright with her back leaned on a gravestone, with a prayer-book next to her. Her pockets had two empty bottles in them, probably laudanum bottles and the post-mortem revealed she had died from narcotic poisoning. “Suicide whilst of unsound mind”.

5/ Clayton & Shuttleworth, Lincoln, (Shocking Death) September 1906

6/ Stamford, (Horrific Death) April 1904

Seventeen-year-old James Caunt was admitted to hospital with terrible internal injuries, sadly three hours later he died from them. Three workmen who were mucking about with a force pump said that Caunt joined in the japes and put the nozzle between his legs. His innards began to swell and he was in great agony when admitted to hospital. He managed to tell a nurse that two men had held him down and the other bloke had shoved it up him. (Presumably his bottom!) He died from his gut rupturing and peritonitis setting in. The men, James Thorold, George Burrows and Charles Baker were found guilty of manslaughter and of”feloniously killing him”. What a way to die, poor bugger!

7/ Old Ship Inn, Pointon, August 1906 (This pub is still there! Murder/or Suicide?)

Mrs Hind, the wife of the landlord of the Old Ship Inn at Pointon, was discovered lying in a heap on the living-room floor with three bullet wounds to the body. A shot had ignited her clothes and the resultant burns, caused her to be rushed to the hospital. She died a month later of her burns.

8/ Sleaford Railway Station, (Fatality) October 1894

William Trolley aged forty, a plate-layer who worked for the Great Eastern Railway Co., was run over by a goods train at Sleaford. He was killed about twenty yards from his house, having the top of his head severed off, causing instant death. He leaves a widow and six children.

9/ Belton Park Suicide, December 1915

10/ Belton Park Death, July 1869

Volunteers from adjoining counties met at Belton Park for inspection by Colonel Wombwell, with the Robin Hoods of Nottingham excelling in the exercise. In the searing heat of July 1869, they marched to Belton Park, which is a couple of miles from the railway station. The bandmaster of the March Rifle Corps dropped down dead from heat exhaustion and it is also thought that another death has occurred at the same time. Around fifty men were treated for heat exhaustion and whisked off to hospitals. There were several thousand men in the area performing these manoeuvres.(Anyone know any more?)

11/ Lincoln Lunatic Asylum Suicide, December 1864

Sixty-year-old Samuel Baker, who was a patient at the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum, killed himself by hanging. He was clearly in the right establishment because he believed that every meal he ate cost him a £1000, therefore he hardly ate a morsel while there. He tied one end of his handkerchief to the doorknob and other around his neck, then sank down to the ground slowly strangling himself.

12/ The Strugglers Inn Suicide, Lincoln, October 1883

This pub is right next to the castle on Westgate and this is where crowds would gather to watch the public executions. I believe it to be the case that the condemned prisoners were allowed a pint in here before they were strung up. Is it true? Anyway, in October of 1883, Charles Lewis aged fifty-three, was discovered in a hayloft adjoining the Struggler’s pub, hanging from a beam. The brother of Lewis said he was a very depressed sort of person, unmarried and was addicted to drink. The man who found the body, William Brown, said he went up to the granary and saw him hanging by a rope. He was in the pub the previous night enjoying a jar or two and didn’t seem despondent in any way.

One thing that could have led to his suicide was the fact that he had nowhere to live since their mother died a few months ago. When found by P.C. Calvert he had no money on him and his feet were on the ground, with one hand was grasping the rope. The verdict was the same as always in these cases, with “Suicide during temporary insanity”.

13/ Boothby Pagnell Fatality, September 1909

14/ Burton (Lincoln) November 1888 (Decomposed Corpse Found)

An atrocious discovery was made at Burton Fen when a couple of men named Gray were going through the cemetery plantation in Burton Fen, when they stumbled upon the body of a man in the water. He was badly decomposed, wearing a black jacket and a pair of cords and was about sixty odd. He had no front teeth and had a full beard. The corpse was identified as that of William Meadows, who worked for a builders in Lincoln, who went missing in early July and hadn’t been seen until now. His wife was extremely worried as to his whereabouts and thought he had gone to America to see his daughter.

15/ Stamford Suicide, March 1888

Thomas Williams aged fifty-seven killed himself by jumping off the iron bridge over the River Welland into the water. A passer-by named Taylor heard the splash, but could not help the man as he himself couldn’t swim. He went to get help elsewhere and police dragged the river, the body was finally recovered. Williams suffered from severe rheumatism and this preyed on his mind as the work had dried up about three years ago.

16/ Sleaford Railway Station Death, March 1883

Robert Nichol, a signalman’s labourer in his seventies from Boston, was knocked down by a train at Sleaford Railway Station. He worked on the Great Northern Railway and was working on the new station at Sleaford. While shifting to avoid a locomotive he stepped right in front of a ballast train. His legs were nearly severed in the accident and he was carried to the waiting-room, to await medical attention. When on his way to the hospital at Boston, he dictated the terms of his will. When he arrived both legs were amputated and it was found he had serious head injuries as well.

17/ Lincoln, (Suicide by Mirror) August 1889

18/ Deeping St Nicholas, (Traction Engine Death) October 1909

A shocking accident befell poor Mary Mulligan as she came back home from Roman Catholic funeral with her brother, who is a Catholic priest, as they were cycling. It was a bit windy and she was riding one-handed, with the other holding on to her hatwhen they saw a traction engine coming up. While in the process of passing the huge vehicle she skidded and her arm fell under the machine. As she screamed in pain, her head and body were dragged under as well, causing her to killed on the spot. Sadly Miss Mulligan would have gone to a convent near Manchester to finish her education.

19/ Bourne Workhouse Suicide, February 1897

An inmate of the Union Workhouse at Bourne, Thomas Smith, despite being well into his eighties, decided that suicide was the best option for him, so he slit his throat with a razor in the yard adjoining the day room.

20/ Traveller’s Rest Inn Death, Lincoln, October 1880

As far as I know, this pub is still there but used for student accommodation nowadays. Anyone staying there, hold a seance and see if you can muster up the spirit of Mrs Mary Butler, a 48-year-old widow who was landlady of the Traveller’s Rest. She went to bed at ten p.m. one Sunday night and during the night her two daughters heard a noise. They called out to their Mum but she never answered and on closer inspection, she was found to be deceased.

21/ Lincoln Railway Station Suicide, August 1854

As the train stopped at Lincoln station at 3-30 p.m., as a porter opened the door to the first-class carriage they discovered the corpse of a gentleman with a bottle of poison next to him. His identity at the time was unknown.

22/ Temple Bruer Child Murder, February 1879

23/ Ruskington Fatal Accident, (Sleaford) November 1917

This rang a bell as soon as I heard the name. I remember seeing Richard Madeley on “This Morning” getting terribly excited by the tales from locals who rang into the show, saying that they had seen a face in their car windows while driving near Ruskington. They nicknamed it “The Ruskington Horror” and no feasible explanation was ever put forward, as to the cause of this highway haunting. I doubt it was this lady though. While crossing the railway line at Ruskington, Mrs Pattinson the wife of Alderman Robert Pattinson, a well-known figure locally, was run down by a passing train and killed instantly.

24/ North Hykeham Filicide, September 1901

Mary Jane Roe of North Hykeham, grabbed hold of her three-year-old son and cut his throat with a kitchen knife. Then, in “Amityville” style, she calmly moved about the house and walked upstairs and slit the throats of her eight-year-old and her five-year-old, who were asleep in bed. The youngest, Alfred, was killed at the scene, but the other two pulled through. Roe was arrested and is in custody. (What happened to her?)

25/ Brayford Pool Body (Lincoln) October 1884

The body of a male child was fished out of Brayford Pool when discovered by George Barton, the water bailiff. He was in a boat on the Pool when he spotted, what he thought was a package, floating on top. He managed to grasp hold of it and found to his horror it was the body of a child wrapped in a newspaper. The body was taken to the mortuary and police are looking into the matter.

26/ St Leonard’s Street, Stamford, (Tragedy at a Well) December 1900

27/ Heckington Murder, March 1833

William Burbank was a well-known member of the village society at Heckington. He had a good day at work, making a few bob on the way. He went to celebrate with a drink in a beer-house at three p.m. and got talking to a group of men who were in there propping up the bar. When he mentioned he’d made a few quid, their ears pricked up and when he left an hour later, to head off to Boston, he was followed by William Taylor who bludgeoned the old fella to death. He smashed in his jaw and broke other bones in his body, giving him a really good kicking, then robbing him of all his cash. His mutilated body was found early the next morning. William Taylor was arrested and later convicted of the murder of Burbank. He was hanged at Lincoln on March 18th, 1833.

28/ Bourne Drowning, February 1887

An inquest was held into the death of Stephen Russell, a shoemaker, who was discovered lying face down in approximately two feet of water in a stream that ran past his back door, wearing only his socks and a shirt. The landlady reports seeing him in bed earlier on and said he had been receiving medical treatment lately. He was alive when fished out but died after less than a minute. The verdict was, that he had died from shock and drowning, but the mystery remained as to what he was doing there.

29/ Nottingham and Grantham Canal Body, July 1888

William Bond Newcombe, a forty-year-old groom, was discovered floating in the Nottingham and Grantham Canal. His father identified the body and stated that he was a single man and lived in Swinegate. He was found by William Brassley of Harlaxton, who saw the man on the surface but went to tell the police, rather than fish him out.

30/ King Street/Sincil Bank, (Drowning Mystery) December 1915

31/ Monks Abbey Crossing Suicide, Lincoln, February 1892

As the Cleethorpes train approached the station at Lincoln, due in at 9-17, it went over the crossing at Monk’s Abbey. The stoker saw a man sitting on a gate, then he suddenly ran to the tracks and put his head down on them and let the train run over him. They found the mutilated remains later on, with the head virtually non-existent. The remnants of the unknown man had brown beard and moustache, around thirty-ish and about five feet seven tall.

32/ Barkston Junction Manslaughters, (Grantham) March 1874

John Whittle, an engine driver, was charged with the manslaughter of Henry Crawford and Arthur Casburn. This was as a result of the fatal collision at Barkstone Junction, approximately three miles from Grantham on January 10th in a dense fog. He was found not guilty of any neglect that would render him open to a manslaughter charge and it was deemed to be an innocent mistake. Whittle was discharged.

33/ Ewerby Lightning Fatality, (Sleaford) May 1891

Whilst working in a field at Ewerby near Sleaford one Wednesday afternoon, a labourer named Bee was struck by lightning and was instantly killed. Two companions escaped unhurt.

34/ Helpringham (Sleaford) June 1895 (Not very often you see this jury verdict!)

35/ Morton near Bourne (Burned to Death) January 1909

A horrific burning fatality occurred at Morton near Bourne when 14-year-old Jessie Beatrice Frone was trying to look after a five-year-old child and adjust her hat in windy conditions, then disaster struck. She was trying to adjust her hat and put the lantern, which had broken glass in it, between her arms. The flame, fanned by the wind, caught her clothes and next thing she knew she was on fire. Poor Jessie died from the third degree burns to her skin.

36/ Durham Ox Crossing Fatality, Lincoln, May 1885

George Willey’s wife, of No.24, Montagu Street, was standing at the Durham Ox Crossing chatting with her husband and two other blokes. The gates closed, in order that a pair of trains could pass through. This little party were right where the tracks fork in different directions, and to top it all Mrs Willey’s dog ran off and she made an effort to save it. She was struck and landed a couple of yards away, on the line, then the rest of the train ran over her virtually cutting her in two. “Accidental Death”.

37/ Welham Street, Grantham /River Witham (Baby’s Body) September 1887

A man by the name of Rose was walking along the River Witham bank, near the bottom of Welham Street, when he noticed something in the water. It was a parcel wrapped in brown paper and Rose’s dog managed to fish it out. When unwrapping the package he finally found the body of a baby boy. The post-mortemrevealed that it was fully formed, had never breathed but it had a bruise on its head. The Coroner suggested a verdict of “Still-born” be returned, which was duly done.

38/ Lincoln Castle Executions (1722/1747)

39/ Thurlby (near Bourne) August 1890 (Double Murder /Suicide)

A man named Charles Holliday lived with Hannah Hall in one of the cottages less than a hundred yards from the railway station, along with 7-year-old Charles Hall and their six-month-old, Harriet Holliday. He went off on Saturday night and when he returned on Monday morning all the curtains were drawn with no sign of anyone about. The neighbours were worried, so a policeman went to look for Holliday and found him and asked him to come back home to find out if all was OK. The door was forced open and the first thing they saw was Hannah Hall, hanging from a beam with an upturned chair nearby. Even more horrendous a sight was to greet them upstairs, when they found the two children laid in bed with their throats slit. The little boys head was nearly detached from the body, with the baby also badly mutilated. It is believed that thirty-seven-year-old Hannah Hall was an alcoholic.

40/ Grantham Area (Man Decapitated) March 1899

A verdict of accidental death was returned yesterday in the case of a man who was found decapitated on the Great Northern line near Grantham. From inquiries made at Newcastle, it is believed that he was John Hemingway Woodhead, lately carrying on business there as a builder and contractor.

41/ Tallington Crossing Decapitation, November 1883

A fatal accident occurred to a Mr Porteous, a tradesman from Peterborough in Cambridgeshire. He was crossing the railway line at Tallington when he was run over by an engine and decapitated. He was an owner of a lot of property in the Peterborough area.

42/ Lincoln Fair Fatality, May 1888

43/ Canwick, March 1857 (Skeletons Discovered)

While some workmen were excavating earth on Major Sibthorp M.P.’s estate at Canwick, they found a couple of skeletons about a foot and a half below the surface. One is adult and the other is of a child, approximately three-years-old. The adult was in the foetal position and close to the bodies was a razor and a small dagger, both rusted up. The local villagers were scared to go near the place where they were dug up, saying that it filled them with dread and despite not knowing that there was a pair of skeletons under the ground. It looks to be a case of double murder. (What became of the bodies?/Was it murder?)

44/ Leadenham (Sleaford) (Hayfork Fatality) September 1887

Arthur Theaker aged thirteen, died from injuries received while working for Mr Howard of Leadenham. He fell from a ladder straight on to a hay fork, with the prongs having penetrated his head. The doctor was called at 5-30 p.m. and by this time he was unconscious. The skull was fractured and the fork prong had entered the brain. He lingered until the next day when he finally succumbed to his horrific injuries. It was deemed “Accidental Death.”

45/ Fighting co*cks Manslaughter, Corby Glen, (Stamford/Grantham) November 1886 (The pub is still there!)

George Parker met with his death outside the Fighting co*cks public house in Corby Glen. He got into an argument with a bloke named Edward Bullock on the 10th November, all about politics and then the inevitable fight took place. The landlord threw them both out, but they carried on outside and Bullock punched Parker in the face, then he smacked his head on the pavement. He suffered from a fractured skull and died the following day from compression of the brain and Bullock, the 24-year-old shoemaker was charged with manslaughter.

46/ Lincoln Double Murder, June 1885

47/ Grimsthorpe Castle (near Bourne) (Car Crash) May 1902

A fatal car accident took place near to Grimsthorpe Castle. The chauffeur to Lord Willoughby de Eresby was driving his master’s car with three adults and a child as passengers when the car spun out of control when going down a hill. The passengers were thrown free, but the chauffeur was killed at the scene. A coachman received terrible injuries and is not likely to pull through. All others were OK, with the child was luckiest of all, being flung over a hedge and sustaining minor cuts.

48/ Stamford Drowning, August 1882

A lad named James Roberts living in St Leonard’s Street, Stamford, was drowned whilst bathing in the river near Studd’s Mills on Wednesday afternoon.

49/ Lincoln Lunatic Asylum, (Set Himself Alight) May 1833

A patient at the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum, Charles Stephenson, had a habit of self-immolating and this came to a head when smoke was seen to come from a window in his room. He somehow managed to set light to his clothes. He was in the infirmary for four or five days, in terrible agony until he passed away. He was sixty-three and had been in the asylum for a number of months.

50/ Dunston Fatality, April 1909

A car in which Lord Westmorland and other Blankney Hall guests were driving, overtook a horse and cart being driven by a boy. The horse reared up and knocked the young lad down, then ran over him. The motor-car conveyed the boy to Lincoln Hospital but he died on the way. He was later identified as having the name Asher and was only fifteen years of age.

51/ South Stoke Suicide, near Grantham, August 1892

52/ Stamford Railway Remains, April 1909

The mutilated remains of a middle-aged man was discovered on the Midland Railway near Stamford. The four p.m.train from Peterborough found traces of blood on the engine,so this is thought to be the train that struck the stranger. When he was discovered he had both legs missing as they had more than likely been sliced off by the train.

53/ Bourne Manslaughter, July 1891

Two men named Garfoot and Fairchild who were both employed on the Great Northern and Midland line at Bourne, were both lodging in the same house, when an argument erupted, with Garfoot accusing Fairchild of taking too much interest in his missus. Garfoot beat the hell out of Fairchild and gave him a fractured skull and had a leg broken, along with a shattered ankle, as a result of the altercation between the two of them. Fairchild lay in hospital in a critical condition and Garfoot was arrested.

54/ Stoke Grange near Grantham July 1887

An awful accident occurred at Stoke Grange, about eight miles from Grantham, when Frederick Minta, a farmer, was trying to get a tree trunk from out of the River Witham. A team of horses dragged the giant hunk of timber onto the bank, when Minta got snagged up in the chains and the huge tree was dragged over his body. He screamed at the others to release the tree, but they levered it up so he could be released and he died about ten minutes after being freed.

55/ Reepham, (Awful Death) March 1883

56/ Edenham Double Suicide, near Bourne, July 1907

Claude Deering Dean and Emily Lockwood struck up a close relationship while he was Long Eaton. Not unusual you might say, but the problem was that he had a wife and kids in Birmingham. They became infatuated with each other and passed off as husband and wife. They decided on a suicide pact together, by both taking a swig of oxalic acid, then jumping into the river at Edenham. The law states that if attempt suicide together and one of you survives, the other one can be tried for murder. This is just what happened and Deering was sentenced to death for his part in all this, but he was reprieved at the last minute and given the sentence of penal servitude (hard labour), for life. He was Richard Deering in some newspapers!

57/ Stanley PlaceMurder, Lincoln, April 1891

Twenty-four-year-old Arthur Spencer, a butcher by trade, was seeing a 30-year-old widow with four kids by the name of Mary Garner. He asked her to marry him, but she wasn’t interested and kept on refusing his offers. He laid it on the line one evening and said that if she didn’t marry him, he would kill her, then commit suicide. Mary laughed it off but he turned up at her home in Stanley Place one night and shot her in the chest. Mary managed to get to the neighbour’s house but she died within the hour. Spencer was found on the floor of her house with a gunshot wound to the mouth. He survived and was later on, in July 1891 sentenced to death for her callous murder.

58/ Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, August 1884 (Double Child Murder)

Sarah Ann Rippin of Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth near Grantham was charged with the murder of her two children. Annie Elizabeth Rippin, thirteen months and John Thomas Rippin aged three years were the victims. She took them to the pond at Colsterworth and drowned them, then this story was repeated to her neighbour who then informed the local police. The policeman went to the home of Sarah Rippin and asked her where the children were. She pointed to the pond. They immediately dragged the pond and found the two, with their heads buried in the silt at the bottom of the pond. (What happened to her?)

59/ River Welland at Stamford, (Child Drowns) February 1895

60/ Norton Disney Gamekeeper Murder, February 1877

Henry Walker, the gamekeeper on Viscount St Vincent’s estate at Norton Disney, was with a watcher named Wells in a woods about a mile from the village. They heard a gunshot coming from a plantation so they hurried in that direction. Two poachers came out of nowhere and threatened to blow their heads off if they came closer. They ignored them, but the two poachers ran off through the plantation and they eventually lost them. They caught up with them and this time when they were told not to come any nearer, they again ignored them, but this time the poacher shot him in the legs. Wells went to get help and Walker was taken back to his cottage. He was medically cared for but he died a few days later. Three men were arrested, but Wells couldn’t identify two of them, so the real killer was still out there somewhere. (Was anyone ever tried for Walker’s murder?)

61/ Helpringham (Sleaford) June 1895 (Lightning Fatality)

Two brothers by the name of Dove, along with another man named Massingham, were in the corn-fields labouring at Helpringham, when they were struck by lightning. Massingham and one Dove brother were badly injured, but sadly the other Dove brother died at the scene. Massingham is in a critical condition. (Did Massingham make it?)

62/ Skellingthorpe (Concealment of Birth), (Lincoln) July 1869

A 1fifteen-year-old domestic servant named Mary Ann Hollingsworth, was up in court on a charge of wilful murder of her female infant on May 2nd,1869 at Skellingthorpe. The judge said there was no case for murder and although she might have known her condition and attempted to conceal it, her child was delivered without her knowledge, with her having mistaken the symptoms. Even though he knew of the delivery afterwards and having not mentioned it, they could not find her guilty of concealing its birth.

63/ River Welland Drowning, Stamford, July 1888

64/ Uffington Newly-Wed Suicide, (Stamford) September 1865

A suicide in the village of Uffington near Stamford, has caused quite a buzz in the neighbourhood. Richard Barsby, a sixty-four-year-old labourer married a sixty-year-old widow, Elizabeth Kirby and while he went out to work she stayed at home and did the house-wife chores. Barsby comes home one evening and finds Elizabeth dead, with a glass next to her and some powdery residue at the bottom of it, probably laudanum. He found a letter with the wedding ring in, explaining that she was fed-up and wanted to die, despite being newly married.

65/ Timberland Suicide, September 1888

The postmaster at Timberland, Thomas Abbot, was found in a water-butt with the top half of his body immersed in the water. He had calmly put his hat and stick down then committed suicide by going head-first into the tub.

66/ Washingborough Shooting, May 1859

I doubt if you’ll see the headline “Harry Enfield Accidentally Shot”, but that was exactly what happened in this case. Henry Enfield was part of a group of poachers who were on their way to Washingborough, when the loaded gun in his pocket fell out and went off, sending the bullet straight into his head, nearly blowing off one side of his face. This was all seen by a passing train guard who was on the Boston/Lincoln train at the time. When he rolled into the station, he explained what he had spotted to a copper and they, in turn, went to Washingborough and took care of his corpse.

67/ Lincoln Workhouse Suicide, January 1883 (On Burton Road)

68/ Little Bytham Railway Station Fatality, September 1884

William Camm, a platelayer aged thirty-three was killed at Little Bytham Railway Station while working for the Great Northern Railway Company. Camm was with Charles Edinburgh, William Taylor and Robert Daft re-sleepering the siding and they had to move some trucks which were in the way. They had removed two and were moving the third, when the last one started to slide towards them and caught Edinburgh and Camm between the buffers, which neither saw or heard coming as an engine was blowing off steam at that exact time. Both men were whisked off to the hospital, where Camm died and Edinburgh escaped with a few minor cuts and bruises.

69/ Coleby/Coleby Lodge Fatal Accident, (Six miles south of Lincoln) December 1883

Joseph Goy was a forty-three-year-old labourer who worked for Mr Howard of Coleby Lodge near Lincoln. Goy and another man named Baker, were putting some sheeting on the top of the haystacks, which had been blown off in the night, back on, when Goy was blown by the gust of wind onto the hard frost-bitten earth. The distance was about fifteen feet and he landed on his head and dislocated his spinal column, therefore rendering him paralysed. At Lincoln County Hospital it was discovered that he had no use of his arms, legs or chest muscles, and from here on he got progressively worse and eventually died of his injuries.

70/ Stamford Child Murder? August 1867

Edwin Goldsborough aged thirty-six and Louisa Elston, alias Tomlin, were charged with the murder of Alfred Elston on the 16th March last. Both of them were inmates of the Thrapstone Workhouse in Northamptonshire and it was while they were here that someone heard the two of them planning to go off together and that she would take the child with her. When they arrived in Stamford, he told her that the child was a hindrance and she should get rid of it. Not long after this conversation, Louisa told a policeman that her child had fallen in the river. He was suspicious and they were taken to the police station. In the end, Goldsborough was let off and she too received a “Not Guilty” verdict of murdering her child.

71/ Mint Lane off Mint Street, Lincoln, (Suicide by Poisoning) June 1889

72/ Welton Cliff Suicide near Lincoln, February 1885

Edward Knowles was a sixty-seven-year-old farmer from Welton Cliff near Lincoln. His wife woke up one morning to find him missing from bed, but she thought he had gone out early. Time ticked on and she got worried as to his whereaboutswhen a search was made to look for him. He was discovered in a pond in one of the fields and it was clearly a case of suicide, not an accident.

73/ Fulbeck Hall Hunting Death, (between Sleaford and Newark) March 1868

The splendidly named General Mildmay Fane, Colonel of the 54th Regiment, died in a hunting accident near to his country seat of Fulbeck Hall. His horse stumbled and threw him off, where he landed head-first. When attended to, he was found to be already dead with his neck having been broken.

74/ Claypole Station Fatality, near Grantham, November 1866

A verdict of “accidental death” was the outcome of the inquest into the death of a little girl at Claypole Station near Grantham. Seven-year-old Ada Newton, the signalman of Claypole Station’s daughter, went to speak her fatherwhen the express train was due to thunder through the little station. The father’s job is to signal if the line is clear, to pass the station and he was getting ready when Ada crossed the line, where the entire train, carriages and all, trundled over her frail body. She was badly mutilated and death was obviously instantaneous in this case. (No doubt closed and abandoned?)

75/ Deeping St Nicholas (Lightning Fatalities) July 1866

76/ Branston, (Concealment of Birth) July 1860

Ann Nutt was up on a charge of wilful murder of her illegitimate child at Branston on the 16th April. She was acquitted of this and convicted of the lesser crime of concealment of birth. The housekeeper had already been in custody for three months, so the judge ordered that she serve another three months with hard labour, for what she had done.

77/ Eagle, (Religious Suicide) March 1888

Between Lincoln and Newark lies the village of Eagle and it was here that 72-year-old Mr Crosby decided that suicide was a good option for him. His wife got up and started to make breakfast but when she called him to come down, there was no reply. She went up and found him hanging by a piece of cord from the bedpost. She raised an alarm and he was cut down by neighbours. No reason could be assigned for his self-destruction, apart from his depressed state of late, as the uber-zealous religious fanatic had seemed less hopeful for the future, so he had killed himself. Religion was not the answer!

78/ Sleaford Railway Station Fatality, November 1883

Another death near the station at Sleaford. This one was labourer Thomas Gray, who was run down by an express train while crossing the line at the West signal-box, not far from Sleaford Station. The gates were locked, as the train was due, but it’s thought that Gray climbed over the fence and was then struck by the train. A G.N.R shunter shouted at him that the train was coming and he ran to the other side but unfortunately he never made it. The train driver said he blew the whistle, but Gray just ignored it and before he could stop he had collided with him, leaving the body badly mutilated. The landlady of the house he lodged at said that he was a little deaf. He had also been unemployed for three weeks but was still in good spirits. The remains were carried to the Nags Inn, with a foot severed off and one leg carried some distance by the train. Also, one of his hands was just hanging on and the head smashed to a pulp.

79/ Lincoln High Street, (Tram Death) August 1886

80/ Upper Bracebridge Train Death, (Lincoln) April 1880

A dreadful accident occurred at Upper Bracebridge near Lincoln, while eight-year-old Elizabeth Poole was playing on Bloxholme Road with her cousins, two lads named Darcy, when a locomotive attached to a threshing machine came past. The driver told the kids to stay away, but kids being kids the two boys jumped on the straw elevator section of the thresher. Elizabeth just carried on walking next to the apparatus, when she tumbled and fell underneath. The wheels had gone directly over her head, causing instant death.

81/ Nocton Heath Poisoning, February 1849 (Was he ever found?)

A strange tale of a servant girl who was allegedly poisoned by the father of her child. The nineteen-year-old Mary Ann Melton who worked for Mr Hills, a farmer, was struck down with some kind of illness which was so severe that a doctor was called for and she was found to be collapsing all the time. The doctor, Mr Snow, was told by the girl that her sweetheart, John Clark, who worked as a shepherd, had told her to take some powders mixed with milk so she would miscarry. It turned out to be arsenic and she died after lingering a while. Mr Hills, whom they both worked for, was asked by Clark if he could lend him £10. He gave the lad the money and he wasn’t seen again. This was while his girlfriend was doubled over in bed dying from the poison he gave her.

82/ Colsterworth, November 1878 (Murder Confession)

In Nottingham one evening, a drunken chap named William Allen, went up to a policeman and confessed to a murder that he supposedly committed a couple of days ago on a girl named Elizabeth Bennett in a field in Colsterworth near Grantham. The police officer took it seriously enough to lock him up in the cells, while the matter was investigated. (Did he kill her?)

83/ Scothern Suicide, April 1882

84/ Market Deeping (Stamford) (Child Catches Light) August 1904

In a field at Market Deeping, a little girl named Hilda Batty was burned to death in a horrendous accident. Her parents left her guarding some labourer’s clothes, who was a few yards away and the young lass couldn’t resist digging around in the pockets. A box of matches came out and she began to strike them, one by one, but a spark caught hold of her clothes and within seconds she was a ball of flames. She was rolled on the floor and the fire was put out, but she sustained third-degree burns in the process and consequently, Hilda died from the burns.

85/ Coleby (South of Lincoln) June 1829 (Skeletons Found)

Several human skeletons were found about twelve inches below the surface at Coleby near Lincoln. They were in a foetal position and were not laid out in a common burial way. Along with the bones, there were swords and daggers buried with them and were believed to be Roman in origin. (Where did these end up?)

86/ Grantham/Ponton Train Fatality, August 1883

The inquest took place on the body of Ada Woods, wife of labourerGeorge Woods, who was killed on the G.N.R. line. It was revealed that she was near-sighted and a bit deaf, when taking George’s tea to a field he was working in she crossed the path which led from Grantham to Ponton. The London to Scotland express came hurtling through at the exact same time she was crossing the line and she was hit, head on. It was judged as an “Accidental Death” and her remains, which had both arms and a leg severed clean off. She suffered facial mutilation and her trunk was crushed as well. It was recommended that a bridge should be erected in this accident hot-spot, within a six-year period.

87/ Grantham Octogenarian Suicide, March 1890

88/ Tallington Train Fatality, (Between Market Deeping/Stamford) May 1856

This is the first of three rather sickening railway accidents to happen at this little village within a decade or so. It was around ten a.m. at Tallington Station and the engine was coming down the tracks, when the gatekeeper thought that the engine was going to hit the gates, he ran out to close them and as he did so, he couldn’t get out of the way of the train and it ran over him. He was killed on the spot and his body was moved to the Cavendish Arms pub to await the inquest.

89/ Near Tallington Station, (Train Fatality) August 1861

An employee of the Great Northern Railway, Charles Goodlord, was killed on the line between Tallington and Essendine. His job was to slow the trains down as they approached the place where the repair work was underway. Goodlord fell asleep on the job, right on the railway tracks and as the driver got closer, he blew the whistle but he never woke up and tons of metal went straight over him. He was killed on the spot.

90/ Near Tallington Station, (Railway Fatality) March 1867

A farmer named Baines was on the train was returning from a trip to Grantham where he had just bought a new threshing-machine. He was late for his train and was told that it was best if he stayed overnight and go back the next morning. He ignored this advice and clambered on a goods train that passed through his station, Tallington. When he got near, he leapt off the train and sustained serious injuries. He was taken to Peterborough Hospital but only lasted the night. The other sad portion of this story is that he left a wife and nine children.

91/ Howell near Heckington (Schizophrenic Suicide) November 1849

Howell is one of those places that consists of a handful of houses and a number of farm buildings and that’s about it. George Toynbee though, owned over 500 acres in this little parish, but committed suicide by taking a large dose of arsenic. He had been married six years and was only thirty-three himself, but he had been suffering from mental hallucinations and believed that hideous ghosts were constantly plaguing him. He also left four small children without a father. (Was is schizophrenia?)

92/ Billingborough (Sleaford) (Teenagers Death) July 1889

93/ Billingborough, (Death Day After Wife) November 1903

An elderly couple, the Dawsons, lived at Billingborough near Sleaford. Mrs Dawson went to Sleaford for a few days on a visit to relatives, when she became extremely ill and died. The body was brought back to her home for burial at Billingborough. To eighty-year-old Mr Dawson, it was a shock to the system and when he observed the coffin with his wife’s body in it, he died the very next day. The two of them were buried together. (Are they in Billingborough churchyard?)

94/ Lincoln Wife Murder, January 1842

At the Lincoln Assizes, Francis Jeffreys, a 61-year-old farmer was tried for the murder of his wife. The only witness examined was his nephew and when he gave his evidence there was no doubt the old git had done his missus in. The Judge said that his uncle was clearly insane and had been like this for a long time. He was acquitted on the grounds of insanity. (Did he end up in Lincoln Lunatic Asylum?)

95/ Lincoln Station? August 1846 (Cannon Explodes)

The opening of the new Nottingham and Lincoln Railway saw a tradition of firing a cannon whenever a train departed or arrived at the station. In charge of firing the cannon was seventy-year-old Paul Harding, an ex-artilleryman, but now a pensioner. The Nottingham train rolled in and he fired the cannon when it suddenly burst and his shattered his right leg. In hospital they deemed it necessary to amputate the limband now hopes of his recovery are slim. (Did he make it?)

96/ South Carlton, July 1864 (Suicide buried in Cemetery?)

97/ Lincoln Arboretum Drowning, September 1887

A sad case of drowning occurred at one of the ornamental pieces of water in the Arboretum at Lincoln. The victim was two-year-old Richard Downing West, who lived at Broadgate with his parents. His six-year-old sister was left to look after him while they were in the Arboretum and he fell into the lake whilst playing nearby. The keeper, Mr Hodson, was called over and pulled the little fella out but unfortunately, he was already expired by the time a doctor got there.

98/ Pyewipe Junction Fatality (Lincoln) November 1886

A wheel examiner named Metheringham was following his duties at work at the Pyewipe Junction near Lincoln,when he was run over by a passing express train. He was decapitated and had other horrific injuries. Metheringham had worked for the G.N.R. company for over a decade. The verdict was “Accidentally Killed.”

99/ Spittlegate Human Remains, Grantham, January 1885

Some workmen were digging the foundations for a new store at Messrs Hornaby’s Works in Spittlegate when they stumbled across a stone coffin and close by were two human skulls plus other remains. The coffin was believed to date from the 13th Century, plus it had intricate sculpture work on it and a niche had been carved for the head to rest in. The bones were gathered up and when pieced together they formed the skeletons of three males. The site where they were discovered was once a leper hospital, which was in existence around 1270 in the Spittlegate area of town. Huge crowds visited the site.

February 1885

The bones that were excavated at the Spittlegate site in Grantham were re-interred exactly where they were discovered. The stone coffin was six and a half feet long and was carved from sandstone. It weighed sixteen hundredweight. (About eight hundred kilos)

100/ Spotted Cow Inn Fatality, Grantham, July 1889

Lincoln Drownings 1884

101/ January

Hannah Alsford aged fifty, of 8, Napoleon Place in Lincoln, killed herself by drowning in the Sincil Dyke. She was up all night, then went downstairs at about 5-30 a.m. Her husband James Alsford went down a bit later on but his wife was nowhere to be seen. He went around to her friends and relatives to see if he could find her. A skirt was seen in the ditch opposite the house and this was then dragged. Word came through while this was going on, that a woman’s body was found about a mile and a half away in Washingborough and it was proved to be that of Hannah.

102/ February

The body of Mary Hutchinson agedseventy-five who lived with her husband at Gadsby Court, High Street, St Botolph’s was discovered in Great Gowt’s Drain. She went out shopping one evening but never came back. Her husband John believed that she had stayed with her niece for the night so wasn’t really that worried. The next morning she was found floating in the Great Gowt’s Drain, just below Gowt’s Bridge. It was thought that she got lost and slipped and fell into the drain. “Accidentally Drowned”.

103/ June

James Connor was found drowned in the River Witham. John Robert Green went fishing near the swing bridge when his fishing hook snagged on something and when pulled up, it was attached to Connor’s clothing. The lad screamed out and a passing policeman went to his aid. Connor had just done a stint in prison just one month for thieving and also pertinent to his state of his mind. The lodger who lived with him saw him near the river, drunk as a skunk.

104/ Corby Glen Murder, August 1848

John Parker was up on a charge of murdering his own father. He was found dead from a gunshot wound in his house and the main culprit, was his son. The jury eventually came to the conclusion that Parker was “Not Guilty” of the crime so he was discharged. The local population of Corby Glen was not satisfied with the verdict and they probed deeper into the murder and obtained some vital evidence. It turned out that his father and he had a massive row and the wife of the deceased (Mother?/Step-Mother?) heard the gun fired, but didn’t do a thing. Fortunately, neighbours heard the commotion and found the father dead on the floor. He kept on telling them it was an accident and when questioned about what happened, he kept on contradicting his own story. (Was he found Guilty?).

105/ Uffington (Stamford) November 1906

A fourteen-year-old lad Medwell, was busy cleaning knives at Aldwinckle’s Farm in Uffington, when suddenly the door was flung open and this knocked a loaded gun over, which then discharged the contents into the lad’s head and shoulder part of his body, killing him instantly.

106/ Ropsley near Grantham, (Accidental Death) October 1897

107/ Norman Street, Lincoln, (Impaled on Railings) February 1888

Thirteen-year-old Joseph Burton from Gresham Street was cleaning a second storey window at C.C.Smith’s, photographers, at No 1 Norman Street, when he fell and was impaled on the railings below. He was rushed to Lincoln County Hospital where died after a few days. The iron railing had impaled the lad’s neck and this caused the paralysis of his entire left side.

108/ Great Gonerby Vicar Suicide, September 1860

The Reverend W.C.Inman of Great Gonerby, killed himself due to congregation numbers at his church were continuing to decline.

109/ Great Gonerby Murder/Suicide, near Grantham, October 1846

An extraordinary tale of murder and suicide and of impersonating a police officer as well. George Healey brought nineteen-year-old Mary Hill to his father’s house. She stayed a few days, then left, while he was out. He was infuriated and set out to hunt her down. He tracked her down to an aunt’s house in Fulbeck near Grantham. We’ll skip a few days of the story here and go straight to a police officer at Sleaford, who had just got word that a man had poisoned himself with laudanum in the Plough beer-house. The officer went to see the corpse and it was George Healey! When the police in Grantham were told of this they began to suspect that he had first murdered Mary Hill, then done himself in at Sleaford. What had happened, was that he was mad with Mary and went to a constables house in Great Gonerby, borrowed his truncheon and handcuffs and gone back to see Mary Hill under the guise of being a policeman. He got to the aunt’s house, went in and said she was going to arrest her for pinching some silverware. Basically, after this, he kidnapped her and kept her in a locked room, then took her down to the River Witham and had simply thrown her in. Then after this, he had gone to Sleaford and killed himself at the Plough. Phew! Either way, he killed her then himself.

110/ Lincoln Girl’s Suicide, June 1883

111/ Colsterworth near Grantham (Two Die in Fire) May 1850

A man named Thickett from Great Gonerby, who worked for Joseph Grummit of Bassingthorpe-cum-Westby to pare and burn sods at Colsterworth, made a hut of turf for his wife and kids so they could be near him, while he worked. Early one morning, the husband left for work and while the two kids were still in bed, his wife decided to wash some clothes. When she came back to the hut she saw it was in flames and she ran to the railway to get help from workmen. When they got there, it was way too late and the place was an inferno. The charred remains of ten-year-old Eliza Elizabeth Thickett and Mary Ann Thickett aged seven were taken out when the fire subsided.

112/ Lincoln outskirts, (Suicide) August 1889

Councillor Henry Pratt aged forty-eight, of the wine and spirit merchants Pratt and Son, was found lying dead in the driveway which led up to his house, about two miles from Lincoln city. Next to the body was a double-barrelled shotgun, which had been fired twice and also an umbrella, which was used by Pratt to fire the trigger. He leaves a wife and five children. (Where was this property of his?)

113/ Helpringham (Siblings Devoted to Other) January 1904

William Barley aged seventy-three, and his sister Marie Trolley aged seventy-one, had lived together for the past three decades and were totally devoted to each other, one simple reason was because they had no-one else. The next door neighbours hadn’t seen either of them for a while, so they looked in on them but got no answer. They shoved the door open and found Marie hanging in the parlour and William dead in bed. the police think that, on finding her brother dead in bed from natural causes, she couldn’t live without him, so she went and hung herself.

114/ Sincil Dyke Suicide, February 1864

115/ Tallington/Deeping St James Murder/Suicide, December 1905

A young man named Shillaker murdered his mother, then shot his sister and then shot his girlfriend, Elsie Burgoyne at Tallington, a nearby village. Elsie’s mother wanted the two of them to get married and Shillaker went into Peterborough and bought a wedding ring and a revolver. He then shot his mother and sister in Deeping St James and shot Elsie in Tallington, after he had been for a stroll with her and got her to try on the ring. He shot her in the face, then put the muzzle in his mouth and pulled the trigger. The mother died at the scene and the two others are in a critical condition. (Did they make it?)

116/ Messrs Ruston, Proctor and Co. Lincoln,(Fatal Accident) January 1884

A striker named James Cooke aged twenty-four was accidentally killed at Messrs.Ruston, Proctor and Co’s Agricultural Works. His job was to crush co*ke, but the strap on the crushing machine flew off due to a chunk of clinker stopping the engine and Cooke was snagged in the machineryand was being rotated around several times at high speed. His right leg was torn off and his skull was crushed. It was judged to have been an accidental death, but it was all the fault of James Cooke as he should have known not to have taken hold of the strap while it was in motion.

117/ Dunston near Lincoln (Two Suffocate in Well) October 1908

Christopher Halkes, a builder, was inspecting a well at Dunston when he was overcome by the fumes and fell in. A lad of fourteen went to help him, but he too was overcome and he too fell into the toxic well. A labourer went down and he too was affected by the fumes, was quickly lifted out and was given mouth to mouth resuscitation. The well, on the grounds of the Vicarage, had been sealed up for approximately ten to twelve years. The teenage lad, Sydney Lupton and Halkes, died from suffocation by misadventure

118/ Dunston Fatal Accident, December 1884

Lincoln Drownings

119/ River Witham October 1880

Ten-year-old Peter Chapman Graves, drowned in the river Witham when he accidentally slipped and fell in while he was playing on a boat near Foster and Co’s foundry, when leaping about on a boiler. The body was recovered about a hundred yards from where he slipped into the water.

120/ Sincil Dyke (Accident or Suicide?) November 1885

Charles Baker, a twenty-eight-year-old fitter was found drowned at the Sincil Dyke in Lincoln. It turns out that Baker and a man named John Scarfe went to the races together, then went on a pub-crawl on the night-time. Scarfe was paralytic and was refused entry into most of the pubs, so they headed to Gibbeson Street, the place where Scarfe lived and he said that Baker could stay at his house for the night. They went over the footbridge and got to St Mary’s Bank and had nearly got to the end of Tentercroft Street, when Baker suddenly entered the water at Sincil Dyke. Scarfe was still drunk, so he was no help whatsoever and when help arrived the poor chap had disappeared under the water. The dyke was dragged but he couldn’t be found. The next day, his lifeless corpse was found among the weeds under the Pelham Street Bridge. It was not understood whether Baker had jumped into the water or accidentally slipped and fell.

121/ McDakins Bridge/Midland Railway Bridge, May 1888

John Kent the five-year-old stepson of Mr Gregory of 67 High Street, St Botolph’s, was playing on the banks of the Upper Witham on Saturday evening. His body was found face-down in the water between McDakin’s Bridge and Midland Railway Bridge. He was spotted by three men and brought to the edge, but he had already expired.

122/ Lincoln (Child Cruelty/Depravity) October 1880

123/ Greetwell Mining Fatality, near Lincoln, August 1885

John Johnson was a thirty-eight-year-old ironstone miner who worked at the Mid-Lincolnshire Ironstone Company’s mines at Greetwell. Johnson and a chap named William Hemswell were in the mine one morning when a “baring” of the ironstone fell upon him. Johnson was getting it down by undermining it, so that it would fall and Hemswell was wheeling the baring away. Johnson was underneath with a bar loosening it and it fell upon him, knocking him down. The foreman had told him before, to come from under and go on the top to get it down. Hemswell thought that he landed on the edge of some rock. About half a ton of earth fell on Johnson and Hemswell seemed to think that such an amount would not have killed him. The autopsy revealed a few cuts and bruises on the deceased, but near the heart, there was a large abrasion and several ribs were broken inwardly. Death was due to shock and injury to the heart and the verdict was “Accidentally Killed.”

124/ Washingborough Body, near Lincoln, July 1897

Whilst a boat was travelling down the River Witham on the way to Washingborough, a body was seen floating on the surface and it was dragged out. He was identified as widower Edward Watson from Leicester, who had been to Lincoln to see his sister. This is the third such drowning in the Witham in the last week.

125/ South Hykeham (Suicide Due to Indigestion) May 1879

The village of South Hykeham, between Newark and Lincoln, was the scene of a tragic suicide of a local farmer named William Briggs who was seventy-years of age. Apparently, he had been down in the dumps and rather melancholy recently, because of his terrible indigestion and the weather being damp and dull. What’s new? He had breakfast one morning, then was going to go and hoe some barley in a field. He arranged to meet his son Richardat eleven a.m., but when he didn’t come the son got worried and went to look for the old fella. He saw his Dad’s hat near a pond, then on closer inspection, he found him floating in the pond. The pond was only three feet deep, but the old man had tied a noose around his wrists and tightened it with his teeth or by standing on it, then pulled it tight. This rendered him totally useless in the swimming department. This is the first suicide I have written about that killed himself because of indigestion and it being a bit cloudy!

126/ Toft near Bourne, (Fatal Accident) December 1888

127/ Waggon & Horses Fire Death, Langtoft, October 1888 (Waggon & Horses is next to the church on Bourne Road crossroads)

A fire at the Waggon & Horses pub at Langtoft near Bourneresulted in a fatality. Charles Woodward was killed by the chimney and a wall collapsing during a fire at the public-house. All the occupants were ushered outside and a few got through bedroom windows. While the fire was at its peak, Woodward was stood gawking at the flames when a wall and chimney fell down on him. He was extricated but was badly mangled and burned, with nearly every bone in his body broken. Another man Samuel Deaken was nearby and has life-threatening injuries as well. He was warned by police to stand back, but he ignored them.

128/ Boultham Railway Fatality, March 1882

Seventeen-year-old William Spalding was working on the construction of a new line between Lincoln and Spalding and had been doing the job for eighteen months. He was in Boultham uncoupling a couple of waggons, but he did it while it was moving. This was to be his undoing, as he slipped off and under the waggons, which weighed a couple of tons apiece and was run over. When they got him to County Hospital he died within the hour and it was discovered that his abdominal cavity had about four pints of blood in it, plus other severe internal injuries.

129/ Rippingale Machinery Death, September 1880

Frederick Foyster, alias Swan, was working in Mr Worman’s field reaping barley, where they used one of those new-fangled reaping machines. Foyster was driving it and sat in the seat between the horse and the rakes. All of a sudden one of the horses reared up, scared by something and Foyster was kicked off the seat by the horse and fell off in front of the knives of the machine. He had a massive cut on his thigh, so they rushed him to the local doctor. He, in turn, told them to take him to the Infirmary at Stamford, which is about fifteen miles away and this took four hours. He died from the loss of blood.

130/ Blue Anchor Pub Fatality, High Street, Lincoln, June 1866 (Still there at 133, High Street)

131/ Metheringham Child Murder, July 1868

Lucy Buxton was charged with the wilful murder of her five-month-old son, by giving him Battle’s Vermin Killer. It was circ*mstantial evidence that pointed to the culprit being Lucy but the jury thought that was enough and sentenced her to death. She fainted on hearing her fate. The twenty-two-year-old domestic servant was later reprieved and the sentence was commuted into transportation for life, probably Australia.

132/ Helpringham, April 1894 (Death of a Footballer)

A young man named Hannarth, the manager of a sewing machine establishment at Sleaford named Singer and Co, was fatally injured whilst playing in a football match. He was playing for Sleaford Town as the goalkeeper and while defending the goal, he was charged with such force that he died a few seconds later. It was a collision between Hannath and a Helpringham forward named Garton, which caused his death. The autopsy revealed that he died due a rupture of the heart. He had used an alias to play football because his wife didn’t want him to. He left three children and a widow, who in the end, was right to be worried.

133/ North Hykeham Murder, November 1817 (Did they find the murderer?)

The body of fifteen-year-old servant John Perkins, was found in a roadside ditch on the road from Lincoln to Newark, in the village of North Hykeham. He sustained severe head injuries with a fracture of the left temple, plus other bruises which were caused by a blunt instrument, probably a stick. The murderer left a small clue behind, a tobacco box which is now in the hands of the police.

134/ Washingborough Murder, March 1870

135/ Grantham Mystery, October 1862

This is a weird little mystery that occurred in Grantham. A lass by the name of Mary Hodson was up in court on a charge of stealing some items from her master, Charles Wand of Vine Street. She pleaded “Not Guilty”, but she was committed for trial and put in a police cell. A couple of hours later when she was being checked on by the warder, she was laid on the floor, dying and writhing in pain. As it turns out, her father had brought her something to eat, a pork pie in fact and she explained to the warder that it was that pie which was killing her. Doctors were summoned, but she died in her mother’s arms. As Grantham was not as technically advanced as other places, the testing for poisons in her stomach contents was sent down to London. (Was it her father that poisoned her?)

136/ Grantham Railway Station Fatality, March 1887

Just before eleven p.m. Saturday, Eli Addlesee, an engine driver was killed at Grantham Station. He had just brought in a goods train from Sleaford and arrived at the shunting yard, he got out and told the fireman that he was off to talk to the guard. On his way, around thirty-five waggons came along and he was struck on the back of his head. He was knocked out cold and killed on the spot. He leaves a widow and two children.

137/ Lincoln/Washingborough December 1882 (Railway Fatality)

John Henry Pacy aged twenty-five, was run over and killed on the railway line between Lincoln and Washingborough. He had been with his father the previous day drawing £16 out of the bank and then he told his father he wasn’t feeling very well, so the father said he could spend a couple of weeks with him at Eagle. The engine driver, Richard Mitchison, said he left Washingborough at 6-19 a.m., and when about half a mile from Lincoln he felt the engine go over something. He checked and it turned out it was the body of Pacy which was badly mangled.

138/ Washingborough (Fatal Skating Accident) January 1879

139/ Greatford (Four Killed) October 1892

A granary at Greatford collapsed, causing the deaths of three men and one woman. Six people were in a barn at Messrs Dean, farmers, of Dowsby and Greatford, working away. They were Ambrose Cook aged forty; John Cook aged nineteen; Charles Charity aged forty-six and George Preston and Frederick Holmes. The woman, twenty-one-year-old Kate Arden was employed to hold sacks open, while up above them in the granary, a lad named Thomas Curtis would send the corn down a shoot. Around three p.m. the beam holding up the granary collapsed, sending the place into chaos. Ambrose Cook, John Cook and Charles Charity and Kate Arden, were buried under tons of corn and debris. They were extracted within the hour, but all were dead, probably having suffocated to death. The weight of the barley in the granary was way too much, causing the beam to break and four people to have been killed.

140/ School of Art Fatality, Monks Road, Lincoln, November 1885

The landlord of the Wheatsheaf Inn on Broadgate, Stephen Woodhouse aged fifty-five, was working in the School of Arts at Monks Road doing some plastering work. He was putting some laths on the ceiling in one of the upper rooms when the plank he was standing on snapped in two and he was precipitated fifteen feet, at first hitting a joist with his back then onto the rock-hard floor. He died about a week later, while in hospital.

141/ Fulbeck Railway Suicide, January 1874

This little village between Sleaford and Newark saw a teenager kill himself on the railway tracks. The lad was fifteen-year-old Thomas Sharpe, with no parents, he was brought up by a Mr Scott in Fulbeck. One day he went to the village shop and nicked a popgun. When Mr Scott found out he made him take it back, but the shop owner, Mr Lewarton, said he would tell the police. On top of this, Reverend Peaco*ck told him off for being lazy in his work. One afternoon, he saw Richard Parker, a younger boy than himself and asked him if he wanted to see him be run over by a train. Parker was up for the offer and probably thought he was kidding, but when they got to the line, the three p.m. Grantham to Lincoln train came into view. Sure enough, Sharpe popped his head on the train-track and let the engine and carriages go over his head. Parker ran to the village in a state of shock and the train driver of the one after saw the mutilated remains and reported it to the authorities.

142/ No 1 High Street suicide, Grantham, September 1888

work and threatened to destroy himself. A jury returned a verdict of “Suicide whilst in a state of temporary insanity”

143/ Metheringham Suicide, October 1887

144/ Cornhill Suicide, Lincoln, January 1885

145/ Billinghay Murder, August 1866

Billinghay Murder, December 8th, 1866

Joseph Bones, charged with the wilful murder of Eyre Petchell at Billinghay on the 16th of August last- Evidence being given that prisoner was of unsound mind, he was ordered to be detained during Her Majesty’s pleasure.

146/ River Witham Suicide, Lincoln May 1879

A boat-woman named Ward was sitting in a canal boat on the Witham waiting for her husband to come home when she heard a fairly loud splash coming from just down the river. She immediately thought it was hubby, who was probably drunk and had fallen in while inebriated. A few people had gathered around and steps were taken to drag the river. In the meantime, her husband returned. During the search, somebody had gone to the police station and filed a missing person report on a 19-year-old domestic servant named Elizabeth Cross, who had disappeared. She worked at the Albion Hotel (St Mays Street, across the road from train station, Barbican Hotel) and a letter had been found there addressed to the cook, stating that was going to drown herself.

It was the usual story, deserted by her lover, can’t go on without him, etc etc. Finally her corpse was found the next morning floating below the locks and it was taken to the Druids’ Arms Inn.

147/ Stamford Manslaughter, February 1890

Thirty-year-old foundryman, John Walker, was accused of causing the death of 65-year-old Joseph Ireland at Stamford. Ireland was living with Walker’s mother and the son, when one evening while drunk he struck his mother. Ireland flew into a rage saying that he wouldn’t let a thing like that happen in his house. He tried to throw Walker out and this led to a scuffle and punches were thrown. He managed to pin down the old man and knelt on the chest. Several passers-by managed to wrangle them apart and when the old fella tried to get up, he slumped straight back down to the ground and was dead within a minute. (What happened to Walker? Presumably, he was charged with manslaughter?)

148/ Stamp End Works, Lincoln March 1865 (Drowning)

William Parks aged twenty-eight, worked at the Stamp End Iron Works and was found one evening face down in the water, at the Lock near the Stamp End Works. He had been at the Lock Tavern enjoying a few jars and decided to go home over the Lock Bridge, which is hazardous when you’re ratted and its pitch black. About halfway along the bridge was a set of stone steps and he seems to have fallen down these and rolled into the water. Before anybody could reach him, he was drowned. Ironically, a hand-rail had put up on the bridge that very day, to prevent people from slipping in.

149/ River Witham (Another Suicide!) May 1887

150/ Boultham Murder (Lincoln) May 22nd, 1903

Leonard Patchett and his older wife, Sarah Ann, had a strained relationship right from the beginning of marriage. He liked a tipple and he would get violent with her on a regular basis. She got a job in Boultham and was a housekeeper to a man in Spencer Street. Patchett hunted his wife down to her new address and pleaded with her to come back home, which she didn’t totally dismiss, but told him he had to calm the drinking down. They parted company and Patchett went off to see his sister in Gainsborough for a few days and to try and work out what to do next. He kept on imagining that the gentleman she was working for, a Mr King, and his missus were having a secret fling. They met up again and went for a walk on Boultham Lane and again he asked her to return home, but she must have said “No” and he must have lost his temper and he strangled her. The lifeless corpse of Sarah Ann was discovered in a field near Boultham Lane three days later.

Patchett was found guilty of her murder and executed by William Billington at Lincoln Prison on July 6th,1903

151/ Grantham Train Mystery (Stoke’s Tunnel) September 1886

On Sunday evening the body of a man unknown was frightfully smashed in Stoke’s Tunnel near Ponton, Grantham. The guard of the train which arrives at Grantham shortly after eight o’clock from London, heard the sound of a crash when passing through the tunnel and on arriving at Grantham found a third class compartment door open and in the carriage, placed on the rack, a man’s hat and umbrella. He told the authorities at Grantham Station who at once checked the tunnel and found the mutilated body of a man. It is supposed that he committed suicide by leaping off the train and had taken great precaution to conceal his identity, as the name was torn off the collar and his pocket-book was also torn up. He is approximately 35-40 years of age, five feet six inches tall, dark brown hair and moustache. He had around £4 in money and another ticket dated the 19th September, from London to York.

The body is thought to be that the Plymouth swindler, Mr Curteis, who is said to have absconded after misappropriating a large sum of money from certain funds.

152/ Grantham Train Mystery, October 2nd,1886

The body of Mr Algernon Swaine Kingsford was on Saturday removed from Grantham to London for interment. Mr Parish, chief of the G.N.R. Company’s Police, Kings Cross, came to Grantham by the 11-28 on Saturday morning at the request of the relatives, to superintend the removal. It appears that Mr Kingsford, sen. holds the position of magistrates clerk at Canterbury and that the deceased was a stockbroker carrying on business at 2, Angel Court, Throgmorton Street, London.E.C. The cause assigned for the rash act was a love affair.

153/ Hungate, Lincoln, (Invalid Burnt to Death) April 1887

154/ No.58 High Street Suicide, Grantham, February 1885

155/ Brayford Pool, Lincoln, (Unknown Corpse) November 1886

Elizabeth Ogden, the wife of John Ogden an Inland Revenue Officer from Derby, was found drowned in Brayford. Her husband had separated from her in 1874, due to her constant drinking and she went to live in Potterhanworth. When she received £2 from her trustee, she headed straight for the pubs of Lincoln and started on the brandy. However, when she left the pub, she was sober and she was seen walking on the Brayford side when she fell in accidentally. The water was only six feet where she went in and a boatman got a hook and got her out within a few minutes. He didn’t bother with resuscitation for some reason and got a policeman instead, it was this inaction that caused her death. Elizabeth was pronounced dead shortly after and found to have £10 and a gold watch and chain on her. So it was just a case of accidentally drowned then! Nope! Turns out it was a case of mistaken identity and that Mrs Ogden was in fact in Nottingham, but the two aunts of Mrs Ogden had identified the corpse as that of their niece. Mr Ogden stayed in Lincoln and had his wife interred, then going back to Nottingham to have a word with her trustee, Mr Cleveland, to sort out matters. No sooner had he stepped out of his office, then his wife Mrs Ogden turned up to get her allowance. Mr Cleveland then told authorities in Lincoln, that Mrs Ogden was alive and well.

The only identity clue that police have to the body is the name of a milliner in Retford, on a tag inside her bonnet and a watch-key with the name “J.Saltby, Alford” on it.

156/ Deeping St James Wife Murder, December 1888

Ellen Bennett, the wife of a cottageraged fifty, was the victim of wife murder in Deeping St James. A neighbour, Mrs Perrin, had popped in and asked Bennett how his wife was, to which he gave a rather evasive answer. She was suspicious and went upstairs to check on her, where she found the body of Ellen lying on the bed fully clothed, drenched in blood. Mrs Perrin ran to the husband, shouting that his wife had been killed, to which he replied “Serve her right! I gave her more this time than last time. She won’t want to go to Stamford anymore in the cart”. Perrin went the police and when they called on him he was calmly digging his garden. He told them that he had tried to strangle her, but in the end, he kicked her to death. It is believed that he became sick of her drinking habits. She went to Stamford a month ago to sell some produce but stayed and got drunk in the pubs and had to be brought back home. Again this week, she had done exactly the same and when she got home they both started on each other and he lost itand began to attack her. The husband, Thomas Bennett was found guilty of manslaughter, due to the fact that she had a weak heart and his ill-treatment, brought on syncope (loss of consciousness from fall in blood pressure) causing her death.

157/ Lincoln/Washingborough Child Murder, September 1879

158/ Spread Eagle Tap Fatality, Lincoln, June 1883

An inquest into the death of 25-year-old Thomas Heywood who lived with his Mum at No.1, East Court, Christ’s Hospital Terrace, Lincoln, and died under the strangest of circ*mstances. He left home at seven a.m., and at three p.m. seemed to be in rude health. He was next seen at 10-30 that evening in the bar of Spread Eagle tap, where he walked through to the tap room which was unlit, then at eleven p.m, he was found lying on the floor unconscious. The landlord thought he was drunk and had laid him down there. A woman named Wadsworth stayed with him as she thought he looked poorly and then told Inspector Briggs, who then went for help. He tried a little brandy to revive him, but he couldn’t swallow. Then the doctor arrived and gave orders that he wasn’t to be moved. He lingered on through the night and was dead as a dodo the next morning. His temple had a swelling on it and he had a graze on his cheek, with a slight blackening of his right eyelid. He couldn’t move his limbs on the left side. (Stroke?) The post-mortem revealed a huge clot between the skull and covering of the brain and a fracture of the skull itself. It was deemed “Accidental Death”, with the coroner suggesting the injuries were more likely from a fall than being hit by somebody.

159/ Stamford Murder/Manslaughter, November 1878

Martin Cummings aged nineteen was charged with the murder of Thomas Cecil Chaplin Toon at Stamford on the 5th of August. Some people from the outlying villages of Stamford had gathered to watch some athletic sports and 47-year-old Toon was on the bridge at Stamford with a speaker calling out “Ladies and Gentlemen, something you have never seen before”, with the sole purpose of calling to attention to somebody diving off the bridge and into the water. Cummings arrived and demanded “Have you got the one shilling and ninepence you owe me?”, then say “It’ll be your turn next. It should be you go over and not the other”. He grabbed hold of him and threw him over the parapet, then he legged it. He was arrested by police a little while later and Toon was meanwhile pulled out of the river. He said he ran off because he didn’t want the crowd of people to mob him. Toon fell twenty feet, into seven feet of water. The case was treated as one of manslaughter not murder, with Cummings meaning to hold him over the edge and scare him, not to throw him in and kill him. He was sentenced to penal servitude for the rest of his natural life.

160/ Langtoft Child Murder, November 1879

Langtoft Child Murder (Reprieve) November 22nd, 1879

04

Mar

2018

1/ Rochester Bridge Suicide, August 1893

William Chanon, a dockyard shipwright from Sheerness, was walking over the bridge at midnight with a work colleague by the name of Kirkwood when he climbed onto the edge and said “I’m off; won’t you join me? ” and jumped into the Medway.

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2/ Rochester Bridge Suicide, December 1904

Wife of the chairman of Aveling & Porter, Mrs Thomas Aveling, was prone to bouts of depression. She managed to evade her nurses one day and got into a cab, then headed for her husband’s office next to the bridge. When she was travelling over the bridge she calmly got out of the cab and leapt to her watery grave. (Body found?)

3/ The Warren, Folkestone, April 1910 (Child Killed)

The picture postcard (my own collection, as are all the postcards) is of the Warren which is where three young schoolboys went climbing, when one of the group, Georges Nicolas of 8, Rue Du Pont Neuf in Paris, nearly reached the summit when he screamed “I cannot go any further” and fell down, hitting the sides as he went down. They went to his aid and one went to get help, and he was taken to hospital but finally died several days later. The child’s mother came from France to be at her son’s side, but just as she arrived he had passed away only half an hour earlier.

4/ Rosherville Gardens, Gravesend, August 1898 (Body Washed Up)

A police-constable doing his rounds near Rosherville Gardens, found a man’s body lying on the rocks, which had been washed up by the tide. He was smartly dressed, had a £5 note in his pocket and a racing card in his top pocket. Part of his hand had been gnawed away by rats. It was estimated that his age was about mid-thirties, but no further clue to his identity was forthcoming.

5/ Shakespeare Cliff Suicide, Dover, August 1873

A smart looking gentleman, apparently by the name of Merrin, who lived at 56, St Stephen’s Road, Bow, in London, decided on committing suicide by rolling down Shakespeare Cliff at Dover. This is approximately three-hundred feet high.

6/ St Mary’s Cemetery Suicide, Dover, May 1890

A labourer was found with his throat cut in St Mary’s Cemetery, in Dover. He had been unemployed for some time. As yet there was no identification of the man. (Who was he?)

7/ Bexley Fatality, December 1900 (I know Bexley is now part of London, but it wasn’t then.)

8/ Tunbridge Wells Vicar Suicide, September 1906

9/ Sheerness Fatal Shooting, December 1872

10/ Strood Murder, January 1885 (I know it says Stroud, but Strood is near Maidstone!)

11/ SladeGreen/Dartford Station Deaths, October 1909

A fireman was walking along the South Eastern Railway between Slade Green and Dartford Stations at about 2-30 in the morning, when he came across the dead bodies of a male and female, both mangled by the train, with the man having been decapitated, but his right arm was clutching her around her waist. The fireman went to get help and the corpses were brought to Erith. The couple were identified as Walter Henry Hollands, a twenty-one-year-old carter and his girlfriend Ellen Matilda Day, twenty-two-years-old. (Was is an accident or suicide pact?)

12/ Style Bridge Murder? July 1893

The body of an old man was found in a field at Style Bridge in Kent. The face was bruised and battered and it looks like a case of murder. Police are treating it as foul play. (Could it be Stile Bridge?)

13/ Royal Oak Hotel Suicide, Ramsgate, February 1886

Sydney Montague Albert Wood, a defaulting stockbroker who worked with Tokenhouse Yard Bank, who lived in Streatham, killed himself at the Royal Oak Hotel in Ramsgate. It is claimed that just one of his clients owed £80,000 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. His brother, Horatio, received a telegram from him, saying-“Cannot come up; better come down. Be very firm”, this was a reply to his proposed meeting with his brother in Herne Hill. Horatio and another brother Charles went to Ramsgate and tried his room door but it was locked, they forced entry and they found their brother in bed, fully clothed and quite dead from prussic acid poisoning. A letter on the table read: “I would rather suffer death. When you arrive you will find I have gone to render my account to the great Judge. My brain is on fire: I hardly know what I am doing.”

I think the Royal Oak Hotel is still there, correct me if I’m wrong. (What room was suicide?)

14/ Tower Hill Skull Discovery, Upnor near Chatham, January 1894

A group of excavators working for Messrs Scott, Government contractors, were digging some earth to make a sort of embankment for a military railway when they came across twenty or so, skulls. They were all human and had excellent teeth and in remarkably good condition. (Where are they?)

15/ Sevenoaks Fatal Cycling Accident, February 1898

16/ Sheerness Murder, April 1901

The body of Mrs Sarah Lancaster, the wife of naval pensioner George Lancaster, was found at the residence in North Street Passage in Sheerness, only a few yards from the side entrance to Mile Town Railway Station. George Lancaster is seventy-one-years-old and she was fifty-five-years-old and he has been arrested. They had lived separately for several years and she had lived with her sister in Unity Street, but her husband had been paying maintainance. When police were alerted by a member of the public to go to North Street Passage, they entered and they found Sarah lying under a table with terrible wounds. George Lancaster was stood behind the door with a hatchet in his hand, which he’d just washed the blood off. He had been drinking and attacked her as she came in through the door and police took him to Sheerness Police Station.

17/ Broadstairs, March 1901 (Cliff Suicide)

James Smoothey was a builder from Ramsgate, whom it seemed that he was in dire straits financially, but he had miscalculated and he was all right. He’d got it in his mind to commit suicide and went to the cliff between Broadstairs and Stonestairs. At about two p.m. one afternoon he was found at the base of the cliff, face down with his mouth buried in the sand, a broken leg and several contusions. The cliff is about sixty feet high and although suicide was the most likely cause, the jury gave the following verdict- ” That deceased, James Smoothey, who had for some time been in a desponding state of mind, was found dead at the base of the cliff near Broadstairs; and that he died from injuries received from the fall, but there is no evidence to show how he came there”

18/ Beckenham Fatal Explosion, February 1885

A shocking accident occurred at a brick works at Beckenham, in Kent, through the explosion of a boiler, which caused the fall of a tall stack. Several men are reported to be killed, of whom four leave wives and families. The bodies have been extricated.

19/ Tonbridge Carriage Accident, May 1899

20/ Sandwich Double Death, July 1897

First one was that of a young girl found drowned in the river Stour near Sandwich. There is no clue as to how she came to be in the water. The other was a boy named Knight, who was knocked down by a train and cut to shreds whilst he was walking over Woodnesborough level crossing near Sandwich.

21/ Dover Skeleton Discovered, April 1882

A skeleton has been found, supposedly that of a man named Spence who was one of the last victims of public execution. Workmen were digging in the High Street at a crossroads formerly used for public executions, when they found the perfectly preserved skeleton of a man. The man Spence was convicted in 1822 of smuggling, although a man of means he became embroiled in the smuggling game. A government officer captured him but not before he’d shot at him. The execution took place at the crossroads. When he was dug up by workmen, the remnants of Spence were taken to the Gas Works at Dover. It seems unlikely they will be given a Christian burial and were refused admission to the Cemetery. (Where were they buried?)

22/ Folkestone, (Murder/Suicide?) March 1885

23/ Littlebourne near Canterbury, March 1859 (Vicar’s Suicide)

The parish of Littlebourne near Canterbury has seen the suicide of the vicar, Reverend J.Woodco*ck, who decided to shoot himself. Not many in the village liked the chap and his congregation consisted of a handful of people. The recent scandal of a housemaid having left pregnant was due to be investigated and this could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. The strange thing is that he shot himself in the temple, while in full view of his wife in their bedroom. Jurys verdict was that he was in a state of mental derangement, which is probably the right decision.

24/ Usingal near Margate, November 1841 (Double Death)

A woman was passing through Usingal, when she heard cries for help coming from a pond near the roadside. She hastened to the spot and saw a man flapping his arms, barely keeping his head above the water. She went and got help but when they got there, only a hat was found floating on the surface. The pond was dragged and a horse and gig were taken out with the horse dead and a couple also were found. Mr and Mrs Brown had been married a couple of months and it is believed that he took the horse for a drink at the pond and slipped in. Mrs Brown was also known as one of England’s finest violin players.

25/ Lydd Camp Fatal Explosion, June 1895

26/ Sittingbourne, (Childs Body Found) January 1877

The father of a fifteen-month-old child named Dean, who lived with his wife and three kids in poverty in just one room, was questioned about the death the child. The little one had died a number of weeks ago and the parents, instead of burying it, put the body in a cupboard where it began to decompose and give off a terrible stench. The family carried on eating and sleeping in the same room and eventually when the child was discovered it was in a sack under the bed. The father’s excuse was that could not afford a burial.

27/ Chatham Suicides, July 1892

A couple of suicides have rocked the neighbourhood of Chatham. The first was a dairyman, Edward Cornwell, who was found at his premises at New Brompton with his throat cut. He was depressed of late. The second was George Woollett a naval pensioner aged sixty-five,who went to a chalk pit in Upnor and cut his throat with a clasp-knife. He lay undiscovered for several hours.

28/ Strood Station Fatality, February 1899

Alfred Streadwick, a twenty-seven-year-old railway porter, was struck down by a train at Strood Station on Sunday night and was killed instantaneously.

29/ Dover, (Collision Kills Three) April 1885

30/ Canterbury Suicide, April 1879

A young lad who had gone missing for five days, was found by an attendant at the swimming baths on the road to Whitehall. He saw a hat floating on the surface, went into the water to fish it out and then found the body of the 17-year-old youth named Williams. He had some argument with his parents about his proposed marriage and due to this, he had committed suicide. A letter was in a pocket containing a lock of hair and with his Mum’s address on it. It stated his love for her and the rest of the family, but also to “his dear Anny.”

31/ Deal, Skeleton Found, February 1898

While workmen were digging the foundations for a new building behind the new South-Eastern Hotel at Deal, an entire human skeleton was unearthed. No sign of a coffin was present, but remnants of a woollen scarf were round the neck. It is male and is about six feet tall and it is in the foundations of the old Naval Dockyard.

32/ Fort Clarence, Rochester, (Human Skeleton) January 1893

Down by the Medway at Fort Clarence, Rochester, some Royal Engineers were excavating. They came across a female skeleton and when police were fetched to investigate, they said it could be a murder victim from years ago, and the murderer had disposed of the body in this lonely spot. (Was it Murder?)

33/ Faversham Fatal Stabbing, August 1889

34/ Belmont Hill, May 1843

Sarah Wright, a ninety-two-year-old woman decided to cut her life short by committing suicide at Belmont Hill, Lee, in Kent.

35/ Folkestone, September 1893 (Two Women Found Dead)

The bodies of two middle-aged women were found on the beach at Folkestone by fishermen one morning. The women are visitors to Folkestone and police are investigating the matter. The younger of the two had a bruise on the left eye but could have been caused after death while in the water. There is no boat missing, so they’re clearly not victims of being washed overboard from a ferry or similar. Later on, one of them was identified as that of a woman named Treadwell who was in service in Hythe until recently and has since lodged at Folkestone. Her father killed himself a couple of years ago and since then she hasn’t quite been in her right mind. The identity of the other remains a mystery, but on Saturday evening a harbour employee heard screams. The evidence points to drowning. Neither had any money, but one had a handkerchief with “A.G.Brown” sewn into it. (Who was the other?)

36/ Sun Pier Suicide, Chatham, July 1872 (Suicide)

Miss Anna Woodthorpe, who lived at New Brompton near Chatham, leapt into the Medway from Sun Pier. Before the well-to-do lady plunged into the water, she tied a heavy weight to her body just to make sure of drowning. The water was dragged a couple of hours after her leap of death and her body recovered.

37/ Chatham Pier Collapse, July 1885

38/ Milton Church, Gravesend, October 1884 (Suicide)

The body of twenty-six year old Alice Hughes was found on the North Kent Railway near Milton Church, around three hundred yards from her house. The body was found decapitated. Alice had been a barmaid at Broad Street Station and left on the account of her eccentricity. She was seen alive at her home in Prospect Grove on Saturday evening and although in a sombre mood, she was left alone. Suicide while suffering temporary insanity was the verdict.

39/ Chettenden Prison near Rochester, November 1878

A convict by the name of James Mills killed himself at Chettenden Prison near Rochester. He broke a shelf in his cell in half, leaving a rivet-free. He took off his waistcoat, put his head through the arm-hole and then tied the other end to the rivet sticking out of the wall and hung himself. He was only a few inches from the ground. He was inside for seven years and would have been out by now, but for his escape from prison, then his recapture.

40/ Lydden Spout Suicide, July 1898

Midway between Dover and Folkestone are the cliffs at Lydden Spout. A coastguard was walking along the cliff-top, when he discovered a man’s suit with blood everywhere. A search was made for the owner and he was found at the bottom of the cliff, stark naked, with a frightful gash across his throat. The body was in an awful state and was taken back up the cliff. He is of average height and in the suit pocket was a London Trades Union card with John Smith as the named person. Also there was an Underground railway ticket .The fall of the body was approximately four-hundred-feet, with the face was barely recognisable.

41/ Folkestone Shooting, August 28th 1885

Folkestone Shooting, August 31st, 1885

The man Charles Copping, who accidentally shot a lad named Halladay at a shooting gallery at Folkestone, was on Saturday charged with feloniously killing the lad and was committed for trial at the Maidstone Assizes.

42/ Eastwell Park near Ashford, December 1885 (Stableman Fatality)

A stableman in the employ of the Duke of Edinburgh at Eastwell Park, has been trampled to death by a horse. The man in attempting to mount the animal fell and the horse kicked and trampled upon him, inflicting injuries from which the poor fellow died within a few hours.

43/ Maidstone, December 1885

Major W.H.Murphy, of the 2nd Battalion Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, was thrown from his horse whilst hunting with the West Kent Hounds on Saturday afternoon near Maidstone and sustained injuries which caused his death.

44/ Newington, Kent, July 1885

At Newington in Kent yesterday, a man named Else was found lying dead in a field under suspicious circ*mstances. The police are investigating the affair. (Was it Murder?)

45/ Rochester Carriage Accident, August 1885

A serious accident occurred at Rochester. While a pleasure party were driving through the town, their horse took fright and the carriage was overturned. Of the six occupants, five were badly injured. One lady, Mrs Pritchard, died soon after her removal to the Mid Kent Hotel and another, Mrs Cox, lies in a precarious condition.

46/ Maidstone/Medway, (Schoolboys Suicide) June 1895

47/ Gillingham Servant Suicide, March 1910

Ruth Louisa Coultham an 18-year-old servant, killed herself by putting her head in the gas oven and gassing herself. The suicide letter stated that she wasn’t mad, but she added: “My life is a strange one, and I have gone through more sorrow than most girls of my age. May God spare my step-mother, so that her children may not know what it is to be motherless, as I and my dear brother did. I hope father will not let this trouble him. I have never been understood by him or anyone else. There is only one who knows the working of our hearts, and He will take me home, and all will be explained. In my life I have been unfortunate, it seems, but all will come right in the end- of that I have no fear.”

It was stated that she was prone to sudden fits of depression.

48/ Borstal Skeleton, near Rochester, July 1879

A group of prisoners were excavating for the new fort, which is going to to be built at Borstal near Rochester, for the defence of Chatham Dockyard and Garrison, they discovered the skeleton of a male. It seems from the post-mortem examination, that he met with foul play some years ago and was thrown into the hole dug in a wood. (Where is it?)

49/ Sandling Junction near Folkestone, June 1899 (Traction Engine Fatality)

50/ Southborough, March 1902 (Grave of Murder Victim Vandalized)

The little girl who was murdered in Tonbridge, Frances O’Rourke, and was buried at Southborough, has had her last resting place vandalized.The murderer Harold Apted is currently under the sentence of death. The tombstone which had been placed at the grave by the child’s friend’s was torn down and was the artificial wreath also put there. This is thought to be some sicko, who apart from this dreadful act also sent the girl’s parents some threatening letters. Police are working on the case, but have no leads as yet, to the miscreant’s identity.

51/ Broadstairs Cliff Fall, July 1855

A young lady by the name of Sophia Weatherby had been staying with her sister in Broadstairs. She went out for a walk by the cliffs, between the bridge and Dumpton-stairs. A passer-by warned her not to walk too close to the edge, she thanked him for the advice and carried on. The man turned around to check and she had vanished, so he gave the alarm. The people below saw her drop onto the ground, while they promenaded along the pier. They discovered her body at the base and surmised she had fallen about eighty-feet and had head injuries and a broken thigh and both ankles were shattered as well.

52/ Dover, December 1885 (Sufferings at Sea)

53/ Gravesend Cemetery Suicide, May 1890

Joseph Davis was found dead in Gravesend Cemetery, with a bullet wound to the head. A note found on the body read:-

“No use seeking for my friends. I am alone in the world and have gone mad by losses and other circ*mstances. I am crazed. No one to care for me. No one to care for me. Weary, mad, mad! Poor me-J.Davis, Gravesend”.

The deceased had been a sub railway contractor, but recently had nothing to do. The verdict of “suicide whilst temporarily insane “was reached.

54/ Margate, September 1888 (Human Remains)

Some human remains have been found at Margate while digging in a field next to Trinity Church. The chap was digging away when his pick-axe hit a cavity and an underground chamber suddenly appeared beneath. It was about twelve feet in height and inside were numerous bones and other remains. Also, there was a huge passageway, probably connecting the chamber with the seashore. About a hundred yards away were some smuggler’s caves and this is thought to be part of this former operation, but what the bones are there for, or who they are is a mystery.

55/ Maidstone Execution, January 1890

56/ Greenhithe, (Children’s Bodies) January 1888

The coroner for West Kent was informed of the discovery of the bodies of three children, which were embedded on a railway embankment at Greenhithe. They were in a carpet-bag and were extremely decomposed. The theory is, that they were thrown out of a passing train.

57/ Hythe, (Accidental Choking to Death) March 1918

A hero of Mons, Captain S.C.Tinne, R.F.C., was found strangled in his room at the Imperial Hotel in Hythe. Captain Tinne won a Military Cross as well as his heroics at Mons, so his actual demise is an unfitting end for such a man. The theory is that being fond of musicals, his favourite character was that of a parson and while packing ready to leave, he found a wig and put it on, then seen an elastic band which he used as a bandage for his injured knee. It is supposed that he put it around his throat to see what hanging was like (I know it’s pretty thin up to now!), and accidentally choked himself. The verdict of the jury was “Accidentally Suffocated”. It doesn’t sound very plausible to me, more likely some auto-asphyxiation game gone wrong while wearing a wig. (Is Imperial still there?)

58/ Cliff near Rochester, March 1885 (Burned to death in Kiln)

59/ Sandgate near Folkestone, March 1890 (Body in Jar)

Several parcels were received at the station at Sandgate, from Regent Street parcel office in London, consigned to an office at Shorncliffe Camp, one had no address on it and there was no reference to it in the way-bill and it was conjectured that it had been put there after the way-bill had been done. When opened, it was found to contain a stone jar with a body of male infant preserved in liquor. The body had the top of its skull missing and a hole in its chest, therefore foul play is assumed the cause of death.

60/ Chatham, (Bayonet Fatality)May 1860

A singular accident occurred at Chatham to a Royal Marines private, named James Pattison. He was with a group of other soldiers who were being instructed in the use of rifles on Chatham Lines and were being drilled in judging distance, when they were told to fall-out for a break. Pattison decided to do some somersaults to impress his mates and was performing one when his bayonet fell out of the scabbard and fell on the floor pointing upwards, then he fell on it. He died within the hour.

61/ Uplees, Faversham, May 1899

An explosion occurred yesterday morning at the works of the Cotton Powder Company at Uplees, Faversham, and sadly James Thomas Bean aged thirty-three lost his life.

62/ Sheerness, March 1885 (Two Drowned)

63/ Dover, (Salute Goes Wrong) January 1858

The landing of the Princess of Prussia at Dover met with an atrocious accident as well. The usual salute was fired on its arrival and on board the Black Eagle, there were found two gunners of the Royal Artillery, Michael Martin and John French. While firing the guns an explosion blew their hands and arms off. They were taken to Dover Hospital and both men had to have both arms amputated, and they are both in a precarious condition. (Did they live?)

64/ Maidstone, April 1832 (Rake Death)

A freak accident caused the death of a small child, the daughter of Mr Wedd. The servant was carrying the child in the garden, leading a little girl, who took hold of a rake that had been hung to a tree when the rake fell. One of the teeth entered her skull and caused its death.

65/ West Cliff Terrace, Ramsgate, January 1893 (Human Remains In Cellar)

During some alteration work being carried out on West Cliff Terrace, some human remains were discovered under the floor of the cellar, which was the only one in the row of houses to have a cemented floor. This is the reason why! The part corpse was the lower region of a lady’s body and police are investigating the situation, plus further excavations to find the rest of her body.

66/ Rochester Bridge Station Fatality, July 1900

A dreadful accident took place on the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, near to Rochester Bridge Station. William Usher was driving a horse and cart over the level-crossing when he collided with an express train which he had not spotted nearing the station. The horse and cart were smashed to atoms and the driver was instantly killed.

67/ Dover Manslaughter, February 6th, 1899

68/ Dover Manslaughter, February 8th, 1899

Dover, February 11th, 1899

At Dover yesterday Private Samuel J.Chapman, 1st West Riding Regiment, was committed for trial on a charge of having killed a seaman named Walpole by knocking him down. The magistrates offered to accept bail in two sums of £25 and the prisoner himself in £50.

69/ Cobham Hall Suicide, near Gravesend, April 1881

Cobham Hall is the seat of the Earl of Darnley, was the scene of a strange suicide. A waggoner named Stephens was found hanging in a loft. The man who discovered the body refrained from cutting him down, instead, he ran to get the head gamekeeper who then sent for the police. When cut down he was quite dead.

70/ New Road, Chatham, October 1898 (Haunted House Vandalized)

A crowd of young men went on a rampage to wreck a house in New Road that was supposedly haunted. Windows were smashed and doors covered in mud, but the damage could have been worse were it not for the presence of police. The house was furnished but untenanted.

71/ White Hart Hotel Suicide, Margate, August 1885

A suicide was committed in the White Hart Hotel in Margate, with the victim being one Arthur Daniel Terrent of 28, Clarges Street in London. Terrent was a former stockbroker and was staying in Margate for a while, and had even invited friends for dinner that evening, but was in a sombre mood. He soon left them and went to his bedroom, then pulled out a revolver and placed it to his temple and fired. He died within five minutes. (White Hart still there?)

72/ Marlborough Head Pub, Frindsbury, (Fatal Fire) March 1899

73/ Northfleet Suicide, August 1831

A young lad committed suicide in Northfleet due to his gambling addiction. The boy worked for Mr Law of Northfleet and had always been a good worker who listened and obeyed his master. His vice was that he used to get together with a party of lads the same age as him (16),and have a bit of a gamble. He went to see them one afternoon and during the games, he lost seventeen shillings. His back luck and his losses preyed upon his mind, so he hung himself by a neckerchief in his masters stable. The verdict was one I haven’t heard before-“Deranged and Distracted.”

74/ Faversham, March 1893 (Body Hanging for Two Months)

A man named Exton from Boughton near Faversham, left home a couple of months ago to look for work. On Sunday afternoon some kids were playing around a barn in a neighbouring village to Boughton, when they found a man’s body hanging from a beam. They ran out and got assistance and on further investigation, it was found to be Exton, who had been there at least two months, due to decomposition.

75/ Sittingbourne Railway Station, August 1885 (Fatal Accident)

76/ Riverhead, Sevenoaks, September 1896 (Devoured By Rats)

An awful discovery has taken place in Riverhead near Sevenoaks. It was at the allotment gardens and due to an exodus of rats from a rubbish tip to a plot of garden, led to a search being made. The result of the search found the remains of an old woman who had been there about four weeks. The whole of the face had been eaten away, with the exception of the nose and teeth. Death was due to starvation and she is said to be a visitor to the area and sought work as a hop-picker, but could not find any.

77/ Folkestone Bodysnatching, October 1888

A vault in the local churchyard was smashed open and four coffins and their contents were stolen. The vault was that of Francis Macnamara Faulkner, a well-known shipping agent. In there were the bodies of Mr Faulkner, his two wives and a daughter, the first interment being in 1853. The churchyard is at the centre of Folkestone and hundred’s of folks pass it daily. (Were They Found?)

78/ Tenterden Pram Fatality, September 1885

79/ Dover Cliff Suicide, November 1899

Dover police are investigating a rather mysterious affair, the discovery of a woman’s body at the base of a cliff. They first were alerted to something wrong when a lady’s green cloth jacket and a straw hat were found on the cliff top, near the convict prison. The further search revealed the body aged about thirty-five, several hundred feet below on the foreshore. The body though, has no injuries consistent with her death. She is unknown and has pale skin and brown hair.

80/ Royal Bull Hotel (Body Discovered), Dartford, March 1899

A human skeleton was discovered under the Royal Bull Hotel in Dartford, which dates back to the days of Wat Tyler (1380’s). The remains are over a hundred years old and are thought to be those of a murder victim in 1773 at the old inn. Workmen were excavating, when about six feet down the skeleton was unearthed. The body was examined by the police surgeon and he stated it had three bullet holes in it, and after passing through the body they lodged in a wall of the upstairs room in which the murder happened. A weird postscript to this story was that the body disappeared after the surgeon examined it, never to be seen again.

81/ Upnor Drowning, Chatham, October 1897

82/ Herne Hill Station Suicide, April 1878

A smartly dressed gentleman went to the stableman at the Half Moon pub and asked if anyone wanted to earn ten shillings. The stableman thinking he needed a horse and trap asked where he wanted to go, but the chap said he just needed his shoes cleaning. The stableman did it for him and got a half-sovereign and afterwards said that the man appeared to be very excited. While cleaning the shoes the man said that he had just lost £1800 on the Grand National, a phenomenal amount of cash in those days. (It is now!) He said he had not got the money to pay it and around half an hour later was seen near the railway station, where he put his neck on the line and let the train decapitate him. The head and body were taken off the line. In one pocket was a card with the name “Mr Cummins, Solicitor, Canterbury”, along with a gold watch and a large amount of cash as well.

83/ Goddington Villa Suicide, Strood, November 1897

Twenty-year-old servant, Emily Garnett, who worked for Mr Frank Drake of Goddington Villa, Strood near Rochester, was found dead in bed, suspected of poisoning herself with carbolic acid. The bottle was next to her, as was a letter addressed to her Dad saying that she was going to keep her word never to darken his door again. Elsewhere she writes that she did not forget that he had called her his greatest enemy and the Lord knew she would be sorry to be her father’s enemy.

84/ Swanscombe near Dartford, October 1885 (Footy Death)

85/ Sevenoaks Murder/Suicide, March 1897

Harry George Purday shot his wife on Thursday evening, then turned the gun on himself. It was a case of a jealous husband going ballistic and the verdict was “Suicide while of unsound mind”.

86/ St Mary’s Church Suicide, Dover, May 1834

Near the top of the page is the story of the suicide in the cemetery, but this was in St Mary’s Church in Dover. A seventy-year-old widow named Mrs Russell, hung herself from a hat-peg in the vestry in the corner of the gallery on the left of the eastern entrance to the church. She had been lodging in the town for five months and on a Monday morning, she left home but never returned. A search was made and she was found in the church. The wife of the clerk and another lady with Mr Wrightson found her suspended, her bonnet was on with the veil down and a seat nearby suggested that she climbed on that, then jumped off it. It is thought she hid until nearly dark, when organ repairmen and others had left the premises. Part of her strange behaviour was left her valuables at home and cut her own hair as short as possible. “Temporary Insanity” was the verdict.

87/ Chatham Dockyard Drowning, June 1895

88/ Sittingbourne Skulls Found, May 1885

While workmen were digging the foundations of a new cottage being built at Key Street near Sittingbourne, they came across the skulls of eighteen human beings. (Where are they now?)

89/ Sturry near Canterbury, December 1891 (Recluse with Cash)

A reclusive old lady, Sarah Flood, was found dead at her home. She lived alone and was eccentric, to say the least, and when found, she was semi-nude and extremely neglected. When the house was searched, they found cash, jewellery, cheques and so on, worth around £1200. Her bank book also was discovered and she had credit of several hundreds of pounds, so why she was found in such a squalid condition is anyone’s guess.

90/ Rochester, (Sewage Gas Poisoning) June 1899

91/ Charing Motor-Car Explosion, April 1897

The boiler of a motor-car, which was being worked on by William Brakefield the engineer who made it, exploded with a tremendous force. Brakefield was sat in the driver’s seat when it exploded and was hit by the shrapnel and suffered frightful injuries as a result. The skull was fractured exposing the brain and he had no hope of surviving this accident. It was caused by compressed air building up. With no escape, it became a time bomb.

92/ Chatham Soldier Deaths, October 1857

At about nine o’clock on a Sunday evening, two soldiers from the 43rd Light Infantry fell over the cliffs at Chatham Lines. One died on the spot, with the other in such a serious way that survival is barely possible. Joseph Asplin the deceased, had been with his mate in Brompton and were going back to barracks when they heard the drums beat for “tattoo”. They rushed to make it back and being oblivious to the dangers of the cliffs, they cleared a fence and kept running on when they fell over the cliff into the soldier’s burial ground below. They were both taken to the hospital, Asplin was already dead. Verdict-“Accidental Death- killed by falling over the cliffs.”

93/ Shakespeare’s Cliff, Dover, July 1895 (Body Washed Ashore)

94/ Sandwich Quicksand Death, December 1899

A man named James Hyland, who while walking along the dangerous marshes bordering the River Stour at Pegwell Bay, got stuck in the quicksands and was totally engulfed by one of them. The body was washed out of the sand by the rising tide.

95/ Sevenoaks/Dunton Green Murder? April 1869

A farm labourer was walking on the main road between Dunton Green and Sevenoaks when he spotted the dead body of a woman. Some yards from the spot where the corpse was found, the pathway looked as though persons had been struggling together or a scuffle had taken place. In a field nearby were the clothes of the nude woman and on examination, she had sustained facial cuts and bruises. There was no sign of any blood on her or on the ground nearby. The woman was seen a couple of days before, had moved into a lodging house in Dunton Green and had been begging and selling matches in the area. Last seen at half past midnight on Saturday in company with a known criminal, who has since been arrested.

96/ Canterbury Suicide, May 1891

97/ Debtling near Dover, August 1885 (Skeleton)

While digging next to a cottage, workmen found a skeleton about three and a half feet below the surface. The female is five feet four inches in height and is in amazing condition, with no signs of clothing or even wood from a coffin. A small daggers rusty remains were laid near the left arm, with the point upwards. This little clue denotes that a murder was committed there many years ago.

98/ Upchurch Child Death, near Sittingbourne, October 1880 (Peculiar People)

At Upchurch near Sittingbourne, there was the death of a child, which with proper medical help could have been prevented. The child named Sears and they belonged to a small sect known as the “Peculiar People” and died from a bad case of diarrhoea. It had been ill for quite a few days, but no doctor was summoned and was anointed with oil, in accordance with their beliefs. (Is child buried in Upchurch?)

99/ Maidstone Drownings, June 1895

100/ Margate News-boy Suicide, October 1889

A news-boy named Arthur James Pyle committed suicide by placing his head on the rails in front of an express train, on the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. The fourteen-year-old killed himself because of money missing from the newsstand, as he was suspected of dipping his fingers in the till. A verdict of “Unsound Mind.”

101/ Gravesend, (Wives Mass Exodus) June 1829

This one is a funny story of a “mass migration of wives”. In the neighbourhood of Gravesend and Northfleet, at the same hour on the same day, several wives of the most important men in the area just upped and off to who knew where. The husbands inquired of there whereabouts but to no avail. A breakthrough came one day when one husband went to his wife’s mother in Hertfordshire, and she told him rather bluntly that the women had all gone to Ashton-under-Lyne, on a “holy call” to meet Joanna Southcott’s young Shiloh, who according to Southcottian prophets was to come on a certain day. Part of this exodus of women, they had to provide a gift (Not Frankincense or Myrrh), so they took shed loads of their husband’s cash. Sounds a bit like Scientology or Nigerian President’s son, type of scam! One of the women took £500 with her and they all left their own children behind to see Shiloh. (Southcott had been dead fifteen years already)

102/ Maidstone Execution, May 1881

103/ Maidstone Execution, July 1880

Thomas Berry aged thirty-two, was on Tuesday morning executed at Maidstone Gaol for the murder of Caroline Adams at Erith on the 15th of June. The convict was attended by Father Duggan. He repeated in a firm voice the prayer for a pardon from God and man while on the scaffold and he died without a struggle. Marwood was the executioner and only officials and reporters were present. Berry bade farewell to his two children on Monday.

104/ Northfleet Creek near Gravesend, July 1882

Three boys named Patrick Benton, Albert Thomas Duck and Henry Handley, were drowned on Sunday evening in Northfleet Creek near Gravesend, by the capsizing of a rowing boat.

105/ Dover Pit Disaster, March 1897 (Eight Men Drowned)

On the western side of Shakespeare’s Cliff is the Kent Collieries Company works, and it was here that eight men drowned in a shaft. Fourteen men were involved in sinking work, when a great torrent of water flooded in from the bottom. The water was meant to have filtered from the Brady Pit over two hundred feet away.

106/ Kilnodown, (Amazing Suicide Letter Request) March 1899

Michael Colman, a 60-year-old Metropolitan Police pensioner, poisoned himself with laudanum at Kilnodown in Kent. He left an extraordinary letter to the coroner saying that of the £13-16 shillings he had, every juryman should be bought a bottle of whisky and the constable was to receive a sovereign, with whatever was left to be given to the first beggar they saw. They ignored these request and handed the money to his relatives.

107/ Channel Tunnel Plans, July 1866

108/ Capel Murder/Suicide, near Tonbridge, November 1894

Stephen Henry Towner aged thirty-six, cut his 29-year-old wife’s throat with a razor and then killed himself. Towner was known to beat his wife, Emily Jane, and many a time she had threatened to leave. She went to a policeman and told him that her husband would not allow her to gather up her clothes, as she was leaving him. The policeman offered to escort her home but she refused and when she went up to the bedroom to collect her stuff, her husband attacked her with the razor. She ran out and got as far as the passageway before dropping down dead. Towner’s mother rushed in and saw her son staring into a mirror, slitting his throat whilst doing so. When doctors arrived and they declared them both dead. Towner had been served with an ejection notice and had terrible money worries too. Now there are four children with no parents-they are aged eight, five, three and one, respectively.

109/ Ramsgate Cliffs Suicide, June 1871

A man on the beach was gathering seaweed, when he came upon the dead body of a well-dressed gentleman at the bottom of the West Cliff, Ramsgate. He’d been dead several hours and he had a gold watch on and some loose change in his pocket. The same man was seen on the East Cliff standing near the edge and was taken to police by a coast-guard because he thought he was going to jump off. He told police his name was Matthew Hornsey aged fifty-eight, of Euston Street in London, and that he was an unemployed accountant who had been drinking and missed the train.

110/ West Cliff Suicide, Ramsgate, August 1871

A woman named Palmer who was the wife of a decorator from Chilton, Isle of Thanet, jumped off the West Cliff at Ramsgate onto the rocks below. A pleasure boat picked up the mangled body and she was found still breathing, though only just. Her suicide attempt was down to jealousy of her husband and the likelihood of survival is nil.

111/ Margate Suicide, June 1895

112/ Hythe Skeletons Discovered, November 1875

The Tower near Hythe has been the scene of a discovery of a number of skeletons. The workmen were digging the foundations of a new building at Hythe and were near to Hythe Old Tower, when they found them. The skeletons have been there for a number of years and some still had the last vestiges of flesh on the bones. Two were side by side, the female one had a perfect head of hair and one of the men had whiskers. (Who were they?)

113/ Maidstone Gaol Suicide, July 1856

George Usborne, a carrier, seventy-six years-old, was put in prison for pinching some beans and he received four months hard labour. A bit severe you might say. He was taken to County Prison, where, during the night he had suffocated himself to death by filling his mouth and nostrils with old rags and he lay face down on the floor. The reason was that he was ashamed of his conviction after being a model citizen all his life.

114/ Canterbury Train Station, (Child in a Package) January 1889

The body of a male child was discovered at the local station in Canterbury. The previous day a woman was seen buying a ticket for Chatham and when waiting for the train she appeared to have a package with her. A boy then saw her putting the package under the seat, but she got off saying she’d be back in a minute, but she never returned. The package was given to the ticket collector and was opened shortly after. Inside was the infant. With the collector seeing her leave the station, somehow she was contacted and arrested two hours later. She is the daughter of a labourer, living in Tyler-Hill near Canterbury and was named Nicholls.

115/ Curb Tunnel near Dover, (Decapitated Body Found) October 1885

116/ Dungeness, January 1877

Early this morning the barque Congo sunk off No 2 Battery, Dungeness, during thick fog and in a rough sea. Unfortunately, nothing was known of the wreck at this lifeboat station of the National Institution until afterwards, when the lifeboat was launched and proceeded to the vessel, which was found deserted lying with her side almost under water. One of the crew of the lifeboat was washed overboard by the heavy seas, but was happily picked up again all right. It was afterwards ascertained that the crew of the barque, numbering nine men, had taken to their boat and had tried to make for the beach, but in doing so their boat capsized and, with the exception of one man who was washed ashore in an insensible state and who has since recovered, all the poor fellows perished.

117/ Garlings near Margate, (Corpse in Dung-Heap) January 1893

At Garlings near Margate, the corpse of a woman was discovered on a manure heap. The throat had been slashed and the head was barely attached to the neck and the razor used, was close by. The woman is described as five feet four inches tall, in hermid-forties and with the linen having the name “Chapman”. She wore a black dress with velvet around the base and a black fur lined cloth coat. Identification has not been possible, but someone of a similar description was seen in the area. (Murder/Suicide?)

118/ Ward near Sandwich, (Body in Ditch) August 1889

119/ Chatham, (Identical Suicide), May 1919

Walter Coulthrop, a painter, was found to have been suffocated in a gas oven, with two of his brothers killing themselves in an identical manner. They were both found with their head resting on the same cushion and in the same oven. One killed himself three weeks ago and Walter was warned at the inquest about the fatal fascination of the oven. “Suicide whilst temporarily insane”

120/ Offham Suicide, July 1879

This is one guy with mental health issues! William Irving was a fifty-year-old labourer, who liked a tipple. All very well you might say, but when he climbed a 70-foot tree in the presence of his wife and daughter and was singing hymns as he climbed, then stated when he got to the top: “Goodbye; I mean to do it with a good heart. I have made a nice noose, and I am now going to tie the knot. Marwood says that a drop of six feet is necessary, but I’m only going to give myself three feet. I have tied the knot, and I’m going to jump.” The people watching thought he was kidding, but as it turned out he wasn’t. This was fairly late in the evening and he had done it after his wife had berated him for staying out late at night.

121/ Malling Vicar Suicide, August 1889

122/ Faversham, September 1909 (Decomposed Body)

A man’s body was discovered in a line of larch trees at Faversham in Kent. The corpse was in a dreadful state of decomposition and not a million miles away from the railway, but estimates reckon it had been there for weeks not days.

123/ Dover, September 1892 (Strange Suicide Letter)

Margaret Dawtry Doig, a twenty-two-year-old Londoner, was found smashed to bits on the rocks near Dover. Margaret had leapt off a three hundred foot cliff and it had lodged between some rocks, otherwise, it would have been swept out by the tide into the English Channel. She sent a letter to her boyfriend’s brother explaining matters. It read as follows:-

“Your letter destroyed the last hope I had, as no doubt it was intended to. You are very kind when you offer to help me-so kind indeed, that you make me wonder whether you persuaded your brother to give me up. If so, you have been the means of wrecking my life. I am a good and intelligent woman, quite as well born as yourselves, and your brother would have been a happier man had he been my lover. The worst part of this cruelty was that he thoroughly knew my worth. He professed to think himself very fortunate- as indeed he was- to have won me. He would have been ennobled mentally and morally by the alliance. No one knows better than himself. I was never able to care for any man until I met him, I had dreams, of course, but they were purely ideal. I am alone in the world, without a single creature to care for me. Your brother gave me a new interest in life. I should have existed solely for him. I do not want you to imagine that I took my life in a frantic moment. I have been considering for several days whether I could bear to live on, and find I have no strength. I am going to Dover to walk over the cliff. My death may, perhaps, be considered accidental. So much the better. I wish your brother to know how I died. I have every right to be remembered by him, and he is still very dear to me. Will you do my memory the justice to tell him the truth. If I wrong you by my suspicions, I am sorry.” MARGARET DAWTRY DOIG

124/ Folkestone Boat Accident, May 1899

125/ Sevenoaks Shooting, May 2nd, 1885

A farmer named Douglas, residing at Sevenoaks, became involved in a dispute yesterday with a corn dealer named White and shot him through the chest with a revolver. Douglas then fired at, but missed, a police superintendent who stood nearby. He has not yet been captured.

Sevenoaks May 5th, 1885

John Ambrose Douglas, farmer, who shot Mr White, corn dealer at Sevenoaks last Friday and afterwards escaped, surrendered to the police in London yesterday afternoon. Little hope is entertained of Mr White’s recovery.

126/ Margate Lifeboat Inquest, December 1897

An inquest on the bodies of nine men drowned by Margate Lifeboat Disaster asked one of the survivors, Robert Ladd, who said he had been on hundreds of operations over the past decade and not once had the boat turned over before. They had no lifebelts and they wouldn’t use them anyway as they were a hindrance. The boat flipped over in twelve feet of water and about a quarter of a mile from the shore. Verdict “Accidental Death”.

127/ Brompton Pub Murder/Suicide, near Chatham, March 1900

William Bailey, a thirty-six-year-old dockyard labourer tried to kill a woman named Thorne in a public-house, then slit his own throat. He had lived in Brompton for fourteen years and had split up from his missus no less than seven times. They split up again, but this time Bailey became jealous and began stalking her and watching the house where she lived. He was in a pub nearby, when he saw a jug of hers, so he went to the next compartment, met a woman coming out with a jug of beer and thinking it was his wife, cut her throat. He then slit his throat and ran out of the pub and fell down dead in the street. (Did woman survive?/ What pub?)

128/ Gravesend Murder, February 1881

129/ Chatham Soldier Suicide, December 1852

Private William Clark of the 95th Regiment, killed himself by shooting himself in the head while on sentry duty from the lower dock guard. He put his musket in his mouth and fired, blowing away the top of his head. He was an exemplary soldier with twelve years service and just returned from service in India a few months ago. There is no reason why the thirty-three-year-old Brummie would have done this, except he was prone to giddiness in the head.

130/ Ramsgate, (Body Washed Ashore) August 1910

A man named Gore was walking along the beach at Pegwell Bay when he saw something floating on the surface of the sea. He went and got it out thinking it was flotsam or driftwood, but it turned out to be the body of a female. He acquired help and they took it to Ramsgate Harbour. No sign of identification, but she clutched eleven pence in her right hand!

131/ Margate, September 1896 (Man Decapitated)

The headless body of Charles Bartholemew Pyle, a twenty-six-year-old male, who lived at Marine Terrace in Margate. He was found on the South Eastern Line near to the town, minus the head, which was thirty yards from the body, and was also missing his right foot as well. He was due to be in court for threatening his wife the following day and in a strange twist of fate, his brother killed himself a couple of years ago in a similar fashion.

132/ Sittingbourne, (Cruel Schoolmaster) May 1885

133/ Tunbridge Wells, (Concealment of Birth) August 1876

A sensation was created in Tunbridge Wells when a body of a dead child was discovered at the home of the late General Molyneux Williams. It seems that some bits and bobs from around the house had vanished and Mrs Williams accused a domestic servant, Elizabeth Williams of pinching them. Police came to search the premises and when they asked Elizabeth if they could look in her room, she refused. When a box was finally opened in her room, the reason for her not letting them in became apparent, when they were confronted with the remains of an infant. It was wrapped in sheets and several items that had gone missing were also there. Lime had been used to destroy the carcass and Williams was arrested for concealment of birth. When questioned she told police that it had been born a year and a half ago and it had been there ever since.

134/ Faversham, January 1894 (Eaten by Cat)

Sixty-five-year-old former grocer, George Clarke, was found dead in his house in Court Street in Faversham. The alarm was raised when a relative hadn’t seen him for a week and a half, so went to call on him and found him on the floor. The cat who lived with him was obviously hungry and being locked in for so long, it ate his face. “Death through natural causes” was the verdict and he had suffered from an epileptic seizure.

135/ Canterbury, August 1856 (Romantic Suicide/Sad Letter)

Elizabeth Ann Steer aged twenty-one, committed suicide by hanging herself in her brother’s wash-house. This is a sad tale and romantic in some ways, but she was supposed to have been married the previous day to a carabineer(soldier who uses a carbine, like a sawn-off rifle!) named Greaves, but he was refused leave and her friends opposed it, particularly her mother-in-law, who had caused her to leave home. Steer had gone out with a man called George West before Greaves and had sent him her last letter, meanwhile, the carabineers and the love of her life were on their way to India. The note read:

“George- You took great trouble to write to me on Tuesday about my going out with Greaves. He was a man- he will either live or die for me, and I will do so for him. Remember George, how you deceived me. Daily and hourly you sought my ruin- often did you wish me to get me into trouble, but the Lord protected me so far. Your conscience will tell you, you was a base, deceitful man, but God never pays debts with money. My life I will forfeit. Pay my dear Father and Mother what you owe me- it will pay for my funeral. You have broken my mind- you seduced me- and God will reward you for it. You will never prosper. Remember these last dying words of one who has been the dupe of all your lies. My heart aches- my hand trembles- and in a few moments I shall be launched into eternity”.

It brings a tear to the eye doesn’t it? Anyway, she was said to be”under temporary insanity” by the jury. Sounds more like a woman who deeply cares for a man, to me.

136/ Atchcliffe Fort Fatality, Dover, August 1860 (Sorry bottom bit missing!)

137/ Maidstone, November 1897 (Suicide While Strolling)

A young chap named Lower was out with his sweetheart for a pleasant stroll along a pathway near the railway bridge across the River Medway. He suddenly gave her his watch and chain and hurdled himself over the wall. It was the intention to drown himself, but he fell the fifty feet onto the wharf beneath. The couple were in love with each other, so again the question is, Why?

138/ Ramsgate, April 1859

Heinrich Matterig, alias Maltinger, landed at Southampton on March 31st, on a vessel from America. In a bid to commit suicide and not leave any clues to his identity, he was on an omnibus on the Dover and Deal Road when he threw a 1756 Bible off the top. It had a piece of paper in it, with five German letters and the year 1827 written on it. His clothing is slightly scruffy so his account of a travelling gentleman on his way to Paris, then on to Scotland is not correct.

139/ Chatham, February 1842 (Medway Union Workhouse Suicide)

Joseph Anderson was an inmate of the Medway Union Workhouse at Chatham, who killed himself by nearly severing his head from his body. He was in a sick ward recovering, but it was twelve feet square and had twelve patients. At midnight one of the other patients heard a noise and when the light was lit, it was found he’d cut his throat, but nearly cutting it from his neck, so deep was the gash. He was seventy-five-years-old and had a wife who lived in Brompton.

140/ Walmer Cliff Fatality, August 1890

141/ Rosherville near Gravesend, May 1889

Sixteen-year-old Edwin Saunders killed himself by jumping off a cliff. He was adopted as an infant and worked for Woollett, a grocer in Gravesend. A note found in his pocket read:-

“36 New Road, Gravesend, May 12th.

Mrs Woollett, I am tired of life. I asked A.Nettlingham if she would have me for a lover, and she said “No!”. She was the only girl I ever loved, and so I swore I would end my life. Alice Nettlingham is the only one to blame, and may the curse of my head ever be upon her. I am very sorry to leave you in such a way after being so kind to me all my life- I remain EDDIE”

The young lass, Alice Nettlingham, was overcome in court, with the verdict being “Suicide whilst temporarily insane.”

142/ Dover Horrific Train Death, October 1885

A young man named Prue was run over by the Deal train, on the London, Chatham & Dover Railway, near Dover. The manner of his death is horrific. Prue worked at the Dover Officer’s Club and had been to the Priory Station to see his father who he thought was on duty as a signalman. He wasn’t, so he went through the tunnel when he was struck by a train. This bit is really gory! Half his head, with the body, was on one side of the track and the other- the complete face, with a part of his ear, was on the other side a few yards away. There was his hat and some blood and hair too.”Accidental Death”

143/ Chatham (School of Military Engineering), August 1885

144/ Hever, (Murder or Suicide?)October 1886

Lottie Spittles, a 23-year-old domestic servant residing at Thornton Heath near Croydon, was found drowned in a pond. Lottie had been to Hever to see some friends, with her mistress with her as well. They were walking back to Edenbridge Railway Station when Lottie was seen talking to a male cousin of hers outside the station, then the train went without her. The cousin, John Heaysman, who was later questioned, said that she wasn’t going to return by a later train but stay with her aunt in Hever and go back tomorrow morning. She also said she didn’t care if she never went back and would rather kill herself. Heaysman was with a mate called Worzell and they all went for a few pints, then back home, but when they got to Bower Farm in Hever, Heaysman left them for a while and when he came back, they’d gone. Next time he saw his cousin was as a dead body. Worzell is a man to be questioned. Deceased also had an ear-ring torn out of her ear. (Was it Worzell?)

145/ Chislehurst Cab Suicide, March 1862

John Gravatt aged nineteen, committed suicide while taking a ride in a cab. He had left home to go and look for work, but on Saturday morning at three o’clock, he was in the Crown and Anchor on the Old Kent Road. He asked a cab-man, Benjamin Gallin, to take him to Chislehurst and when they came up to Chislehurst Common, the cab-man heard a gunshot. Gallin looked into the cab and saw the passenger with a pistol in his hand and blood seeping from a head wound. On his person was a letter to his Dad, saying that he intended to kill himself and giving the excuse that family grievances were to blame.

146/ Tonbridge, December 1905 (Oxford Student Suicide)

The body of a young man was found on the railway in a tunnel close to the station, in a dreadfully mangled condition. There was a card with the name Guy L.Gibbins on it. What alerted staff on the train he was travelling on, was an open door to a carriage, just as they were coming into Tonbridge from Tunbridge Wells. An employee went down the line to look for a body and he found him in a tunnel between Southborough and Tonbridge. The body was taken to Tonbridge. The card found on him gave the address,”Guy Gibbins- 62 London Road, Tunbridge Wells”. The explanation for his rash act was that he had failed an important exam and became depressed. Twenty-year-old Guy was a student at Keeble College.

147/ Folkestone, May 1878 (Actual loss was 270 lives and many are buried in Cheriton Road Cemetery, where there is a memorial)

148/ Minster-on-Sea Murder, November 1906

149/ Rochester Suicide, March 1898

150/ Northfleet near Gravesend, November 1882 (Death by Hot Water)

Fifty-three-year-old labourer, Thomas Briggs from Northfleet, was sat down to breakfast one morning, when he leaped up and shouted “Here goes”, then walking to the fireplace and took a kettle of boiling water, popped the spout in his mouth and then began to drink the contents. His wife managed to wrangle the kettle away from him but he had nearly finished the entire amount of liquid in the kettle and when asked what he was doing, he simply replied: “I don’t know, I thought I was having a cup of tea”.

The larynx swelled up and he died from suffocation within the hour.”Suicide whilst of unsound mind” was the verdict.

151/ Rochester Poker Suicide, December 1885

Thomas Raycraft decided to end it all one day, but didn’t walk in front of a train, hang himself, poison or even shoot himself. Raycraft thought that ramming a red-hot poker down his throat, then forcing it through the roof of his mouth was a good idea. He lingered for a day and a half in enormous pain, before passing away.

152/ Medway/Rochester Double Suicide, August 1843

A double suicide of a young couple named William Hendery and Ann Sancti, had rocked the town of Rochester in 1843. They went on a pub crawl on the fateful day, drunk ale, cider and gin, then gone to the Medway and jumped in together. The total number of deaths was three, because she was pregnant as well.

153/ Kent County Lunatic Asylum Murder, Barming Heath, August 9th, 1851

The inquest was held at the Kent County Lunatic Asylum, Barming Heath, on the body of a patient there. John Hubble aged seventy-six years of age, who was savagely beaten by another patient, Henry Hills on the 9th of August. Hubble was bruised and beaten and several jury members seemed to be surprised that Hubble had lived so long after the attack had taken place. He was beaten with some kind of weapon or household utensil.

154/ Sheerness, October 1822 (Bellerophon)

155/ Queenborough Fire, February 1895

156/ Dover Coast, (Suicide from Steamer) November 1903

157/ Body Found near Erith, September 1870

The body of the lad Ernest Keating, the protege of the late Reverend C.Hind, one of those lost in the collision between the Cormorant and the pinnace of the training ship Chichester on the 8th inst, was found in the river off Erith on Friday night. A reward of a £1 had been offered for its recovery. The bodies of the six persons drowned have now been recovered. Keating’s remains were conveyed to Woolwich on Saturday, where the adjourned inquest is to be held.

158/ Margate Drownings, September 1870

On Wednesday afternoon two men were drowned at Marsh Bay near Margate. It appears that a boatman named Davis was engaged by three male visitors to take them out in his rowing boat, the Emily, and that when off Marsh Bay the boat capsized and the boatman and one of the gentlemen were drowned. The two gentlemen who survived were rescued by the pleasure yacht “Secret”, and were conveyed to the Hoy Hotel, where they were promptly attended to. The boat has also been recovered, but at the time this was written the two bodies had not been found.

159/ Wouldham Camp Drowning, August 1870.

160/ Cannon Bridge Drownings, Tonbridge September 1870 (Cannon Lane, Tonbridge. The bridge that goes over it; is this Cannon Bridge? The Mitre was at 24 Hadlow Road, it was demolished and Mitre Court was built sometime in the 1980’s)

161/ Fort Green Suicide, Margate 14th September 1870.

Shortly before eight o’clock yesterday morning a visitor, named Charlotte Eliza Wickison, a married woman aged thirty, of 6, Farm Place, Walham Green, Fulham, committed suicide by throwing herself from the Fort Green, Margate, onto the sands below, a distance of about sixty feet. She received some very extensive scalp wound and a fracture of the skull; her right leg was broken and she had other injuries. Death was instantaneous.

September 21st 1870- Inquest.

162/ Deal (Three Boatmen Drowned) August 1870.

163/ Erith Fatal Yacht Accident, August 1870 (I know it’s in Bexley, but was in Kent at the time)

164/ Ulcomb Accidental Shooting, November 1870.

165/ Thurnham Murder, October 1870 (Black Horse Inn is still there.)

166/ Tonbridge Child Murder, January 18th, 1902 (Harold Apted killed Frances O’Rourke)

March 1st, 1902 (Tonbridge Murder Verdict)

At Maidstone Assizes on Wednesday, Harold Apted was found guilty of the wilful murder of the child O’Rourke, at Tonbridge, and sentenced to death, with a recommendation to mercy on account of his youth. In passing sentence Mr Justice Wright said no one could doubt that the jury had come to the right decision.

March 22nd, 1902 (Execution of Apted at Maidstone)

04

Mar

2018

1/ Chelsea Barracks, (Soldier Murdered) December 1876

2/ Imperial Institute Lift Fatality, (Now Commonwealth Institute) August 1895

Frank Raggetaged fourteen, worked for the District Boys Messenger Co. at their office in Gloucester Road. The International Geographical Congress Committee was in town and Ragget was waiting for a message to come his way but he got bored and started messing about with the lift. He was scolded a couple of times and then he vanished. A search for the boy revealed him to be a the bottom of the lift shaft, badly mangled. It is thought that he opened the doors and got in without looking, then disappeared to the bottom. It was at Exhibition Road in South Kensington.

3/ Brompton Cemetery Murder/Suicide, August 1892

A terrible tragedy occurred at Brompton Cemetery and ended up with one girl dead and the murderer killing himself further away. James Boursell aged twenty-six and living at No 7, Vesper Road, Shepherd’s Bush, along with Alice Harriet Franklin a twenty-two-year-old domestic servant, were the two victims in this strange story. Alice’s sister, Emily, explained to police what happened. They went to put flowers on her auntie’s grave with a few other girls in tow as well, at Brompton Cemetery, when they heard a gunshot and looking behind them, they saw Boursell with a pistol in his hand. Alice fell down dead and as the girls were screaming and running towards the exit gates, Boursell then shot himself four times in the stomach and killed himself. (Did he die in Cemetery?)

4/ Kensington Palace (Lunatic Wandering About) February 1888

Kurt Degener was charged on Monday at Marlborough Street Police Court, with being a lunatic wandering at large near Kensington Palace. He had given to a constable an envelope addressed to himself as ” His Majesty Kurt Degener, Emperor of China and King of England”. Captain von Rodeir of the German Consulate, said he was ready to take charge of Mr Degener and send him home to Germany.Mr Newton, therefore, discharged him.

5/ Rutland Gate, Knightsbridge, (Impaled on Railings) March 1898

6/ Chelsea Church Suicide, June 1841

A man of about fifty years of ageasked a churchwarden of Chelsea if he could go to the top of the tower so that he could draw Westminster Abbey. He was granted permission and went up with a bellringer. Then, after a few minutes, the bellringer came down and just after he reached terra firma, the unknown artist threw himself off the tower, a height of two hundred feet or more. He was smashed to a pulp on impact with the pavement. Papers found on the body have the name of Lloyd and an address in Leamington Spa in Warwickshire and this could be the guy. (Was it St Luke’s?)

7/ Earl’s Court Child Murder/Suicide, November 18905

Mrs Hall aged thirty-five and her four-year-old daughter, Gladys, lived at Child Street, Earl’s Court. The child’s mother and father had split up and Mrs Hall became slightly manic after their separation. When her sister, Mrs Long, went to call on her, she found little Gladys strangled to death in her mother’s bed, and Mrs Hall was discovered hanging from a hook in the backyard.

8/ Brompton Cemetery Suicide, September 1888

This was four years before the Boursell incident in the same cemetery. This lady, who was suffering from depression at the time went into Brompton Cemetery and swallowed some laudanum, then lay down to die on her parents grave. She was found unconscious and rushed off to Kensington Infirmary, but she died later on that day.

9/ Chelsea, (Freak Accident) December 1836

Mr Rivers, a Chelsea butcher, had in his employ, William Heath. While standing on a pair of steps in the shop, putting some meat on a hook, the steps snapped and he fell forward, with the hook impaling the roof of his mouth. He was left dangling there for several minutes until he was lifted off and given medical assistance. He is a precarious condition.

10/ Kensington High Road, June 1885 (Fatal Accident)

11/ Ediths Gardens Haunted House, West Kensington, August 1900

Local gossip around West Kensington of the possibility of a haunted house in Ediths Gardens, have had rubberneckers out on a night time, wanting to see the phantom. Police have had to be deployed to keep the gathering crowds from destroying and vandalising the property. A wall has been knocked over, windows smashed and doors battered down to gain entry. The supposed ghost is described as a deaths head which was visible in a narrow window and the whole affair is to be treated as a hoax.

12/ Eccleston Square Skeleton, South Belgravia, January 1880

John Lacey was working in the basem*nt of a house in Eccleston Square and went into a vault which was used to store coal. In in a little nook behind a cistern, he spotted something that looked like a coconut. He grabbed some tongs and pulled it out, then reeled in horror when he saw it was a human skull. He had dropped it and broken it in two. Police were informed of the find and the bloke who was the manager of the firm who was working at the property, a Mr Dawson, told them what had happened. Police forensic team had dug up the rest of the skeleton, which was curled up, as though to make it fit into the tiny space it was being shoved in. The arms were broken and the vertebrae were bent over the thigh bones. The police surgeon said it was not an adult but a child of numerous years. The present owners have been here seven years and have often complained at the terrible stench, which they thought was drains being blocked. (Who was it?)

13/ Knightsbridge Suicide, May 1857

Mr Benjamin Tate was very depressed about the passing away of his beloved mother. He had taken lodgings at Mr Kibbles, Old King’s Head Tavern, Knightsbridge. At the breakfast table one morning, there was no sign of Tate, so Mr Kibble went upstairs to get him thinking he had overslept. He was discovered with his throat slit and the suicide weapon, a razor, under the still warm body.

14/ Durham Place Suicide, Chelsea, June 1899 (Still there)

15/ Sloane Street Suicide, Chelsea, December 1865

Between seven and eight o’clock one evening at 115, Sloane Street in Chelsea (Durley House), a teenage girl jumped from the second-floor window. On her way down, she hit a balcony and then landed on the pavement. The girl was dead and had her brain matter scattered all over. Apparently, she only arrived last week, into this property, which is a home for young ladies. Suicide was preferable.

16/ Talbot Road Murder/Suicide, Kensington, August 1895

At lunchtime one day, the sudden report of two gunshots rang out from the top floor of 53, Talbot Road, in North Kensington. Police were called to the scene and found a guy called Mayston, a 30-year-old cab driver, had shot Mrs Mayston in the chest with a revolver. She was dead and Mayston himself was in a critical condition.

(Across the road from Shrewsbury Road- Still there)

17/ Chelsea, September 1859 (Killed Herself, Missed her Mistress)

Since the death of the Dowager Countess of Norbury (was it 1859?), a woman by the name of Mary Newnes had been inconsolable. Mary worked for her for thirteen years and yet she was only thirty-two. Her husband still worked there as the coachman. She just couldn’t accept that she’d gone, so she took some oxalic acid and killed herself. (Inquest at Chelsea Workhouse)

18/ Mill Street/Chelsea? December 1885 (Attempted Murder)

19/ Leader Street Fatality, Chelsea, April 1899

A strange fatality occurred on Monday night in Leader Street in Chelsea. A man named John Wright aged fifty had retired to rest for the night. Afterwards, the inmates of the upper portion of the building noticed a smell of fire and found it coming from the apartment occupied by Wright. There being no response to repeated knocking the door was forced open. The place was then in flames and although Wright was but slightly burnt, he was in an unconscious condition, having been overcome by the smoke and he succumbed in about half an hour. It is surmised that Wright whilst smoking had fallen asleep and the burning tobacco had set a light to the bed clothing and caused the fire.

20/ Kensington Palace Gardens, July 1908 (Lift Death)

Mr Leopold Hirsch of Kensington Palace Gardens had a tragic accident occur at his property. The forty-four-year-old head housekeeper, Eleanor Chalkley, was found by the steward with her head caught between the top of the lift and the top of the grate. It was a small hydraulic lift, made decades ago and was used to transport light articles up and down the building. It was poorly built and was asking for a serious accident to happen to it, as it possible to look over the sliding gate into the well, whereas the whole thing should be closed automatically before the lift could be re-started.

21/ Notting Hill, October 1892 (Murder or Suicide?)

Police can’t work out if this one was murder or a double suicide. Does anyone know what the end result was?

Two girls were found in the Grand Junction Canal in the Notting Hill and Westbourne Park area. They were embracing each other as though in a double suicide, but the plot thickens when a compromising letter was found in the eldest girl’s room. The two victims are-Mary White aged seventeen from Talbot Mews in Notting Hill and Ellen Mitchell aged fourteen of Blechynden Street, also in Notting Hill. Just to get one thing straight in all this, was that Notting Hill was not the swanky suburb we see Hugh Grant wafting up and down in. It was a slum and a no-go area for wealthier members of London society. When the girls were found they had or two marks on them, but they might have been from boats or barges, also they had circular marks on their wrists, but nothing to show they were bound together. They left home a week or so ago to look for work and police surgeons had estimated the bodies to have been in the water for five days. A man said he saw two girls of similar description in Kensal Green who were with a bloke, but they couldn’t find him. While searching through Mary White’s clothing, they are supposed to have found a “compromising letter” from a bloke in Homerton. The number of rumours going about the district, it could well be false.

22/ Harrod’s Store’s, July 1895 (Thieving Store Detective)

23/ Edith Grove, Chelsea, February 1896 (Impaled on Railings)

Mr Organ, who worked as a traveller for a Dundee firm of whisky distillers died in a singular accident in Edith Grove in Chelsea. Mr Organ had caused a crowd to assemble in the Kings Road, Chelsea, by acting in an eccentric manner. The crowd followed him to his home in Edith Grove and he appeared at his drawing room window addressing different questions. One lad jeered and this got him mad, so he climbed the widow-sill. Then a struggle ensued between himself and some friends in the room and while pulling and tugging, they let loose their grasp and he crawled along the ledge. He fell forward and became impaled on the iron railings below. The sheer force of the fall snapped three railings clean off and died while being taken to St Georges Hospital.

24/ Hyde Park Gate, Kensington Road November 1859

The area around Hyde Park Gate was the scene of a dreadful accident which resulted in the death of a man carrying out work there. William Barnett was a master builder and well-known in the Kensington district and he was working at number 8 at Hyde Park Gate. These are very tall mansions of several floors and Barnett was checking on some masonry work in the cornice when he fell about eighty feet to the ground, smashing himself to atoms. He died at St Georges Hospital later on that day.

25/ Chelsea Dock, (Suicide for Sixpence) June 1878

Sixteen-year-old Joseph Henry Sooley worked in a solicitor’s office in Piccadilly, and left for work one day but never returned home. The next day a letter dropped on his father’s doormat and it was from his son. It said that he’d been accused of stealing a marked sixpence but he was not guilty of the crime, so he decided to commit suicide instead, by drowning himself in the Thames. Rather thoughtfully he had pawned his watch before jumping in the river and sent the ticket to his Mum. His father said he was very sensitive and two years ago he had lost a couple of fingers in a machine accident and this made him extremely nervy. The body was found near Chelsea Dock and had been there for quite a number of days. Died for a sixpence!

26/ Talbot Grove, Notting Hill, December 8th, 1885 (Threw Child from Window)

27/ Talbot Grove, Notting Hill, December 15th, 1885

28/ Chelsea College, November 1852 (Deaths at Wellington’s Funeral)

Thousands lined the streets to pay their respects to the Duke of Wellington. Huge crowds assembled in front of the hospital, with nowhere near enough police having been deployed. It was waiting for an accident to happen and around twelve o’clock, the rumour spread that several had been killed already and were taken to St Luke’s workhouse. Thousands went home and the police force was boosted to seven hundred men. Still, the numbers were immense and two women were confirmed as casualties of being squashed to death in the crowd. The crowding in Chelsea was particularly bad and it is thought the two women were in this general area, but 60,000 saw the “Iron Duke” lying in state with no accidents.

29/ Belgravia Suicide, November 1873

Mr Drummond of 11, Wilton Crescent employed Percy Hayling as a footman. For quite a few months, Percy had been getting terrible pains in his head and told other members of staff that he wanted to kill himself. One day, Percy went missing from the kitchen, so the under-footman went upstairs to his room to get him. On opening the door he found him with a gunshot wound to the temple and a pistol in his hand. Strange thing was, that nobody heard a single shot being fired. The surgeon who was called in, said that he put the muzzle in his mouth, which acted as a silencer, hence no-one hearing a sound.

30/ Kensington High Street/Notting Hill Gate Stations, February 1913 (Murder or Suicide?)

A wealthy lady’s headless body was discovered in the tunnel between the tube stations of Kensington High Street and Notting Hill Gate. Miss Maud Frances Davies was also stabbed a couple of times, with one directly in the heart. Only last week she had docked at Liverpool from a trip to New York and just got into London. Her whereabouts on Saturday are unaccounted for and she also didn’t contact any friends or family and left her luggage at Euston Station. A ganger found her corpse in the tunnel at two o’clock in the morning, with no valuables having been taken either. (How did she get there?)

31/ Chelsea Soldier Murder, December 11th, 1885

32/ Chelsea Manslaughter, December 18th, 1885

33/ Chelsea, (Funeral Turns Nasty) September 1854

Miss Phoebe Todd had it all. She was the daughter of rich parents and said to be the best looking lass in all of Chelsea, so she had the men clamouring to get a date with her. Nobody was suitable as far as her father was concerned, so he picked one out himself. It was a young man by the name of Anderson and he was going to marry her and whisk her off to India. Phoebe wasn’t keen at all, but her father was adamant and he was going to arrange the wedding with Anderson. While he was gone Phoebe went to the W.C. and slit her throat with a razor. Word got around Chelsea about what had happened and as they were preparing to bury Phoebe, a crowd assembled outside Mr Todd’s house, mainly packed with female’s angry at the treatment of his daughter. As the coffin was being put on the hearse, the crowd muttered “Poor Phoebe”, and the women began to cry. When Mr Todd came out they began to jeer and hiss and this carried on all the way to St Luke’s at Chelsea, where she was buried. A police presence was used and was much needed because if they hadn’t been there, they would have ripped the two men to shreds.

34/ Kensington Court Place Suicide, February 1892

Found out that it was at number 18, Kensington Court Place and that is near the High Street in Kensington. The other bloke’s full name was Herbert Campbell Moore. The apartment window he jumped from, was thirty-three-feet from the ground on the second floor. When admitted to the hospital, he died three hours later.

35/ Onslow Gardens Suicide, South Kensington, August 1892

The sound of gunfire rang out over Ensor Mews, Onslow Gardens in Kensington. The person behind the firing was George West, whose father works as a footman in Onslow Gardens and ended in his self-destruction. West was on leave from the Suffolk Regiment and the reason for his suicide was that he had nicked something and was threatened with arrest. Two policemen went to arrest him at noon and he had climbed onto the roof of Endor Mews to escape the handcuffs. He seemed to shoot several chambers harmlessly into the air, but he saved the last bullet for himself. Some decorators were at Onslow Gardens doing some work and heard the shots, they then tried to get to the roof where the fellow was having his manic episode. West put the gun muzzle in his mouth and fired upwards, blowing the top of his head away.

36/ Earl’s Court Station, (Fatal Collision) August 1885

37/ Bangor Street, North Kensington, March 1895 (Professor Starved to Death)

38/ Warwick Square Suicide, Kensington, July 1853

Twenty-three-year-old Abraham Giles blew his brains out in Warwick square in Kensington, all because his girlfriend had broken up with him. He was found lying on the pavement, with a fatal head-shot and a horse pistol next to him. The girl all this was about was Catherine Tedding, a nice-looking twenty-year-old, who worked as a domestic servant to Miss Patrick at No 5, Warwick Square. She had been going out with him for a year, but then her friends told her to dump him and don’t get married. Catherine took their advice, but this was a devastating blow to Giles, who took it very personally. Around three months ago he told her that he had some loaded guns at home and would shoot himself and then a few days ago he came to her mistress’s house and spoke to her through the railings, telling her he was off to work in the country and had come to say goodbye. In typical Victorian England style, with no love or emotion involved, they shook hands and she said goodnight. Catherine thought that was the end of the matter, but when she got upstairs to her room, she looked out of the window and she saw him in the exact same spot as when she left him. He put the gun in his mouth and fired while she watched on. – Giles wrote some letters-including one to Catherine, saying that if she did not marry him, then he would kill himself and then fall by her side. The verdict was a short and simple one-“Insanity”.

39/ Abingdon Villas Poisoning, Kensington, July 1895

40/ South Kensington Fatality, September 1885 (The International Inventions Exhibition was held at South Kensington in 1885)

41/ Chelsea Murder? December 1870

42/ Glendhow Gardens Murder, Kensington August 1870. (Drayton Arms pub still doing business. No.3 is one of those big white gaffs on the A3218)

August 31st, 1870.

Although several weeks have passed since the murder of Samuel Lee, potman at the Drayton Arms, West Brompton, the detectives of the Metropolitan Police have failed to discover any clue to the guilty persons. It was said that after the conclusion of the coroner’s inquest the police received some important information connected with the matter, but upon making a careful inquiry it was found that the statement made to them was false. Yesterday a reward of £100 was offered by the Government for the arrest of the murderer. A subscription has been opened for the assistance of Mrs Lee, who has been left with a family.

43/ Starvation of a Child, North Kensington. February 29th,1904

At Marylebone, Ellen O’Sullivan, 38, married, living at Bosworth Road, North Kensington, was brought before Mr Plowden on a coroner’s warrant charged with causing the death of her infant child Agnes, aged three months, by starvation. An inquest was held on Friday, and the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against her, and she was then arrested by Inspector Pollard, X Division.

Wednesday, March 23rd, 1904 (Starvation of a child)

44/ Kensington Gardens Suicide June 1905 (Body covered in tattoos)

45/ Death at a Notting Hill Convent, December 1906

46/ Suicide at Oxford Gardens, North Kensington. December 1906

04

Mar

2018

1/ Highbury Church Suicide, Islington, May 1896

Christ Church (on Highbury Grove) in Highbury, saw a suicide within its doors in 1896. The verger opened the doors and found an adult male swinging from a rope as soon as he entered. The suicide was that of a 42-year-old Brummie, by the name of Herbert Napper. (Why in a church?)

2/ Dead Baby Found in Clerkenwell Church. September 1896

Another body in a church, this time in Clerkenwell. The Church of St.Mark’s is still there in Myddelton Square and in 1896 someone decided to drop off a dead new-born there. It was a girl wrapped in calico, who had a piece of cloth in her mouth. Whether this was to keep it quiet and accidentally killed her, is not known. Police were summoned and Dr Miller of Percy Circus was due to do a post-mortem on the infant.

3/ Highgate Archway (Suicides Bridge). August 1898

Now under reconstruction, the Archway has for quite a number of years, been a very common place for suicides. There was no real barricade or railing to prevent the act and let them dive onto the road under it, a drop of sixty feet or more. Half the bridge was in one parish and the half was in another, so you could decide who should bury you, if unclaimed. One of the parishes did put up a railing, but they just moved a few yards and leapt off there.

4/ Highgate Archway, July 1884 (Bridge Suicide)

A man was seen to climb up the parapet on the bridge in Hornsey Lane, Highgate, and throw himself off onto the road below. A P.C. from Y Division, plus a crowd of rubber-neckers, found him unconscious. By the time Dr Jones got there, he was dead, not surprising because of his fractured skull and other injuries. His body was taken to Hornsey Mortuary to await identification. He was five feet eight inches tall in his mid-thirties, fair hair, light moustache, scar on lower lip and chin, brown tweed suit on, blue checked shirt, black felt hat, and looked like a labourer. Unknown?

5/ The Flask Public House, Highgate, November 1899 (Photo is from the 1920’s)

The above picture comes from the “Wonderful London” magazine and holds a special place in my life because I used to work here in the late 1980s. All I remember was Ray Davies from The Kinks lived next door to us, and Sting lived across the road. The other thing I was told about was the Dick Turpin legend and how he stopped off here and about the secret passages underneath it. This is the story from November 1899-

Thomas Henry Blake from Holloway was missed from a pack of runners in South Grove, Highgate. He was discovered in a sink-hole, about six feet wide and fifteen feet deep, and pulled out and taken to the police station, then allowed home. The subsidence was due to an underground passage that had collapsed and on looking for the course of this passage, another was found. The main tunnel led to The Flask in South Grove, and legend has it, that Dick Turpin used this place as a stop off. The pub has several trap-doors in the cellars and were said to beused as an escape route in times of danger.

Highgate Wood Suicides

6/ January 1890

A man was ambling through the woods when he stumbled on the body of a male, covered by fallen leaves. He had a cup and bottle by his side and had taken some laudanum. Police removed him to the local hospital, but he died before he arrived there. Identification of the man found him to be a tram conductor from Holloway named Dalziel, and the tram tickets in his pocket proved that he came from work, straight down to the woods to kill himself. One or two letters on his person reveal the reason for this rash act, to be one of jealousy of his wife.

7/ November 1874 (Vicar Suicide)

In one of the smaller woods of Highgate Woods, one called Gravel Pit Wood which is near the Muswell Hill Road, the hanging body of a clergyman named Rev. Pix, was found on an oak tree. The police surgeon estimated he had been there for a week and the worrying thing is that this is becoming a suicide hotspot, as this is the third in as many years in Highgate Woods. Pix was from Dorset and he was staying at Kings Cross with his keeper, as he considered to be insane. He escaped and ended up here.

8/ June 1872

William Riddnell found the body of a man who had slit his own throat in Highgate Woods. The John Doe had a pen-knife in his hand and was drenched in blood. A half pint bottle of brandy was beside him. He was about sixty and about five feet six inches tall, dark hair, grey tinges, tattoos on arms and chest, (ship, female, anchor, shield, moon and stars, spears, and a crown), dark grey suit, and a plaid scarf.

9/ Camden Passage Murder, Islington, July 1890

10/ Highgate Cemetery (Childs Body Found) January 1845

Near Highgate Cemetery in a tree trunk, a child’s body was found by a passerby. The corpse itself is somewhat decomposed, but the post-mortem revealed bruising on the head, plus other marks of violence on its body. (Was it identified?)

11/ Highgate Cemetery Fatality, September 1904

When I lived at the Flask, I would regularly visit the Cemetery. It is a tourist attraction in itself and some weird things have happened here. It was the scene of satanic worship in the sixties and seventies when the council let it go to rack and ruin, and if I remember correctly, some vampire sightings. This is just the tale of Mrs Jewel, a 54-year-old wife of a commercial traveller, who went to see her son’s grave and put some flowers on it, when she keeled over on his grave, after having a massive heart attack.

12/ Highgate Cemetery Suicide, December 1856

A labourer named Collins was stacking wood at Highgate Cemetery near Swains Lane when he heard the sound of a gunshot. He ignored it, as it was not unusual to hear guns going off in the evening, poachers being rife in the area, and when the bell tolled to leave the grounds he walked to the gates and saw the body of a man with half his head blown away. He ran to Mr Broadbent’s house (the superintendent), and they found the well-dressed man laid on the ground. The pistol he held had no barrel, as the explosion had blown it off and was some distance away from him. Police were summoned and they found a few clues as to his identity. He had a serpent ring on, his linen had the name “Henri Feuhonlet” on it and two letters, one to Miss Partridge and the other to his parents. That mentioned about his love worries and ended “I can write no more”. He was in his mid-twenties and was of foreign appearance. (Was it Henri Feuhonlet?)

13/ Highgate Cemetery Suicide, July 1900

Christian Rommeli shot himself in Highgate Cemetery due to fretting about religious matters and the sect he belonged to. The 30-year-old German, who lived at No 7, Lady Margaret Road had a hairdressers shop and was a member of the Latter House of Israel. They had to let theirhair grow long and also their facial hair.Rommeli wore a hat to hide his long locks, and because of the hot weather, he had trimmed his beard off. These actions seemed to have worried him immensely. This sect had built a tower at Chatham, then their leader died and they seemed to scatter. Today we’d call this a cult.

14/ Caledonian Road, Islington, August 18th, 1885 (Attempted Murder)

Caledonian Road, Islington, August 19th, 1885

Inquiries made at the Great Northern Central Hospital yesterday show that the lad Walter Birchill, who was admitted into that institution on Saturday evening suffering from four severe scalp wounds, which it is alleged had been inflicted by his father, is progressing favourably.

15/ Holloway Gaol Suicide, September 1857

Career criminal George Wardley aged twenty had been in and out of prison most of his teenage years and had just been given another stint in Holloway Gaol for three months. He couldn’t stand it any longer and jumped over the railings on the top landing in B Corridor. He fell headfirst upon the stone floor. He hung on to life for an hour or so then died from his injuries.

16/ St Lukes Gunpowder Suicide, March 1893

Annie Wright, thirty-eight-years of age and living at 106, Central Street, St Luke’s, liked a tipple and had promised to give up the drink many a time. She failed time and time again, so she wanted to commit suicide and end the pain and suffering. Catherine Pearson, a landlady of a public house heard a muffled bang and then someone moaning. She found Wright writhing about on the floor with blood coming from her mouth. She mumbled “I bought some gunpowder, placed it in my mouth, and set it on fire. I want to die”.

She died later on, and it was noticed that the roof of the mouth and throat, and her tongue suffered major damage.

17/ Archway Road, Highgate, November 1894

P.C. Dailey had been called to St Augustines Villa’s, Archway Road in Highgate and was told that the tenant, William Robert Walker had killed himself. The daughter took him upstairs and discovered the body in his bedroom, lying on the floor with a double-barrelled shotgun next to him. His head was entirely blown away by the shots.

18/ Royal Free Hospital Death, June 1899 (Seriously: Two Doctors called Pegg and Legg?)

19/ Bencher’s Hotel, Finsbury, May 1899

Early yesterday morning a fire broke out at Bencher’s Hotel, Finsbury. The outbreak itself was not a serious one, but one of the inmates, Stanley Hunt aged forty-five, took a flying leap from the third-floor window and fell sixty feet upon the pavement below. The bystanders thought he was killed, but he was able to rise from the ground and walk some distance. It was evident, however, that he had suffered internal injuries and he was taken to the hospital. (Did he live?)

20/ Liverpool Road, Islington, September 1884

An elderly woman named Catherine Greenwood, along with her three brothers lived in rooms at a lodging house. She was seen to climb the balcony several floors up and plummet the seventy feet onto the road. The doctor pronounced her dead at the scene. One of the three brother’s had died last week and this preyed upon her mind, and this caused her to jump to her death.

21/ Junction Road Tram Death, Upper Holloway, September 1904

The tragic death of an eleven-year-old girl occurred at Upper Holloway. Beatrice Canepe was on an errand to get some beer for her father when she ran into some horses pulling a tramcar at Junction Road. She was wedged between the brake-block and the back wheel and it took half an hour to get her out. The guard at the front of the tram, meant to prevent such accidents, was raised up slightly, as the tram was going uphill and the passengers were all sat at the rear of the carriage. “Accidental Death”.

22/ Farringdon Street Station Fatality, January 1885

23/ Essex Road, Islington, February 1895 (Miser Dies of Starvation)

An old man name James McDougal, who kept a little tobacconists shop in Essex Road, Islington, was found dead on Monday. He lived by himself and when discovered, his room was in a filthy condition. It is said that several canisters of sovereigns were discovered but not an atom of food. Death is supposed to have been caused by starvation, yet McDougal is supposed to have died worth at least £30,000, with him being the owner of freehold property in the neighbourhood of Islington.

24/ House of Detention Suicide, Clerkenwell, July 1859

A negro named John Bardoehad a history of violent crime and misdemeanours. He had stabbed five men in his criminal past and when detained again, in the House of Detention at Clerkenwell, he strangled himself in his cell. He was inside for attacking and cutting up four men at the Strangers Home on West India Dock Road. He was locked up and checked in at around two in the morning, but they got no reply from him. The warden opened the door and saw him sat there with some torn up clothing around his neck, totally lifeless.

25/ Pentonville Model Prison Suicide, May 1885

An inquest was held at Pentonville Model Prison yesterday on the body of William Moore aged forty-seven, a prisoner who had been sentenced at Lewes Assizes on the 15th ult., to six years penal servitude for feloniously wounding his wife. On Wednesday morning he threw himself from the top landing to the gaol staircase, falling thirty-five feet. He was killed instantaneously. A verdict of suicide whilst temporarily insane was returned.

26/ No.96, Central Street, Old Street, Clerkenwell, March 1898 (Fatal Shooting)

27/ No.43, Holmsdale Road Suicide, Highgate, October 1889

Highgate police were called to 43, Holmsdale Road, by the housekeeper, who had found her master hanging in his bedroom. The deceased was Mr Arthur Richardson who was deaf-mute. She found him hanging from the bedpost. She went to Mr Brooks across the road and he helped her cut him down. Why he did this is unknown, because he had money and had just returned from the Paris Exhibition and had seemed in very good spirits.

28/ Islington Double Suicide, November 1875

Thomas Lewis, a jeweller and his missus, Jessie, were found by the lodger, after a strange suicide pact between the two of them. Jessie Lewis was hanging from the bannister and Thomas had suffocated himself with the fumes from charcoal. A note was found near the bodies, written by Jessie it said: “It is my particular wish that it should be known that I am in the last stage of consumption. It is my particular wish to die in the way I have chosen- Jessie”. The lodgers said he had behaving weirdly recently and that his wife kept mentioning how tired of life she was.

29/ Highbury, April 1885

30/ Goswell Road Parcel Office, January 1883 (Body in a Box)

On the 11th December 1882, an ordinary looking box about two feet long and eighteen inches wide was passed around various offices and shops, then finally forwarded to Goswell Road, then to be sent to its final destination of:

“Miss Green, No 24, Abbey Road, St John’s Wood, N.W.” The delivery driver couldn’t find Miss Green, so took it back to the office where it stayed until a few days later. The usual story of a foul stench emanating from the package and when opened it was found to contain a dead body of a little girl. It was badly decomposed and was taken to the mortuary. A police surgeon declared it to be the body of a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl, she was four feet tall, good-looking and fair-haired, but she rather thin. The girl resembles a girl that disappeared from West Ham some time ago.

31/ Holloway Railway Station Death, December 1900

32/ Colebrook Terrace, Islington November 1851 (Self Mutilation and Burning)

Mrs Dalrymple of 4, Colebrook Terrace in Islington, employed twenty-four-year-old Mary Edwards as a housemaid, but of late she had become down in the dumps and miserable. When questioned about her demeanour, she said “I am a bad girl, and have offended God”, then would rant and rave about religious matters. When she was on her own she would recite passages from the Bible. One day Mrs Dalrymple could smell burning coming from the kitchen, so she ran to see what it was, and saw Mary stood at the fireplace with her right hand having been amputated and then thrown on the fire. It was this that Mrs Dalrymple could smell. She had the remaining stump also in the flames and showed not the slightest ounce of pain. Edwards was dragged away and asked why she did this, she just mumbled some words then passed out. She is at St Bartholomew’s hospital with little chance of recovering.

33/ Clerkenwell Murder, March 1885

34/ Bishopswood Road, Highgate, December 1898 (Dead Infant)

In a garden in Bishopswood Road in Highgate, a child was found strangled to death. It was discovered by Alfred Cogan, under-gardener at Bishopswood House, while he was at work he found a black leather bag near the fence. He opened it and saw the body of a newly-born baby boy. There was a piece of rope around its mouth and a piece of cord around its throat. The tongue of the infant was protruding and the cord had been tied so tightly that it was hidden in the skin. The towel in which he was wrapped had the initials cut out, so it could not be traced back to anyone. The ground where it was found was wet, but the bag itself was bone dry, suggesting it hadn’t been there long at all. (Is Bishopswood House still there?)

35/ City Road Suicide, St Luke’s, July 1863

A singular suicide was committed by Mrs Mary Harrild aged thirty-eight of 23, Galway Street, City Road, St Luke’s. She had been a long time and now had been told she had cancer. Her doctor decided that the only way she wouldpull through this would be if she had an operation to remove the growth. It was at this stage that she lost the plot and one morning asked her husband for a razor. He thought she’d harm herself so took it away with him and left her with another woman, who would keep a close eye on Mrs Harrild. Somehow she got hold of a pair of scissors, with which she stabbed herself in the neck half a dozen times, then stabbed herself in the chest and heart region, puncturing the top of the heart and then finally slitting a vein in her arm. Not surprisingly, she died from haemorrhaging of the wounds.

36/ Myddelton Square Manslaughter, Clerkenwell, November 1903

37/ Swain’s Lane Suicide, Highgate, April 1860

This was just down the road from The Flask and I used to go for walks down here when I had an hour or two off. But in 1860, a group of undertakers were coming back from Highgate Cemetery down Swain’s Lane, when they heard the sound of gunshots. They went to the direction of the reports and came across the body of a man lying in the road, with his head blown away. He had overloaded the pistol with gunpowder and placed it in his mouth, causing a mini explosion rather than firing a bullet. He had no identification upon him, but his shirt collar had “C.Crane No 10” marked on a tag and a card with an address in Chelsea on it. He had gunpowder, bullets, caps, a knife and razor, but not a penny in cash on him, so he clearly was determined to kill himself that day.

38/ Elmore Street (Human Foot Mystery), Islington, June 1869

A package wrapped in brown paper was found in a garden at Elmore Street in Islington, when opened up it was found to contain a human foot, which was enveloped in an Echo newspaper dated February 22nd. A letter was also inside, it read:

“Sunday-My Dearest Lizzie- I have sent the foot by Williams for your disposal; so be secret, as he knows nothing about the contents of the parcel. If you will bury it where we arranged, we shall, I hope, hear no more of it. If we can only get rid of the parts that I have here, it will be a good riddance. My conscience feels so heavy, and I feel so unhappy, that, were it not for your sake, I would, I think, confess everything. You know, were it not for that affair, it would not have happened. We have only one to fear. I need not mention names, as you know too well whom I mean. They say women cannot keep a secret, but I know from experience that that statement is false as far as you are concerned and that anything that would hurt me would never fall from your lips. Be sure and dispose of the contents of the parcel, as soon as you get it, and believe me, dearest lamb, yours sincerely- George”.

Police are investigating the matter and have found out the foot is that of a female.

39/ Charterhouse Square, August 1885 (Human Remains)

40/ New River Double Suicide, Highbury Vale, July 1860 (Lesbians or Best Friends Ever?)

I can’t work out if these two are really good friends or lesbian lovers! Anyway, Ann Page aged seventeen and her best friend in the whole wide world forever and ever, Miss Harding were, as you can gather, inseparable. So much so, that they attempted suicide together, with only Miss Page succeeding, by drowning themselves in the New River at Highbury Vale. Page was from St John Street Road and Miss Harding from Coppice Row and had met at Sunday School three years ago. One night Page had crept out at night to go out, causing her Dad to go looking for her. She came back in the morning when her mother struck her for being out all night at a Tailors Ball at Highbury Barn with another girl. Deceased then went to visit her friend and confidante and told Harding that she had sixpence on her and was going to buy some poison and this she had already mentioned to her mother. They both walked the streets of London for days, neither of them having any money until some kind bloke gave them some cash to buy food with. They lived on the money for a couple of days and then went to the deceased’s sister in Oxford Street to clean themselves up. Harding asked her if she was going to go home and she replied “I never will”, then asked her to commit suicide with her. Miss Harding agreed and they gripped each other’s arms and dived into the New River shouting “Oh, love! love!”.

The jury decided that Miss Page killed herself and Miss Harding would be charged with attempted suicide.

41/ Myddelton Passage, Clerkenwell, October 1897

42/ Swan Public House Murder, (Lily Allen), Caledonian Road, Islington, March 1894

This pub is still there on Caledonian Road, now, I think, the Canal Bar and Restaurant (2016). This is the story of Lily Allen (not that one!) being murdered in the Swan pub in Islington. Lily was the step-daughter of the landlord, Mr F.Hill. One of the servants went up with a pot of tea and entered Lily’s room and found her lying on the floor with her throat cut, and the murderer also lying in another room with his throat slit from ear to ear. Another of the landlord’s daughters had tried to help her out during the stabbing and got stabbed herself. Turns out that Wards, the barman and murderer, rushed into the room and attacked them with a hatchet, then went at Miss Allen’s throat with a razor and then cut his throat when he saw what he had accomplished. Wards had a bit of a crush on Lily, who, the same as the 21st-century version, was a good-looking seventeen-year-old singer. Lily often had to turn away the young man’s advances, as he kept pestering her time after time, but that one night he lost it and went on his mad rampage, killing poor Lily Kate Allen.

43/ The Serpentine, Hyde Park, (Clerkenwell Man’s Death) October 1889

44/ Whitbreads Brewery Suicide, Chiswell Street, St Luke’s, November 1866

Thirty-year-old William Ward worked at the Whitbread brewery as a labourer, but one thing that other workmates noticed about him was his moody temperament. He had been suspended for a few days for swearing at a foreman, but when asked if he would calm down he said he would and was let back into work. He often asked his brother, with whom he lived at 20, Rose Street, St Luke’s, about the best way to kill himself but the brother thought he was kidding and so just laughed it off. One morning at the brewery, Daniel Freeman was working near vat number nineteen, which was full of carbonic acid gas, but no beer. Then he heard a match being struck so he shouted out for them to put it out, but got no reply. He ran to the top of the twenty-seven-foot high vat and found a light burning, with Ward at the bottom. He was completely lifeless, lying at the bottom of the vat. The body was dragged out, and the surgeon found his face contorted and his body swollen, killed by the gas and finally Ward had achieved his aim.

45/ Pentonville Road Suicide, July 1890

46/ Highbury Station Suicide, March 1888

An assistant school-master in Highbury by the name of Francis A.Silverlock, leapt from the platform at Highbury Station, straight onto the train tracks and in front of the Broad Street train. Both legs were severed off and he sustained severe head injuries. He died in Dalston Hospital that evening. A letter to his fiancee was found on him, and it read as follows:

“Dear Ida-I was asked to resign today. Now that means absolute ruin, and I am not prepared for that, and I am afraid I shall do a rash act. After all the years of slavery, I have done it all ends in being dismissed. What can I do without parchment, and with bad reports, how could I get employment anywhere? Now, dear, we have spent many happy years together, and without a cross word; it must not, therefore, be too much of an upset for you when you hear what I have done. Forgive me for causing you misery in leaving you, but I could not drag you along in the world with me in poverty. You know how I have tried, and how I have failed. My conscience is pretty clear that I have lived a pretty good life, and if God will pardon my rash act, I may get to Heaven. I almost feel inclined to desist when I think of you; but I think after a little while, you will think it is better as it is. Keep what I have given you, and do not think harshly of my act-Yours forever, though in the tomb-Frank”.

The second letter was addressed to his parents and it stated that he was given notice to leave, about what to do with the money he had saved up and what good parents they’ve been. It also mentioned the place of his suicide, so he’d planned it already.

47/ Wedmore Street Manslaughter?, September 1906

48/ Leather Lane, Clerkenwell, January 1885 (Fatal Sword Swallowing)

49/ Highbury Corner Omnibus Fatality July 1870

On Friday night a fatal accident happened to Mr J.T. Kershaw, of 90, St Paul’s Road, Canonbury, editor of a well-known handbook on the principle of rating. The deceased was riding on the box seat of a “Favourite” omnibus, and when within a few yards of Highbury corner, from some unexplained cause, he fell into the roadway, and one or two wheels passed over him. When lifted up he was quite dead. Mr Kershaw was a man of the most abstemious habits but was not able to insure his life owing to a bodily deformity. He has left a widow and eight children in dependent circ*mstances.

50/ Holloway Prison Fatality, September 1870

51/ Exmouth Street Fire, September 1870. (No 35 is near the Exmouth Arms pub)

52/ Islington Man Bled to Death, November 1870

53/ Forger Kills Himself (On way to Pentonville Prison) December 1902

54/ Death of a Fireman, Rosebery Avenue. September 1903

55/ Ex-Detective Murders Sister-in-Law, Clerkenwell. October 15th, 1903. (William Taylor Lee Augustus James)

Saturday, November 25th, 1903. Manslaughter by Ex-Detective.

At the Old Bailey, on Saturday, William Taylor Lee Augustus James, aged forty-six, formerly a detective-sergeant of the Metropolitan Police, who was on Friday found guilty of the manslaughter of Miss Pizer, his sister-in-law, by shooting her with a revolver at Clerkenwell, was brought up for sentence. Mr Justice Walton said prisoner went to the deceased’s house full of hatred and malice towards his wife. He did not think that at the time he meant to injure Miss Pizer. The jury has taken a merciful view of the case, for the prisoner fired the revolver with such recklessness that his crime was very little short of wilful murder. The prisoner was sentenced to twenty years’ penal servitude.

56/ Murder of a Son, Willow Street, Finsbury. October 22nd, 1903.

57/ City Road Child Murder, Islington. January 4th, 1904.

Saturday, January 9th, 1904. Child Murder in Islington.

At Worship Street, Adolph Diempich, aged thirty-five, journeyman butcher, was charged on remand with the wilful murder of his son Walter, aged eight months, by cutting his throat with a butcher’s knife, at 295, City Road, on the night of December 31st, 1903. Mr Frayling, from the Office of the Public Prosecutor, now conducted the case for the Treasury. Mr Crocker, solicitor, appeared for the prisoner.

58/ Murder in St Mary’s Workhouse Infirmary, Islington. February 1905

59/ Tramcar Death in Upper Street, Islington. December 1906

60/ Germans’ Sad Suicide Letters, April 1906. (Lodgings at Canonbury Square)

61/ City Banker’s Suicide in Old Street Railway Tunnel, 23rd October 1906.

The body of a gentleman in a mutilated condition was found in the Old Street tunnel on the City and South London Railway on Saturday and was yesterday identified as that of Mr P.Macfadyen, the head of the firm of P.Macfadyen and Co, agents and bankers, Winchester House, Old Broad Street, E.C. On Saturday a notice was posted at the office that the firm was compelled to stop payment.

Wednesday, 24th October 1906.

62/ Fatal Tramcar Accident in Archway Road, Highgate. October 1906

63/ School Mistress’s Suicide Note, Islington. August 1907.

64/ Rich Pauper Dies in Prison, April 1907.

The old man, Joseph Stourton, who lived for some time in Fulham Workhouse, concealing the fact that he was in receipt of a weekly allowance from a life interest in Consols, has died in Pentonville Prison hospital. At the inquest, it was said that when the Guardians on learning the true facts of the case, prosecuted Stourton for obtaining relief by false pretences, he was sentenced at West London, for three months imprisonment. After his release on Saturday week he was found intoxicated, and in default of paying a fine, went to gaol again for a week. He became delirious, and died from ulcerations and Bright’s Disease, accelerated by chronic alcoholism.

65/ Emaciated Man Dies in Workhouse Infirmary. December 1880

66/ Suicide at Frankfort House Coffee Tavern, Goswell Road. December 1880

67/ Old Woman Starves to Death, Spencer Street, Canonbury. December 1880

68/ Tailor Burned to Death. November 1880

Mr Langham held an inquiry at St Batholomew’s Hospital as to the death of Thomas New, sixty-eight, a tailor, living at 54, Bath Street, City Road. On Saturday night he and his daughter were engaged in cutting out some clothes. The daughter left the room for a short time, and during her absence, the deceased was heard to call for help. When she returned she found the room on fire, the deceased lying on the floor enveloped in flames, and a paraffin lamp, which had been hanging in the room, in the fireplace. He was removed to hospital, where he died the next day from the severe burns he received. “Accidental death ” was recorded.

04

Mar

2018

1/ Murder in Sandown of a Wife and Six Children, May 1860

At the inquest on the bodies, no evidence was given with reference to the letter Alleged to have been written to the adjutant.A verdict of”Wilful Murder against Sgt Whitworth who at the time of the murder he was of unsound mind”. Sorry about the quality!

2/ Osborne House Death, Isle of Wight, December 1900

3/ Brading, December 1915 (Murder/Suicide)

4/ Ryde, February 1899

James Hodder, a ticket collector, was found on the railway at Ryde on Monday night, terribly crushed. He died yesterday morning of his injuries.

5/ The Needles Suicide, July 1887

A young lady named Walters, of Hatfield, about 18 years of age, while on her passage from Guernsey on the mail steamer Brittany, killed herself by throwing herself overboard. Walters had been taken to Guernsey for a holiday to get her spirits up, due to her depression. They were on their way back when her mother missed her, and her parasol was discovered near the wheel. Her suicide occurred near The Needles somewhere.

6/ Parkhurst Prison Mutiny, November 1885

7/ Isle of Wight Sinkings, March 1892

8/ Isle of Wight Collision, May 1888 (Smyrna)

9/ Fatal accident at Sandown, August 1885

10/ Osborne House, February 1892 (Suicide of Queen Victoria’s Servant)

A servant who worked at Osborne House, and was employed in the plate pantry, committed suicide by drinking spirits of ammonia. He lingered for a few hours, then the dead man was taken to the sanatorium in the grounds. He was married and had several children but as yet no name has been issued for the deceased. His fellow workers said he was a cheerful and reliable man, and it is understood that Queen Victoria is deeply upset by what has occurred. (Who was he?)

11/ Fatal Boat Accident, Cowes/Portsmouth, May 1866

12/ Isle of Wight Shipwreck, January 1867

13/ Wreck off the Isle of Wight, Bembridge Ledge. March 1867

14/ Attempted Murder in Newport Prison, April 1904.

15/ Officer Found Dead on Niton Rifle Range, Ventnor. June 1906

A verdict of “Accidental Death” at Niton, Isle of Wight, on the inquest on the body of Major Abel Henry Bayley of the 6th Battalion Manchester Regiment. He went to the range for revolver practice, and emptied two revolvers, then laid them down whilst he walked to the target with a third revolver in his hand. While going up the steps to the marker’s pit, he fell and the gun went off, with the bullet entering his chest, near to his heart. He was from Kings Road, Brighton and was staying at the Rectory in Niton, while visiting the area. He was found dead at 9 p.m.

04

Mar

2018

1/ Dublin, (Coffin in Quarry) August 1885

A coffin bearing the words “Giffen aged 45 years” was found in a quarry at Kimmage, Dublin. Inside was the body of a small child, with a cut across its face and blood coming out of the mouth and nostrils. A feeble attempt had been made to bury the coffin.

2/ Dublin, (Four Drown) September 1872

Near the Martello Tower, Sandymount near Dublin, a boat containing four young lads aged between eight & fifteen capsized and unfortunately all four drowned. (No names?)

3/ Bray Head Drownings, September 1885

William Murphy aged twenty-three; Cyril Curtis aged twenty-two and Robert Flynn, only nineteen, hired a pleasure boat to go for a sail around Bray Head. No previous experience was necessary to pilot the craft, then the weather turned and the water’s got a bit choppy and the boat capsized. When no word of the boys came about, the local Dublin Bay fishermen and the tugboat “Flying Scotchman” set off to search for them. Unfortunately, so far nothing has been seen of them, presumably, all three have perished.

4/ County Wicklow Murder, August 1879

5/ Howth and Ireland’s Eye, (Kirwan Murder) November 1882

This place is associated with one of the famous murder mysteries in Irish history. It was in early September in 1852 when William Kirwan went to the island with his wife, Sarah Maria Louisa Kirwan, where she would swim and sunbathe, while he would draw and sketch the surrounding area. It was later on in the day when screams were heard and Sarah Kirwan’s body was found on theother side of the little island, with blood on her face. The first thing you think of is….the husband did it. When he was put on trial for the murder of his missus, the media got hold of the story and lapped it up when they discovered he was having an affair behind her back, with a woman named Teresa Kenny, who he had rented a house for. It also transpired that this had been going on for donkey’s years and with the fact that they had seven kids together! The evidence suggested this is a wife who was epileptic, had a seizure and drowned, with the screams heard over amile away.(I too suffer from epilepsy, and have been told that I let out a horrendous scream when I have a seizure). Kirwan was found guilty and sentenced to death, which was commuted to a life sentence in Spike Island Prison in Cork. After twenty-seven years inside he was let in 1879 and told he would have to leave Ireland straight away. It is believed he was found guilty because of his affair and siring seven children, rather than the supposed murder of his wife.

November 1882 (Skeleton Found)

This little story is another grisly chapter in Irelands Eye history. A gentleman along with his son visited the islandand were walking the beach around it when they stumbled upon a skull, which had pearly white teeth. It was dug up and found to be a whole skeletonand then examined at a post-mortem. There were no signs of violence on the bones and it was thought to be a male in his mid-thirties and had been underground at least a decade or so.

There was a bit of local gossip that told of three men rowing to the island about four years ago, in order to go shooting and that only two were spotted on the return journey. What happened to the third bloke?

6/ County Cork, (Family Killed by Suffocation) December 1878

7/ Wexford, (Fire Suicide) April 1895

Farmer, James White, had been an inmate of a lunatic asylum on a number of occasions but found to be quite well, so then let out and sent home, had lived on a farm with his sister. Last week he locked her out of the house, then the next morning the house was engulfed in flames. When the building was entered, they discovered his charred body and it was deemed to be an act of self-destruction.

8/ Queenstown (Cobh), (Two Soldiers Drown) June 1888

9/ Waterford Storm, January 1890

The coasts of Waterford and Wexford were visited on Saturday night by some of the severest storms experienced for years. A schooner is supposed to have foundered with all hands outside Waterford Harbour and a portion of wreckage was washed ashore on Monday. (Name of the schooner?)

10/ Hacketstown Triple Murder, County Carlow, December 1876

11/ Phoenix Park, Dublin, July 1893 (Amazing Cricket Match)

I realise the rest of the website contains stories of deaths, murder and suicide and even cannibalism and the odd haunted house, but this is so fantastic I thought I’d put it in. I’m a cricket fan anyway and have seen Ben Stokes and Chris Gayle hit their fair share of “sixes”, but a seven? County Kildare Cricket Club were playing Phoenix Cricket Club and Kildare went to bat first and were 114 for 8, but the tail-enders dug in and took the score to 243 for 9. The Kildare captain thought that was enough runs and declared and gave Phoenix just over two hours to get those 243 runs. Phoenix batted like demons and made the 243 in one hour and forty minutes for the loss of two wickets. It left them half an hour or so and with eight wickets in hand, to score one run. Up comes the Kildare bowler by the name of Ross, to pull off cricket history when he took seven wickets for one run (the run was previously conceded). Seven “ducks” in a row on the Phoenix scorecard. But this doesn’t end there, because during the match three Phoenix batsmen scored a “seven”, they were Hamilton, Cox and Jack Meldon. Apparently, Meldon’s uncle copied the feat for Dublin University when he scored a seven, three sixes, two fives and a handful of fours, in an innings of 114.

12/ Waterford Harbour (Drownings) June 1885

On Saturday evening, a melancholy boat accident occurred on the Wexford side of Waterford Harbour. Six young men were in a sailing boat, which, owing to some mismanagement, was capsized. Three of the occupants named: Michael Thomas Broady, John Broady and Patrick Grant, who were unable to swim, were drowned. The other three clung to the capsized boat and were rescued by the crew of a passing schooner.

13/ Killeentierna, (Lightning Death) May 1899

Hugh O’Connor of Killeentiernawas struck by lightning and killed yesterday afternoon while engaged with other men in cutting turf. Afterwards, there was a terrific hailstorm, which caused serious damage to orchards and fruit gardens.

14/ Castleisland (Kerry) June 1899

Two brothers named Boosnanaged nineteen and twelve, the sons of a farmer, were drowned on Sunday evening at Castleisland in County Kerry, whilst bathing.

15/ Waterford Mysterious Murder, November 26th, 1885

Waterford Murder, November 27th, 1885

Waterford Murder, December 23rd, 1885

At the Leinster Winter Assizes on Monday, a boy who was only fourteen-years-old, named McGrath, who stabbed his sister aged eleven, with a penknife at their mother’s residence at Waterford whilst quarrelling, was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to a month’s imprisonment and two years subsequent discipline in a reformatory.

16/ Dublin, (Seducer Attacked at Inquest) May 1878

17/ Cremorgan Woods Suicide, near Timahoe, February 1891

A horrific discovery was made at Cremorgan Woods inTimahoe, when a workman who was employed by Mr Moore, J.P., the property owner, was ambling through the woods when he came across the body of a badly decomposing body which was suspended from a tree. It was identified as thirty-year-old John Egan, who suddenly vanished about ten months ago. Early in April of 1890 Egan had a row with his missus and threatened to kill himself, but then disappeared off the face of the earth. Until now, when his ten-month-old decaying corpse was found swinging from a tree.

18/ Naas Workhouse/ Cavan Asylum Murders, May 1905

19/ Ballindoney Castle Suicide, Tipperary, November 1859

A young servant girl, Mary Meagher, went to dig up some spuds at Coole with a group of others. When they got back they went to a local pub to get drunk. While under the influence of drink, Mary stayed behind with a young fella. When she was at work on Monday she seemed to be depressed and was even having nightmares when she was asleep. She was out one day with a friend of hers, who kept on nagging her about what had happened with Mary and the young fella, when she told her. Then she asked her if someone would die by jumping from the top of Ballindoney Castle, which was about a hundred feet high, but now just a ruin. Mary told her that she could forgive the whole world, except that young man she was with that evening. Presumably, he had molested her or raped her. A couple of days later her mangled body was discovered at the base of the castle, as her previous questioning as to whether someone would die if they leapt off Ballindoney Castle, came true.

20/ Havelock Square, Irishtown, (Accident or Murder?) December 1885

21/ Carlow, (Sister Lives with Brothers Corpse) March 1890

Here’s a newspaper story that is a little bit creepy. It involved a brother and sister named Moore who both lived in Carlow. They both managed to get by, from relatives giving them food and money. The siblings were by all accounts very clever, but the young man hadn’t been seen for quite some time when it turned out that he was, in fact, dead as a dodo. He died a couple of months ago from influenza, but the policeman who was following up on inquiries was told by the sister that he was upstairs in bed. He certainly was, but his decomposed corpse was beyond recognition. The sister was placed in care. Had she kept him because she couldn’t afford a burial? Or was it that she had a mental breakdown and carried on as though he was alive and well?

22/ Limerick, (Eleven Die at Irish Wake) February 1845

A gathering of people at a wake in Change Lane in Limerick was crammed into the room where the body was laid out, when the floor suddenly collapsed and they dropped down to the room below. In a domino effect, that floor also gave way and that floor plus the crowd of mourners were sent to the ground floor. In the rubble and debris, lay the bodies of eleven dead people and around a couple of dozen who are seriously injured, with broken limbs, gashes, head injuries etc. (How many died in this horrendous accident?)

23/ Longford Murder, December 12th, 1885

Longford Murder, December 14th, 1885

At Sligo Assizes on Saturday, John Cronin was found guilty of the murder of Thomas Cronin, his father at Longford and was sentenced to be executed on January 13th.

24/ Spike Island, Cork, (Gunners go Missing) January 1899

On Sunday afternoon four gunners of the Royal Artillery named Brown, Barrett, Friend and Croyan, left Spike Island in Cork Harbour, to spend the evening at Fort Carlisle. At 9-30 p.m. they left in a small boat for the purpose of returning to their quarters. They failed to do so and on Monday their boat was washed up at Corkbeg, with one of the bodies was recovered yesterday afternoon.

25/ Tralee, (Headless Child Found) August 1895

The body of a dead infant was discovered in the house of a marine stores merchant in Tralee. The child was about a week old and had been decapitated. As a result of police inquiries, a servant at the merchant’s residence has been arrested for infanticide.

26/ Queenstown (now Cobh) Harbour, (Fatal Collision) January 1885

27/ Tralee, (Crushed in Machinery) September 1885

A girl named Talbot was attending the drum of a threshing machine on Tuesday, at a place about four miles from Tralee, when her arm caught by the band and torn from its socket. Her hair was also caught and her body was being drawn into the machinery, when the gear was thrown off and she was released. The girl died soon afterwards at the Tralee Infirmary.

28/ Donegal Murder, March 1899

At Cornarvon near Milford in County Donegal, John Williams, aged fifty-five, was found murdered in his house. He was shot through the side and his head was smashed in. Two men have been arrested on suspicion. At the inquest held later, the jury returned an open verdict.

29/ Lough Corrib, County Galway, (Boating Deaths) June 1888

Five men, named respectively Doyle, Dougherty, Ryan, Walsh and Murray, who were engaged in some building work at Oughterard in County Galway, left that place on Sunday to row across Lough Corrib to Cong. By some means, the boat capsized and the three first-named were drowned. Walsh and Murray were afterwards found on the island of Inchagoill, much exhausted.

30/ Millstreet Murder, Co. Cork, June 17th, 1885 (See No.55)

Millstreet Murder, June 25th, 1885

31/ Kilrush Bay, County Clare, (Three Drowned) August 1890

Three children-two sisters named Tarpey and a boy named Creaghen-were collecting shells in Kilrush Bay one Sunday when they were overtaken by the incoming tide and drowned.

32/ Cork Lunatic Asylum Murder, September 1904

At 1-30 a.m. one Wednesday morning there was a disturbance in one the rooms at Cork Lunatic Asylum, which was shared by a couple of inmates of the establishment. Two attendants discovered one of them, by the name of Swanton, was being forced down in his bed by the other. A struggle ensued and when they were broken up, Swanton had blood pouring from a head wound. He was taken to the Infirmary and was found to have a fractured skull. He died shortly afterwards.

33/ Rushbrook Drowning, County Cork, August 1890

At Rushbrook near Queenstown (Now Cobh) early one morning, Mr J.Keeting, the principal teacher of the Male National Schools, was accidentally drowned whilst bathing in front of his house. The sad event was witnessed by his wife.

34/ Sherco*ck Quadruple Murder, County Cavan, February 1898

35/ Annagh near Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, (House Collapse Kills Worker) September 1885

At Annagh near Ballyhaunis, a house occupied by Mr Tyrell whilst undergoing repair, suddenly collapsed, burying a labourer named Waldron who on being extricated was found to be quite dead. Several other persons, including Miss Tyrell, were injured and Mr Tyrell himself had a miraculous escape.

36/ Fermoy, County Cork, (Captain’s Suicide) August 1889

Captain Mansell of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, committed suicide on Tuesday evening by shooting himself with a revolver or air-gun, in his apartments at Fermoy. The circ*mstances in connection with the sad event have not yet been made public. He was about thirty-three years of age and was unmarried.

37/ Campile Bridge Suicide, County Wexford, September 1833

Eleven-year-old Jeremiah Boyse, son of Mr W.Boyse of Saltmills in Wexford, was corrected at school and in a schoolboy frenzy he legged it back home. His father told him to go back to school and followed him part of the way, then when they got to Campile Bridge (Seen it on Google Maps, and is about 7-8 feet high), he jumped into the stream. His dead body was found a short distance away and was handed over to the father.

38/ Garristown Murder/Suicide, County Dublin, January 1885

39/ Kenmare, County Kerry, (Lady/Servant Drown) August 1885

A young lady, the daughter of Mr Brewen who resided near Kenmare, along with a female servant, were drowned in Kenmare Bay on Tuesday. They went to bathe as the tide was ebbing. The servant got beyond depth and Miss Brewen went to her assistance, but both sank in about twelve feet of water.

40/ Ballyhooly, Waterford, July 1885

While some young men were bathing one Sunday at Ballyhooly on the Waterford coast, Michael Keegan swam a considerable distance out was carried away by the current and drowned.

41/ Tralee Murder, December 1872

A woman named Hannah Nolan was charged at Tralee with the murder of her son Patrick aged seventeen.The youth’s body was found in a ditch near his home with a mark of violence on his neck. An inquest was held and the coroner’s jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against persons unknown. The principal witness against the woman was her daughter aged thirteen, who deposed to an altercation between the deceased and the prisoner. The lad disappeared and the prisoner subsequently confessed that she held him by the throat and beat him till he was dead. The case was adjourned for a week. (What happened to the mother?)

42/ Mitchelstown Murder, County Cork, November 24th, 1885

Mitchelstown Murder, November 25th, 1885

Two arrests have been made in connection with the Araglin murder. The prisoners are Thomas and William Parker, brothers, the latter said to be an evicted tenant on the Buckley estate. Further arrests are expected. The body of the murdered man Tobin was found in a boreen (Irish country lane). Several large stones were on the body and other blood-stained stones with which it appears he was attacked, were found close by.

43/ Dundalk Church Murder, November 1894

A woman named Hacken was murdered in St Patrick’s Church in Dundalk, by a lunatic named Roddy. He was insane and killed her in a fit of insanity and he was ordered to be sent to the nearest lunatic asylum. (Is church still there?)

44/ Clones, County Monaghan, (Murder/Dead Infant) March 1904

The little town of Clones is still trying to get over the murder of Joseph Flanagan when a new discovery shed more gloom over the town. A lifeless corpse of an infant was found by a young chap who was at a funeral in the old abbey graveyard. He spotted an apron drenched in blood behind one of the graves and when he told police they found that it was a baby’s body, which had been brutally beaten.

45/ Waterford Harbour, July 1885

Early on Saturday morning, an Austrian barque came into collision with the fishing smack “Sea Foam”, off Waterford Harbour, where the latter was engaged in herring fishing. The smack sank immediately and two of the crew named John Callaghan and Michael McCarthy were drowned.

46/ Bantry Town Murder, April 1899

47/ Shannon Bridge Pitchfork Murder, October 1897

A Parsonstown telegram reports that Kiernan Kenny, farmer aged seventy, who is alleged to have been stabbed with a pitchfork in the Shannon Bridge affray on Friday night, in connection with a right of way dispute, died on Monday evening. His son Patrick, who was stabbed on the same occasion, survivesbut is in a critical condition.

48/ Rush, County Dublin, (Gunpowder on the Fire) June 1856

At Rush in County Dublin, the young daughter of a gamekeeper of Sir Roger Palmer was lighting the kitchen stove, when she found the sticks were a bit damp, so having the bright idea of sprinkling a smidgen of gunpowder on them, just to get the fire going. She shook the gunpowder flask over the twigs and the whole lot exploded, with shards of wood travelling everywhere and with one sticking straight into her heart and the poor lass dying within a few minutes.

49/ Carrick-on-Suir (Tipperary) (Wife Murder) March 1885

50/ Cork, (Dead Infant) May 1870

A package from Bristol arrived at the Chief of Police at Cork. When they undid it, a dead infant was found inside. The parcel was originally sent from cork to Bristol, but on finding what the contents were he sent the decaying corpse back to Cork.

51/ Monaghan,(Two Drown) January 1885

Yesterday an inquest was held on the bodies of two boys who were drowned on Monday in a lake near Monaghan. One of them named Christie had gone down in the water, the ice having broken, whereupon a companion named Gillanders who saw the occurrence endeavoured to pull him out. Unhappily Gillanders was also pulled into the water and both sank. The lake was twenty feet deep at the place and both boys were drowned. A verdict of “Accidental Death” was returned.

52/ Kilfaudeen Murder, (near Kilmacabea/Leap in County Cork) February 1885

53/ Valentia Island, County Kerry, October 1896

Two cable operators from the Anglo-American cable station at Valentia Island, County Kerry, were sailing a small boat one Sunday when they were struck by a squall. George Hutton was drowned; William Thompson was picked up in an exhausted condition.

54/ Dublin Filicide, January 1885

At the Dublin police Court yesterday an old man named McGuiness, a cutler, was remanded on a charge of killing his son whom he stabbed with a knife during a quarrel. The father was also stabbed and had been to the hospital.

55/ Millstreet Murder, August 1885 (See No.30 for the other Millstreet murder of Cashman)

56/ Killarney, (Centenarian Run Over) March 1859

Mary Walsh, who would be a phenomenal age in today’s society let alone Victorian Ireland, managed to get to 111 years of age. She was crawling across the road at night when a man in his horse and waggon saw her and tried to pull his horses up, but it was too late and he ran over the centenarian, with the wheels crushing her frail body.

57/ Hatley Manor Deaths, near Carrick-on-Shannon (Leitrim) July 1885

The roof of the house of Mr Cecil Whyte at Hatley Manor near Carrick-on-Shannonfell in last evening at 6-30 p.m. and killed a baby and its nurse. A second child is missing and is believed also to be killed. Both Mr and Mrs Whyte are away from home. Mr Whyte is a Deputy Lieutenant of the county and is a most influential landed proprietor.

58/ Rathgoul Wife Poisoning, County Limerick, June 1885

59/ Waterford, May 1885

Mr St.George Mathews of the Waterford branch of the National Bank was thrown from his bicycle on Saturday and sustained concussion of the brain. He remained insensible until yesterday morning when death ensued.

60/ Kingstown (Turret Suicide) (Dun Laoghaire) August 1863

Captain Sarturus, formerly of the 11th Hussars and currently suffering from mental problems, managed to escape from his cares and threw himself, while stark naked, off the turret of his home, about forty feet to the ground below. He was unconscious and didn’t die until the following morning. Sarturus had had a serious accident while hunting and sustained terrible head injuries, since then his behaviour was abnormal, to say the least. The family hired a couple of attendants to keep their eye on him but he managed to slip away from them. (Where was his residence in Kingstown?).

61/ Monaghan Murder, December 1872

62/ Saggart Church Suicide, County Dublin, August 1907

Minnie Hunt was a young servant girl who had recently become strange in her manner, then did something really weird to get the villagers attention. Minnie climbed the church tower and locked the door behind her, then sat on the parapet and threatened to jump off if anyone tried to come up and rescue her. The local population looked on in horror as she finally plummeted to the ground killing herself instantly.

63/ Castleisland (Kerry) (Trigger Happy Police) March 1885

The young man Murphy who was recently shot by the accidental discharge of a rifle of one of the police patrol guarding the father’s house at Castleisland, County Kerry, had died of his wound. It is stated that two police constables who entered the house while on patrol duty, have been removed from the force.

64/ Clonboo/Galway Gaol Execution, January 1885

65/ Lyons Castle Suicide, (Kildare) April 1869

The owner of Lyons Castle in County Kildare, Lord Cloncurry, killed himself by plunging from his bedroom window in his residence. He had to have attendants watching him 24/7, but he managed to evade them, then the 53-year-old committed suicide.

66/ Fintona Self Immolation, County Tyrone, August 1893

I don’t think there is a more painful and drawn-out method of suicide than self-immolation. Ann Munnagh decided to kill herself by stripping off her clothes and throwing herself onto a fire at Fintona in Tyrone. Her remains were just a charred corpse, with all of her features burned to a crisp.

67/ Cork Cabbie Murder, April 1899

68/ The Commons, County Donegal, (Mad Father Kills Son) May 1890

At The Commons, Donegal, a young man lay in bed suffering from inflammation of the brain, when his father, named McCormack murdered him in cold blood. The father who is clearly mad, killed him because he thought that an evil spirit was haunting his home.

69/ Ballygar Murder, County Galway, (Family Feud) October 1905

A family argument got out of hand at Ballygar, County Galway, when a father and son were in dispute over some land. They began to fight each other when the sister stepped in and held her brother down, while the father stabbed him with a pitchfork in his head. Both prongs entered the eye sockets and the mother joined in, by smacking him with a heavy stone. The young man lingered for a few days but eventually passed away, while the rest of his family were put in the clink.

70/ Lisdoonvarna, County Clare, (Sisters Drown) September 1885

71/ Clanbrassil Street, Dublin, September 1888 (Haunted House)

A residence in Clanbrassil Street in Dublin has a reputation for being haunted, as a handful of tenants have lived there in the past few months and left after a short tenancy. The landlord was that fed up with the spectral goings-on, that he gave the last tenant a year’s free rent if he stayed the distance, but he failed. The supposed phantom smashes furniture and makes loud noises.

72/ Raphoe, County Donegal, March 1875 (Ghostly Lady)

A tale from Raphoe in County Donegal, suggests that the streets of the place are being walked at night by a tall ghostly figure of a woman who has been seen late at night by several of the local population. Many of them are that frightened by the ghostly apparition, that they choose to stay in at night-time, not daring to venture out. (Was it a hoax?)

73/ Galway Murder, January 14th, 1885

Galway Murder, January 21st, 1885

At Galway yesterday, Thomas Parry was hanged for the murder of a young lady, to whom he was engaged, in August last. The execution had been postponed for a week in order that Parry’s mental condition might be ascertained. Two medical gentlemen engaged by the Lord Lieutenant found the convict to be sane; but in a confession written on Monday night, he asserted that his mind was “not right” when he shot the young lady. Berry was the executioner.

74/ Rhebogue Wedding Suicide, Limerick, September 1876

A suicide at a wedding is the one place I thought that I’d never read about, but this fella put me right. A father by the name of Lawlor was celebrating his daughter’s marriage to Mr Hogan, a farmer and they were having a knees-up at Lawlor’s house. Somebody ventured upstairs and found the sixty-year-old hanging from a rafter in a bedroom. He had stood on a basket, made a noose with his braces and attached to the beam, then kicked away the basket, leaving himself suspended. The only possible reason for this was the giving of his daughter, a £100 and some land and was regretting his decision, so he thought that suicide on her wedding day would solve it!

75/ Glin (Waterford) (Could be The Glen?) July 1885

Mr Burke a farmer, residing at Glin in County Waterford, while shooting rabbits on Friday night incautiously drew his gun by the muzzle out of some furze in which he had placed it for a few minutes. The trigger catching on a twig caused the gun to go off and the contents entered Mr Burke’s body, killing him instantly.

76/ Queenstown (Now Cobh) (Divers Fatal Accident) September 1885

77/ Dungarvan, County Waterford, (Put Child on Fire) January 1885

A woman named Farrel, an inmate of Dungarvan Workhouse, was brought before magistrates on Saturday charged with being a dangerous lunatic. In the absence of sufficient proof of lunacy, the magistrates refused to grant an order for her committal to the asylum. On returning to the workhouse she became very violent, threw her child on the fire and held it there. When rescued the child was fearfully burnt. The woman was subsequently removed to Waterford Asylum.

78/ Kingstown Harbour Drowning (Dun Laoghaire) November 1896

On Sunday evening Christopher Gallagher, a night watchman, was accidentally drowned in Kingstown Harbour while attempting to board a dredger. He was one of the crew of the second lifeboat which attempted to rescue the crew of the shipwrecked vessel “Palmer” last Christmas Eve and the other day had been presented with a reward of £30.

79/ Listowel Wife Murder, County Kerry, July 9th, 1885

Listowel Wife Murder, County Kerry, July 13th, 1885

80/ Clonbrook, County Laois, (Husband Murder) January 1903

Mary Daly was hanged in Tullamore Prison on Friday morning in connection with the murder of her husband in Clonbrook, Queen’s County, in June. The woman’s accomplice was executed for his share in the crime on Wednesday.

81/ Faithlegg, County Waterford, (Victorian Football Violence) October 1889

A quarrel arose on Sunday night amongst a party of young men returning from a football match at Faithlegg in Waterford. One named John Lynch, stabbed Michael Hanlon severely in the abdomen, causing a portion of his intestines to protrude. His depositions have been taken. Lynch was arrested on Monday after a long search.

82/ Cloneen, Tipperary, March 1895 (Exorcising a Witch)

This just goes to prove that Ireland was still a very superstitious nation in the late 19th/early 20th century, ancient beliefs still rang true in more backward parts of Ireland. The story of this woman in Cloneen in Tipperary is a horrific one. A man named Clery, who was a cooper (barrel-maker) in Cloneen, was charged with the death of his wife and several others were charged with aiding and abetting the crime. His missus had a bout of influenza, instead, they believed a witch had possessed her and was given a herbal concoction and then put on top of a fire. Her intestines fell out when the stomach was burnt through, plus numerous other injuries. When she died of her “roasting”, they dumped her body in a ditch and that’s where she was discovered by police.

83/ Bandon Rail Deaths, County Cork, March 19th, 1885

Bandon Railway Deaths, County Cork, March 20th, 1885

84/ Borris, County Carlow, (Rotten Corpses in Well) February 1894

A shocking discovery was made in a well on an empty farmhouse at Borris in County Carlow. A sack was spotted on the surface of the water in the well and when checked they found the decaying remains of a man and a woman. They were so decomposed that identification was impossible. The house near where they were discovered was an “evicted farmstead” and no persons have been reported missing in this area. (Did they ever discover who they were?)

85/ Tramore, Waterford, (Shipwreck) February 1885

The brigantine Camellia of Cork, was on Saturday driven into Tramore Bay by the storm and endeavoured to cast anchor under Bromstorm Head, but her masts were carried away and she drifted towards land. The Tramore lifeboat went out and made several attempts to rescue the crew, but was unable to reach her. The vessel drifted ashore and became a total wreck. The crew, nine in number were all lost.

86/ Dublin Suicide, (Letter Left) May 1891

87/ Lough Mask Murder Victims, County Mayo, October 1882

The corpses of two bailiffs named Huddy who were discovered in Lough Mask chained together and dumped there by the killers, were given a proper burial by the authorities in a churchyard. To their horror, the perpetrators of this horrendous crime have dug up the two bodies with help from locals and dumped them back in Lough Mask. They have broadcast the fact they did this as well, by stating-“The people say we killed them, and we will put them wherever we want, and in the lake, they will stay”.

88/ Holly Brook House Drowning, County Sligo, August 1889

A sad fatality occurred at Holly Brook House in Sligo, the residence of Colonel Ffolliott, D.L. His youngest daughter named Anna aged twenty-three, left the house about noon for the purpose of gathering some water-lilies which were growing on the borders of a small lake within the demesne. While doing so she overbalanced herself and fell into the lake and was drowned.

89/ Moate Murder, Westmeath, February 16th, 1885

A brutal murder was committed on Saturday night near Moate in Westmeath. A farmer named Peter Kelly was waylaid and fatally beaten, his head being completely battered in. The crime is attributed to an agrarian dispute.

Moate Murder, Westmeath, February 1885

90/ Detective Police Station Suicide, Dublin, March 1875

Normally when you see that a suicide was committed in a police station, it’s usually a prisoner in the cells, but to have a Detective Officer do it, well that’s another thing. John Cooke of the Dublin Metropolitan Police killed himself in the main police station in Dublin (Which is where?). It was premeditated as he written letters to friends and family explaining what he intended to do and why. It stems from when he gave evidence in the Fenian conspiracy in 1866 and he was assaulted and got a good kicking for doing so. The head injuries took there effect on him and since then have never been quite right.

91/ Ballyknock Matricide, County Kilkenny, July 1890

The magisterial investigation was opened on Monday into the charge against Edmund Hart of Ballyknock in County Kilkenny, who so brutally murdered and mutilated his mother on Thursday last. The prisoner who was brought into court handcuffed bore traces of the attempts which he made in his cell to commit suicide. He confessed to a warder that he first smothered his mother and then cut her up. The inquiry was adjourned and the prisoner removed to Kilkenny Gaol, being bound to the car in order to prevent him from using violence.

92/ Waterford Fatal Fight, July 14th, 1885 (Sorry, a piece missing, the paper was flimsy)

Waterford Murder, July 15th, 1885

93/ Maynooth, County Kildare, (Siblings Die in Pond) December 1885

Yesterday, Robert and Maria Walsh, brother and sister, aged sixteen and seventeen, the children of a gentleman residing near Maynooth in County Kildare, were drowned while skating on a pond near their residence, through the breaking of the ice.

94/ Dunmore, County Galway, (Accidental Shooting) November 1885

At Dunmore in County Galway on Monday, while a herd named McLoughlin was out of his house for a few minutes, his son, a boy of eleven years of age, took up a loaded gun and pointing it at his father as he was entering the house, accidentally pulled the trigger and killed him on the spot.

95/ Killarney Murder, December 1885

An inquest was held at Killarney on the body of Jeremiah Rahilly, who was murdered on Sunday afternoon within a quarter of a mile of the town. An open verdict was returned. Daniel Shea, Patrick Whetstone and Daniel Sheehan, the latter the son of the tenant evicted from the farm upon which Rahilly was acting as caretaker, have been arrested on suspicion.

96/ Passage West Murder, County Cork, October 1896

97/ Drumhill Manslaughter? Manorcunningham, County Donegal, July 1895

At an inquest held on Monday at Drumehill, Manorcunningham on the body of James Orr, the medical evidence showed that death was caused by one of two incised wounds on the breast, penetrating the heart. At the magisterial investigation subsequently, witnesses stated that Orr and a man named Sheerin, fought together on Saturday and that they fell and were separated. Sheerin returned and renewed the fight, in which Orr received the wounds. The prisoner Sheerin was sent for trial to the Winter Assizes on the charge of murder.

98/ Cape Clear, County Cork, (Seven Drowned) October 1885

Seven fishermen belonging to Long Island near Schull in West Cork were drowned off Cape Clear on Tuesday night. It appears that a fleet of open fishing boats with long sails proceeded on Tuesday night to sea, for the purpose of line fishing. During the night a heavy gale set in and most of the fleet ran for shelter. One boat remained behind and when she failed to turn up the following morning, a search was made and she was found bottom up. There was no trace of the occupants whose names were:- Wholley (three), Sullivan (two), Regan and Jones.

99/ Derrydonnelly Murder near Athenry,(Galway) August 1885

100/ Balls Bridge Suicide, Dublin, December 1908

A body was found in the River Dodder near Balls Bridge in Dublin. It was identified as a previous suicide tryer, Adelaide Earles, who tried to kill herself by throwing herself from some rocks at Howth (See Ireland’s Eye postcard) in mid-November. A tragic mishap occurred in that effort because he sister-in-law Mrs Lloyd tried to stop her from jumping and in the scuffle she fell over the cliff and was killed. Adelaide was put in an asylum but she escaped on Christmas Eve. It is thought that her previous insanity, plus what happened at Howth, made her even more determined to kill herself.

101/ Lixnaw Murderers Execution, Kerry, May 1888

102/ Star Music Hall Stage Death, Dublin, March 1882

An inquest was held into the death of Artois, a trapeze artist who was killed at the Star Music Hall during his “leap for life” stunt. Artois had put all the apparatus together himself, so the music hall proprietor, Mr Lowrey was totally blameless in this case. He also had a safety net with him but refused to use it. The artist’s real name was James Lilly and he left a wife and three kids. Although the music hall closed and has remained so until the inquest was over, they intend to hold a benefit performance in aid of Artois’s family. (What went wrong in the “leap for life”?).

103/ Cloonshanagh Fratricide, County Roscommon, December 1885

104/ Bowdy’s Lane, Limerick, July 1883 (Four Children Found Dead)

Street scavengers while picking around in Bowdy’s Lane, a passage leading from Thomas Street to Roches Street, came across the bodies of four little kids under the pile of ashes and debris. When found, they were in a pool of water, picked out by some watchmen and at first, it was thought to be the corpse of three children but on closer medical inspection it proved to be four. Two were entire and the other two were only segments and body parts. Three of them were at maturity and were believed to have been born alive, while the fourth was approximately six or seven months old. Time of death was around six months ago and police are treating this most seriously and are trying to obtain clues as to their identity or parentage.

105/ Harold’s Cross Murder, Dublin, May 1885

106/ Dublin Romantic Suicide Pact, August 1867

This is a tale of a “romantic suicide” if there is such a thing. It starts when a group of men heard a splash in the water as they were walking near Ormond Quay near to the Metal Bridge. As none of them could swim they ran to Carlisle Bridge and told the boatmen to go and see what was the matter. They rowed out to the spot and found the bodies of a man and a woman tied together with a black handkerchief, which was wound around her neck and underneath his arms, so that she rested on his chest, in a sort of last loving embrace. They were taken to Hospital but both of them were dead. He was identified as Henry Hartshorn aged twenty-seven and of the 69th Regiment, while she was Amelia Oldham, whose husband was also in the 69th Regiment but from whom she was separated. It turns out that this pair had been seeing quite a lot of each other recently and the 69th Regimentwas due to go to Canada as part of their operations. This obviously meant that the two would be apart from each other for ages, so they formed a suicide pact and jumped into the river together. Another little romantic touch was that when the autopsy was being done on Amelia, they found a tattoo with the word “Harry” inscribed on her arm.

107/ Waterford, (Arsonist Causes Death) May 1885

The Lismore Presentment Sessions- The house of a man named Barrett was burnt down last March and Barrett himself was burnt to death, after fighting his way through the flames and with the aid of his wife, rescuing one by one his five young children. The fire was believed to have been caused maliciously- the family having been threatened- and to this theory was accepted by the Court, who now awarded Mrs Barrett £60 compensation.

108/ Lough Derg Fatalities, County Donegal, (N.Ireland border) August 1885

109/ Clonmel Lunatic Asylum Murder, County Tipperary, June 1833

An inmate from Clonmel Lunatic Asylum killed a fellow patient by beating him to death with an iron bar which he managed to get from his bedstead. Then he took out a knife and proceeded to chop him to bits, then placing those flesh fragments against the door frame. The attendant, who next morning found the door shut, asked the inmate to open up but he wouldn’t. He then coaxed him into putting his hand through an open window to get some drink and when he did, they grabbed hold of him, then managed to force open the door. On entering they found the remnants of the other patient and the perpetrator was immediately put into a solitary cell.

110/ Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire), County Dublin, (Tourists Vanish) April 1885

111/ Cahir Murder, County Tipperary, January 1898

A man’s body was found with his throat slit complete with some serious head injuries, on a cricket ground near to an officer’s mess in Cahir in Tipperary. He was trooper Goodwin of the 8th Hussars and he Major Wood’s servant and he hailed from Grimsby in Lincolnshire and was twenty-one-years-old. It was ascertained that he had been murdered elsewhere in the barracks, then was dragged or carried to the place where his body was discovered. In a coal cellar, there was a broken up rifle and a shovel doused in blood spatter. Goodwin had saved some money, in readiness for a trip back to his home-town and it is believed that robbery was the motive. Two other officer’s servants were arrested during that day on suspicion of murdering Goodwin.

112/ Royal Infirmary Poisoning, Dublin, February 1898

113/ Daily Express Building Corpse, Dublin, December 1891

The lifeless corpse of an unknown man who was about twenty-five, with black hair and beard but no moustache and with a front tooth missing, wearing an old coat and trousers, but no shirt or hat and only one boot on, was discovered in an old lumber-room by the caretaker of the “Daily Express” building in Dublin. He was looking for some papers when he spotted the tweed vest lying on the floor. He lit a match and there was the body. Nobody at the offices has ever seen the man before. (Was he a burglar? Suicide?)

114/ Blackhall Murder, County Wexford, September 1885

115/ Wicklow Infanticide, March 1885

116/ Clonmel Military Barracks Suicides (Tipperary) May 1850

William Williams, a soldier in the 74th Highlanders from Sligo, shot himself in the temple blowing his brains out, at the Military Barracks in Clonmel in County Tipperary. Barely had the suicide of Williams been sorted out than another soldier shot himself in the head and killed himself outright. This was a Scottish man named Duncan Love who was also in the 74th Highlanders and was a tailor back in Scotland. With the two men not knowing each other, there is an added mystery as to why two soldiers would commit suicide within a few hours of other?

117/ Cork/Wexford Death Sentences, March 1892

118/ Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire), (Lady Ribton Fatal Accident) January 1885

119/ Tully Wife Murder, County Offaly, June 1885

120/ Galway Murder Case, December 1885

121/ County Waterford Murder, April 1885

122/ Woodlawn Murder, County Galway, August 1885

123/ Ballyleary, Cobh, County Cork, (Hunting Death) March 1899

Whilst hunting yesterday with the United Hunt Club hounds at Ballyleary, Mr David Moore of Midleton in County Cork aged twenty-six, was thrown from the saddle and injured so severely that he died soon afterwards. His horse bolted when called upon to take a fence.

04

Mar

2018

1/ Fatal Accident at the Royal Brewery, Brentford, August 1855

A fatal accident occurred at the Royal Brewery in Brentford when a chunk of the wall fell on half a dozen children playing in an alleyway which runs down to the Thames. Two of them died at the scene, the third one who was buried under rubble managed to escape unhurt. The arches had recently been built but gave way for some reason.

2/ Hounslow, May 1908 (Babies Bodies)

The bodies of two kids have been found in the back garden of someone’s house. Police have arrested somebody on suspicion of the child murders, but altogether three have been detained. Next to the youngsters was the corpse of a dog. (What was the address?)

3/ Hatton Road, Bedfont, August 1892 (Cruelty to a Cripple)

4/ Chiswick Railway Fatality, June 1891 (Nine Elms is Battersea Power Station area)

On a South-Western train arriving at Nine Elms on Tuesday morning, it was found that the brakesman, John Ridden, was missing. A light engine was immediately sent along the line in search of him, and at Chiswick, his body was found cut to pieces.

5/ Death at Isleworth Station, July 1889

6/ Body Found at Linden Gardens, Chiswick, January 1890

7/ Isleworth Baby Farm, October 1896

8/ Ashford (Family Suicide) January 1845

At Ashford near Staines, William Oliver and his wife and family lived in a tiny cottage by the road. The wife sold matches to make ends meet, the three kids were regularly seen begging for food or money and they got relief from the parish. The husband and wife were found one morning laid on the bed, she was naked lying face down and he was partially dressed and laid on top of her. A quick glance showed you the poverty they were in. The kids dressed in rags, a saucepan with a few pieces of coal in it. A police search revealed a piece of paper with some arsenic in it. There was a piece of bread and some old bacon bits, which were eaten by the parents but not the children. One of the son’s, William, said he father had asked them to eat the food, but he refused. The idea was to kill the entire family as well as themselves, but the children pulled through and are now in the care of the Union House.

9/ Chiswick, (Attempted Double Murder/Suicide) January 3rd, 1885

10/ Chiswick, February 5th, 1885

11/ Hounslow, June 1875 (Servants Suicide)

Harriet Parker, the 25-year-old domestic servant at the Reverend J.Hall’s, Vicar of Spring Grove Church’s residence hung herself in her room and left this sad note to her fellow workmate, Sarah Lock. It reads as follows:

“Sarah Lock. Dear Sarah, Do not look for me, by the time you read this I shall be no more in this world; but tell my mother and father not to trouble about me. This is my last wish, and they are not to think that I am not in my right mind, for I have no mind at all. I am without a spark of faith or love to God, so I cannot live. I am sure it may be said of me, as it was said of Judas “It was better for me if I had never been born”, so I may as well be the devil’s in death, for I cannot be in this life. Now, Goodbye. All I can say to you is this-hold fast to Christ in a prayer, for if I had done that and not doubted, it should never have come to this. A fortnight ago I could say “Lord I am thine”. (Across the letter was written-“I am in the well in the brickfield”)

Sarah Lock was the housemaid to the Reverend, and Parker was the cook. She was found hanging by a rope, with the note on the bedside table, neatly laid out.

12/ Isleworth Baby Farming, July 13th 1870 (see No.7 for Baby Farming story)

July 20th, 1870 Baby Farming Verdict, Isleworth.

13/104-year-old Widow Passes Away, December 1870 (104-year-old in 1870 is the oldest I’ve ever heard of!)

14/ Isleworth Child Murder, October 1870 (The actual name for the murder of a newly born child is neonaticide)

15/ Isleworth Woman Burnt to Death, November 1870

16/ Fatal Accident near Hounslow High Street, November 1903.

17/ Attempted Murder/Suicide, Hanworth. April 1904

18/ Sister Prevents Sibling from Poisoning Parents, Brentford. December 1904.

04

Mar

2018

Holland and Boston consist of the towns of : Boston, Holbeach, Crowland, Donington, Long Sutton and Spalding.

1/ Spalding Church Suicide, April 1850

Mr Bailey, the parish clerk of Spalding, was found hanging by a handkerchief from a peg in the wall. The verdict was one of “Temporary Insanity” and there is now gossip circulating the town that the church would be re-consecrated before Divine service could be performed again. (What church was the suicide in?)

2/ Boston Cottage Hospital Suicide, September 1883

On a Saturday morning at the Boston Cottage Hospital, a 48-year-old Dock labourer John Nicholls was found hanging from a strap, suspended from an iron railing directly in front of the premises. He had been drinking heavily and his wife found the body.

3/ River Witham Drowning, near Boston, September 1909

Richard Coupland was drowned in the River Witham near Boston, when he went out with two other blokes from Sheffield and another from Boston and went for a sail up the river. They weren’t far out of Boston when the boat capsized, after a gust of wind tipped it over and they were all thrown into the water. The other three were rescued but Coupland drowned.

4/ Spalding Burning Fatality, November 1885

At Spalding, a man named William Kirchin was remanded with the murder of his stepdaughter, Harriet Hoe aged nineteen, by throwing a paraffin lamp at her. The girl’s clothing was set on fire. She was so terribly injured that she died two days later.

5/ Corporation Baths, Boston, (Man Drowned) July 1889

6/ Near Boston (Parish with No Name) November 1885

A farmer’s son named Cox was up in front of the Petty Sessions at Boston charged with assaulting his father. He was fined £5 and bound over to keep the peace for three months. Not very interesting so far! During the case, it was known that the son and father lived together, in a parish which had no name. It is two miles from Sutterton, two miles from Wigtoft, two and a half miles from Swineshead and two and a half miles from Quadring, but owned by none of the above-mentioned parishes. To be fair, there wasn’t a great deal there that anybody would be clamouring for. A pot-holed road of half a mile, with the father and son who despised each other, as the only residents. They also pay no local rates. (Where the hell is this place, in the middle of nowhere?)

7/ Spalding Love Story, January 1897

Around fifty years ago, a Spalding man left his wife and son and went to America. That’s one nasty bugger if ever there was one. It gets worse. The mother and son had to go to the Workhouse and were there for a few years. The mother met someone, then got married again, but he soon died and she was back in the Workhouse again. Let us travel to the U.S.A. and find out what the husband is doing! He was married three times and three times he buried each of his wives. He then walked up the aisle for a fifth go at marriage, this time in Manchester in England. This missus found out about the living wife in Spalding and then walked out on him. The man thought about his wife in Spalding and went back and saw her, then rekindled his love for her and he asked her to come and live with him and to leave the dreary Workhouse. Most women would have told him to shove it, but they now live together. The husband is eighty and the wife, a sprightly seventy-five.

8/ Boston Ice Company, Boston, (Mangled to Death) September 1896

A 24-year-old engineer named Palmer had a nasty accident while working some machinery, at the Boston Ice Company’s factory. His clothes became entangled and he was dragged into the cogs and workings. When eventually pulled out he was badly mangled. The poor chap died within minutes.

9/ Fulney House Butler Suicide, near Spalding, August 1886

10/ Holbeach, Lightning Death, July 1897

A young boy by the name of Herbert Marshall was struck by lightning and instantly killed when a passing thunderstorm was over Holbeach one evening.

11/ Holbeach Lightning Death, August 1894

Another lightning strike in Holbeach, but this was three years earlier. Two men, John Barsby and Richard Barney, were out harvesting in a hay-field at Holbeach when lightning struck the pair of them and again resulted in death on the spot.

12/ Holbeach Clough Manslaughter, February 1870

A horrific accident happened at Holbeach Clough, when a labourer named Peasgood had been out in the morning looking for work, but came home with nothing to show for his efforts. In the corner of the room was a loaded rifle, which he grabbed hold of then blew his wife away, purely by accident. It was proved to be just a careless act of a weary man. He was arrested and will be indicted for manslaughter.

13/ Holbeach Murder, November 1863

Holbeach Murder, (Sentence) March 1864

John Franks aged twenty-nine, a labourer, was indicted for the wilful murder of Thomas Bloom at Holbeach on October 29th, 1863; and was further charged with killing and slaying the said Thomas Bloom. The bill for murder was ignored by the grand jury and the prisoner pleaded guilty to the minor charge of manslaughter. The death of the deceased arose out of a quarrel at a pub and in the scuffle, the murdered man received seven stab wounds, one of which let out a portion of his intestines. Sentenced to twenty years penal servitude.

14/ Holbeach Preacher Death, August 1889

15/ Spalding Station, May 1901 (Two Strange Characters)

One of the two people who is regularly spotted at Spalding Station, is an old lady who wanders up and down the platform waiting for her son to arrive at Spalding. Her son died at sea several years since, but obviously, something in her brain clicked and she goes there, come rain or shine, to greet him home, maybe three or four times a day. The other person is a giant fellow, slightly retarded, who firmly believes that he is a policeman who is on special duty.

16/ Great Northern Goods Station, Boston, April 1900 (Human Remains)

The arm bone and hand of a human were seen sticking out a sack at the Great Northern Goods Station in Boston. Police were immediately called upon and when they searched the sack it was found to contain several skulls and dozens of human bones. They were in fact taken to a marine store dealer, after the sale of a local doctor’s effects and they were being transported with animal bones to a medicine works at Newark, to be converted into bone manure. The authorities demanded that the human remains be given a decent burial.

17/ River Welland, Spalding, (Man’s Head Discovered) February 1882

A couple of workmen were dredging the River Welland near Little London, when they brought up the head of a man. The post-mortem showed that it was the head of an elderly man, with the brain in an amazing condition considering where it had been. He also stated that it had been in the water for a very long time. Police are looking into the mysterious affair.

(Does anyone know who the head belonged to?/ Was he a murder victim?)

18/ Stanbow Lane Suicide? Boston, February 1955

19/ Wrangle Fatal Fire, January 1894

Three people died in a fire at Wrangle. An old couple by the name of Collins and their imbecile son, all burned to death. Their cottage was a mass of flames, with nobody seeing the inferno in the snowstorm, is slightly surprising, until it was all too late.

20/ Fleet (near Holbeach) August 1910 (Suicide Replica)

Sixty-one-year-old, Mrs Josephine Ann Hilliam, a well-respected family in the county of Lincolnshire, killed herself in a summer-house by hanging. Probably not a coincidence, but a deliberate act on her part to mirror exactly what her husband did six months ago. His suicide had haunted her these past few months and she threatened suicide on several occasions. The daughter found the body.

21/ Frampton West, August 1901 (Killed by Traction Engine)

Frampton West near Boston was a scene of horror when Joseph Dawson’s traction engine was making it’s way to a farm to aid in the threshing process. 60-year-old Daniel Hubbard from Boston, who was the guy in front with a flag warning people of its presence, when he tripped and fell in front of the behemoth. It squashed him like a fly and death was instantaneous.

22/ Algakirk Station Death, August 1884

The gatekeeper of Algakirk Station, a chap named Childs, was killed by an excursion train at the said station on Saturday.

23/ Algakirk Manslaughter December 1866

24/ Crowland Child Murder, May 1871

A well-respected member of the parish of Crowland, a married woman named Beale, who was a mother of nine, killed little two-year-old Fanny Beale by decapitating it with a razor while she slept in her cot. Apparently, she has been showing signs of a mental breakdown recently. Her husband had gone to Peterborough market and she wafted the other kids out of the house and told them to go and play in the field at the rear of their house. The eldest of her children, a thirteen-year-old girl thought something was amiss and stayed in the kitchen, but didn’t hear a scream or crying. Mrs Beale has been arrested.

25/ Sutterton Suicide, June 1916

A twenty-five-year-old farmer named Charles was discovered in a ditch on his farm at Sutterton, with his throat slashed from ear to ear. It was his two sisters that found the corpse, while they were out for a stroll. Charles was fearful of getting called up for service and didn’t want to go to fight the Germans. He thought the best way out was suicide.

26/ Sutterton, May 1913 (Fatal Car Accident)

A young lady named Alice Barnes was killed in a collision with a car at Sutterton while she was riding her bicycle. Her boyfriend was driving the car and she was holding on to it while it was moving, when he swerved at a corner and she fell into the vehicle’s path. Miss Barnes lingered a while, but she expired soon afterwards.

27/ Pinchbeck Child Murder, July 1875

28/ Fishtoft, November 1860 (Vicar’s Fatal Accident)

Reverend.H.Holdsworth, the rector of Fishtoft and chairman of the Boston Sessions, was thrown out of his cart when proceeding to Boston on the 7th November. His arm was broken and it was found necessary to amputate it above the part broken. Morphine was administered after the operation at about eleven o’clock the same night, but the Reverend expired before three a.m. the following morning.

29/ Dawsmere, (Near Holbeach) (Child Shot) May 1889

A group of lads were playing in the house of Mr Ball,when an argument erupted. Mr Ball’s son, who is about ten-years-old, grabbed a gun out of the kitchen and tried to shoot it at one of the boys. There was no cap on it, so it did not fire and the lad ran off. He managed to find such a cap, then pointed it at eight-year-old Ray Scuffham and blew his shoulder away. He fell unconscious to the floor and hopes of him pulling through are virtually zero. (Did he die?)

30/ Carrington Churchyard (Near Boston) May 1828 (Family Deaths)

The following burials have taken place at tiny Carrington churchyard near Boston; Ann Pinchbeck aged twenty, who had just got married in the chapel the week before her funeral; Thomas Webb aged thirty-one, her brother; and finally, his wife, twenty-five-year-old Susan Webb.

The husband and wife had died within eight days of each other.

31/ Stickney, (Frightful Death) June 1862

32/ Gosberton Suicide, February 1877

Samuel Everard, a well respected agriculturist from Gosberton, killed himself by shooting himself in the head with a pistol. Mr Everard was a wealthy bachelor and considerable landowner in most of the surrounding parishes. The seventy-five-year-old literally blew his head in half.

33/ “Waggon and Horses” Murder? Kirton Holme (Boston) September 1877

Mrs Bee, the landlady of the “Waggon and Horses” pub in Kirton Holme near Boston, was seen by an opportunist criminal, observing that she was on her own, seized hold of the poker and smashed her over the head and then took off with £15. The perpetrator has not been apprehended and Mrs Bee was discovered unconscious. Such was the ferocity of the attack, that her life is despaired of.

34/ Quadring Poisoning, October 1916

A fatal accident occurred at Quadring, which lies between Spalding and Boston. Youngster John Ackland had been playing with an empty medicine bottle when he very suddenly became extremely ill. He only lasted a few minutes, then breathed his last. The bottle he was messing about with had contained belladonna.

35/ Quadring Bank Suicide, December 1894

The corpse of teenager Henry Garner was discovered at Quadring Bank, south-west of Quadring. The fourteen-year-old lad had for reasons unknown, hanged himself in some stables.

36/ Benington Suicide (Boston) March 1863

37/ Surfleet Iron Bridge Fatality, September 1884

At Spalding, a man named John Andrews, who was over seventy years of age, died from injuries sustained on the previous day. He was a resident at Spalding and had been assisting at some works in connection with the erection of a new iron bridge at Surfleet. While engaged in winding up a crane which was raising a heavy girder, some of them let go of the handle and deceased being unable to control it, the handle flew round with terrific force, striking him on the head. Andrews’ skull was fractured very badly and he died on Wednesday at Spalding Hospital.

38/ Skirbeck Double Murder, (Boston) June 1900

A bloke with the superb name of Sheriff Taylor aged thirty-two, who was a farmer residing at Washdyke House in Skirbeck, entered his home and started an argument with his missus. He completely lost it and seized a shotgun, then proceeded to blow away his wife and their three-year-old daughter. The features of the victims were barely recognisable by the horrific wounds they suffered. Taylor was a parish constable and had served on Skirbeck Council and was a well-liked member of the community.

39/ Near Gosberton Ice Fatalities, January 1887

A crowd of young people went skating one Tuesday on the Quadring Old Brick-pits near to Gosberton. Two boys, who remained on the ice longer than others, fell into the water and were drowned. They had approached a spot where the ice was not hardened and were immersed. The water was about twenty feet deep and such was the danger attending any attempt at rescue, that no assistance could be rendered. Both the boys, named Quince and Ludlow, aged thirteen and fourteen respectively, were taken out lifeless. The accident occurred at two p.m. and around this time several other lads were immersed in the waters, but no other fatalities were reported.

40/ Whaplode Fen Death, January 1916

41/ Sutton St James Drownings, February 1891

Two children of a labourer named Bradley were discovered one Sunday, lying dead in a drain at Sutton St James, having evidently fallen in while sliding on the ice.

42/ Near Boston Fatal Shooting, August 1917

An old gentleman by the name of John Wilson was shot accidentally and a young boy was wounded, on a farm near Boston. A lad was working at the farm, was sent by Wilson to get his gun. On his way back the lad met some of the other farm workers, and unaware that it was loaded he slung it over his shoulder, at the same time pulling the trigger and hitting Wilson in the face, killing him on the spot. A boy was also wounded and he was rushed off to hospital.

43/ Holbeach/Pinchbeck Drownings, October 1886

On Saturday a child named Ethel Mary Carr was found by her father in a drain near Holbeach, drowned. The circ*mstances will be investigated before the Spalding Coroner on Monday.

The previous day, an inquest was held touching the death of an old lady named Lydia Boothby, aged eighty-two, whose body had been found in the Hammond Beck Drain, Pinchbeck West. The deceased had been attending a harvest thanksgiving service at Pinchbeck West, and, returning late at night, had missed her way. It being very dark, she had walked into the drain. A verdict of “Accidentally Drowned” was returned.

44/ Tattershall Road, Boston, (Fatal Accident) June 1895

45/ Crowland, (Tragic Death) July 1890

46/ Anton’s Gowt Wife Murder, March 1901 (Gowt means sluice)

William Kirk had been unemployed for some time, so he went to a house of a farmer named Robinson, where his wife was nursing Mrs Robinson there, then violently slashed her throat, nearly severing her head from the body. Just as he was finishing his grisly work, Mr Robinson came in and Kirk threatened him with the same treatment. Kirk was arrested shortly afterwards and his excuse, as was common in most cases, was him being jealous of his wife being there all the time and had often gone round there to ask her to return home.

47/ Boston Child Murder, October 1916

Forty-eight-year-old Henrietta Ellen Smith, a self-confessed opium eater, was found guilty at the Lincolnshire Assizes of the murder of a 1twelve-year-old boy. She had been residing in Boston, away from her husband, and the boy had been adopted by herbefore the two had separated. Smith was very attached to him but she believed that efforts were being made to bring false charges against the child. Smith confessed to police that she had smashed the boy’s skull in with a poker, then tried to commit suicide by slitting her own throat, thinking they’d be best “out of the way”.(Was Smith insane?)

48/ Spalding Suicide, June 1870

Late one Sunday night, a young lad named Bird, who worked for a confectioner in Spalding, crept out his master’s house and went to an outbuilding at the rear of the premises. He was gone a while and his mistress went to look for him. To her horror, she saw him hanging from a wooden beam, quite dead. Again, suicide often stems from either love or money. This one was down to the fact that his girlfriend had dumped him and didn’t want to see him anymore. In a rash act, the 17-year-old hanged himself out of despair.

49/ Wrangle Poisoning, August 1860

woman remains in the custody of Superintendent Manton, at the lock-up in Skirbeck Quarter.

50/ Stickney Manslaughter, September 1896

Walter William Holmes aged eleven, was charged at Spilsby with the wilful murder of 12-year-old Patience Lily Butler on September 6th at Stickney. Patience worked for Holmes’s father as a nursemaid and when she was seen taking some apples from their orchard without permission, the lad seized his Dad’s gun and shot her, with no apparent warning. He was committed for trial under the lesser charge of manslaughter.

51/ Long Sutton Railway Station Fatality, August 1884

On Sunday night, when the Sutton Bridge train was due in at Spalding at 7-10 p.m.and had just passed Long Sutton Station, a man named William Staniard attempted to cross the line. Before he could do so, however, the engine knocked him down and he was run over. A medical officer of the company happened to be on the train, which was instantly stopped and the man was picked up. The body was much mutilated. The doctor said life was quite extinct and death had been instantaneous. Deceased was middle-aged and was working in a field adjoining the line. He was only a few yards in front of the train when he attempted to cross.

52/ River Nene/Sutton Bridge, August 1893 (Nine Drowned)

The boat which capsized on the River Nene causing the deaths of nine people was recovered. All the bodies were recovered as well and here is a list of the people who drowned.:-

Joseph Birkenshaw aged thirty from Sheffield; Mrs Birkenshaw, his wife; their children, William and Joseph aged six and three; Albert Thompson aged twenty-three;Nellie Hazel aged twenty-one; Joseph Smith aged twenty-six (All of Sheffield). Edward Burton the boatman and his son, Bernard.

Mrs Smith from Sheffield was the only survivor, was heard to say after the accident, “If only they’d done what the boatman told them, none of this would have happened”.

53/ Swineshead Child Shot, August 1887

54/ Whaplode Suicide, January 1888

An inquest was held at Whaplode, touching the death of Joseph Greathead, a labourer aged seventy. On the previous morning, a grandchild of the deceased found his dead body hanging by the neck from a beam in an outhouse. Deceased had been very low in spirits since his wife died six months ago. The jury was of the opinion that he committed suicide while temporarily insane.

55/ Frampton Suicide, near Boston June 1895

A cottager named Richard Hoff aged sixty-four, living at Framptoncommitted suicide by hanging on Monday. He got up shortly after five a.m. and was found soon afterwards by his son-in-law, James Bates, hanging from a beam in the stable. Bates cut deceased down. He was not dead but he died immediately afterwards. Deceased had been low-spirited and strange in his manner since he suffered from influenza some time ago.

56/ Spalding Railway Station (Bridge Death) June 1888

A shocking railway accident happened at Spalding, as the Great Eastern Express from Harwich to Doncaster was passing through Spalding Station yard at 10-50. The driver named Allen, of Cambridgewas killed almost on the spot, by his head coming in contact with the top of the footbridge across the line. He was attending the water supply on the tender and standing up, he was struck on the head by the footbridge. His cap was cut through and he died from injuries received in a few minutes.

57/ Stickney Bridge Death, June 1895

58/ Gedney Hill near Spalding, (Child Poisoned) December 1882

An inquest at Gedney Hill, regarding the body of a child aged nearly three years, son of Mr William Whitsed, of that place, which had died as a result of drinking carbolic acid poison. Mrs Whitsed, the mother of the child, stated that one of the servants was suffering from diphtheria and by the order of the doctor, carbolic acid was used to disinfect the house. On the previous day, she carried the deceased upstairs at the same time carrying a bottle of the acid in the other hand. She then left the child in the bedroom and put the bottle on the mantelpiece. After being away for a few minutes, she heard a terrible scream and ran back to find the child had got up on a chair and had taken a large quantity of the liquid. The child died in terrible agony soon after.

59/ Gosberton Teenage Suicide, August 1889

An inquest into the death of fifteen-year-old David Baxter who hanged himself in an outhouse adjoining his room was held at Gosberton. He lived at home with his parents, then had a few words of disagreement with his father and then went out and hanged himself with a strap he used as a belt, to hook in an outhouse window about three yards from his own door.

60/ Whaplode, (Suicide Makes Sure) December 1882

An inquest was held on the body of William Codlin at Whaplode, who committed suicide in a shocking manner on the previous day. From the evidence, it appeared that the deceased had recently recovered from an illness but for the past few days had been rather despondent. He went to bed on Thursday night and then at around three a.m., the household was awakened by the sound of a gunshot coming from his room. He was found dead in bed. He had first drunk a large quantity of laudanum, then cut a fearful gash in his throat and finally shot himself in the chest. The unfortunate young man was twenty-two-years of age and along with his brother, jointly owned a large farm, with the pair of them being successful breeders of prize stock.

I found in Kelly’s Directory, under Whaplode, a John Codling, farmer grazier and landowner, Cranesgate House (On Cranesgate N., top end, near Sholts Gate)

61/ Donington Fen, (Crushed to Death) December 1915

62/ Wigtoft, (Gored to Death by Bull) October 1889

A singular accident occurred at Wigtoft, that resulted in the death of a farmer. Thomas Richard Hides, a farmer in Swinehead and Wigtoft, was tying up a bull when the beast became irate and ran its horn into his head. The death of Mr Hides was instantaneous and this was not the first instance of the animal suddenly going bonkers, as it had been doing it for the last few weeks, with its behaviour becoming extremely volatile. The whole area around here is in a state of shock at the awful demise of this well-known agriculturist.

63/ Long Sutton Railway Station Death, September 1902

A housekeeper named Jessie Ann Cooper, aged twenty, was with her boyfriend named Bothamley, going on an outing to Manchester. They were just crossing the line at some hand-gates, when the express train from Yarmouth to Manchester hurtled through and sliced poor little Jessie in two. The boyfriend was holding her hand when she was struck by the train and he just missed the same fate, but he stepped back from the approaching engine just in time.

64/ Pinchbeck Divorce Suicide, (Spalding) July 1887

Fifty-seven-year-old shoemaker George Palmer killed himself by hanging from a beam in the wash-house, with a piece of clothes-line. Recently the Manchester stipendiary ordered him to pay ten shillings a week to his wife, with whom he had separated. An appeal was made but the decision went against him and he was unable to pay the costs of this appeal and consequently filed a petition for bankruptcy. All of these things upset him greatly, so he decided to end it all rather than pay her a penny.

65/ Victoria Court, Boston, (Child Drowns in Cistern) June 1888

66/ Whaplode, August 1893 (Suicidal Family)

A farmer named Watson from Whaplode near Spalding was found hanged. This, it transpired, was the fourth case of self-destruction in his family. His nephew and an uncle had also hanged themselves, as well as Watson himself and a sister had slit her throat with a razor instead. The mother was suffering madness and a brother had recently been an inmate of an asylum.

67/ Long Sutton Suicide, May 1910

Alfred Brothwell killed himself by hanging himself from a beam in a shed at Long Sutton. He wrote his will in chalk nearby. It read:- “Give Alice £50, and Sally the other; don’t deceive me”. Apparently, he had been extremely distressed by the death of the King.

68/ Surfleet, (Child Fatality) October 1887

A little girl named Barron aged four years was playing on the road at Surfleet when she was knocked down by a passing trap. The wheel passed over her head and she also received a blow from the horse’s hoof. The child died within a few minutes of being picked up.

69/ Spalding Suicide, October 1887

John Lewis aged sixty-five, died at Spalding this Thursday. Nearly a month ago deceased cut his own throat with a razor while his wife was in the room, the latter supposing he was about to shave himself. A medical man was promptly in attendance, who stitched up the wound and it was hoped that Lewis would recover. He suffered a relapse on Thursday and died shortly after. Lack of employment and a fear of poverty drove him to commit the act.

70/ Church Street Suicide, Boston, May 1888

71/ Wyberton (Policeman Murder) November 1860

An officer of the Lincolnshire Constabulary, named Alexander McBrian, was shot in Boston and after lingering for a few days he expired from the wounds received. McBrian talked a little while he was in the hospital and he said that at one a.m., he was on his way from Frampton, towards Boston, when at Wyberton churchyard he came across a man who veered into a field with a gun in his hand, wanting to avoid him. Suspicious he went after him but the man turned around and fired. The officer identified a man named Thomas Richardson as his assailant and he was arrested soon after. (Was it Richardson?)

72/ Sutterton, January 1875 (Attempted Poisoning)

Harriet Thurlby, a domestic servant, was remanded on a charge of having given a quantity of arsenic with intent to poison her master and mistress, Mr and Mrs Pocklington at Sutterton. She was also charged with attempted poisoning of several other members of the family, by poisoning a pudding and giving them it to eat.

73/ Spalding Station-yard Fatality, November 1887

George Goodley aged twenty-two, from Uffington, was run over and killed in Spalding Station-yard by a passing train. There were two trains leaving Spalding Station at the same time-one to Holbeach, the other to Bourne. Goodley was walking home on the Bourne line and was spotted by the driver of the Holbeach train, who whistled to attract the attention of the other driver but he wasn’t seen in time and he was run over. He lingered for a while but eventually passed away. He died from consumption, accelerated by the effects of the accident.

74/ Horace Street, Boston, (Suicides) January 1916

75/ Pinchbeck, (Girl Dies After Assault) October 1880

At Pinchbeck, as a girl was leaving the church and proceeding home, she was accosted by a man who assaulted her. As soon as she escaped she hastened home and called up her mother, who, being unwell, had retired to bed. As soon as the mother opened the door, the girl fell down dead. The man, who is a farm labourer named Kiddall, was apprehended.

76/ Wyberton West Suicide, August 1905

Charles Smith found a dead body in a shed at the back of his premises, hanging lifeless from a beam by a thin cord. The victim was Robert Warner aged seventy. Deceased had lodged with a family named Pogson near the “Hammer and Pincers” public-house at Wyberton. He worked as a roadman under the Rural District Council. A fortnight ago he was discharged due to his age and infirmity. This preyed on his mind and he was heard to say that he preferred death to the Workhouse.

77/ Bourne Fen near Spalding, June 1895 (Woman’s Body Found in Dyke)

On Monday, an inquest was held at Bourne Fen, on the body of an unknown woman who had been found drowned in a dyke in that locality on Saturday. It was evident that the body had been in the water for some considerable time, as the weeds and nettles around the spot had grown to a considerable height. A verdict of “Found Drowned” was returned.

78/ Caroline Street, Boston, June 1866 (Human Skeleton)

79/ Holbeach, (Man Roasted to Death) April 1882

A young man named Thomas William Bingham was put in a disinfecting apparatus to help cure his skin disease, with sulphur being burned underneath the box. He said it was getting hot but was told that it was OK and it was meant to be that hot, then they walked out of the room. When they came back he was unconscious and nearly dead. He lingered a while but finally expired not long after the incident. Apparently, there was too much sulphur in the box and the heated irons were way too big, which caused a build-up of heat and for the poor man to be literally roasted alive. The verdict was one of “manslaughter”, brought against the boss of Fleet Workhouse, Walter Brydges Waterer, but he was found not guilty and was discharged.

80/ Crowland, May 1908 (Forbidden Marriage Suicide)

Nineteen-year-old Herbert Copeman was discovered in some gravel pits at Crowland, quite lifeless. He was supposed to be married to a young lass from Crowland and the banns had been published, but his father had refused his consent which was legally necessary, with Herbert being underage. He bid his girlfriend goodbye on Sunday night, then cycled down to the pits and plunged in. The jury said he “committed suicide whilst temporarily insane” and added the father had every right to do what he did, not attaching any to him whatsoever.

81/ Long Sutton Child Killed, (Spalding) June 1888

82/ Kirton Sheldyke, August 1902 (Four Drowned)

A sad tragedy took place at Kirton Sheldyke, approximately seven miles from Boston, when four people went to spend a day at the seaside, so decided to go to Kirton Sheldyke. Arthur Strange and Ida Mumford both from London, along with Ida Clayton and Mark Tomlinson, were all paddling at the mouth of the River Welland. The two women slipped into a deep pool and they shouted the men for help. They dived in to save them, but ultimately they all got stuck in the water and drowned. Tomlinson’s body was recovered soon after and one of the two women was washed up near Fosdyke.

83/ Donington Wife Murder, June 1897

A farmer from Donington by the name of Joseph Bowser was charged with the murder of his missus on the 25th of May. He liked a tipple and was an extremely violent man, with a short temper. Elizabeth Burridge, a servant in the household, was near her mistress at the time of the tragedy. She stated that Bowser shot her twice in the head while she was working in a field, then attempted to turn the gun on himself, but failed. When asked why he did it, he replied the whisky and his wife’s constant flirting was what caused his overzealous act. Bowser was sentenced to death after being found guilty of murder.

84/ Anton’s Gowt, July 1864 (Two Lads Drowned)

85/ Sutterton Dowdyke, July 1887 (Mary Ann Wharrie)

Mary Ann Wharrie was accused of the wilful murder of her illegitimate child. The boy, George Harold Wharrie, was born at Spilsby Workhouse which she left and headed to Sutterton. There, the child seems to have vanishedbut was later found in a hole in Mr Allen’s garden by some dogs. She claimed that she unintentionally gave the little mite a larger dose of laudanum than what was good for it, hence causing his death. She said she panicked and buried the child there. Wharrie was sentenced to death at the Nottingham Assizes but was recommended for penal servitude for life instead. (Still hung her though, didn’t they?)

January 1902

Mary Ann Wharrie died at Boston Hospital after falling and breaking a leg. Her sentence was commuted for the murder of her child and after serving seven yearswas liberated on ticket-of-leave, with her age then being forty-one. Nobody appears to have known about her dark past and the bloke she worked for gave her glowing references. Her funeral was stopped due to her death by misadventure going unreported. An inquiry will now be set a date.

86/ Boston Murder, 14th September 1886 (Charlotte Pacey)

Nineteen-year-old Charlotte Pacey, who worked for Mrs Newcomb of Queen’s Terrace in Boston, went missing one evening after putting down some purchases she had made and saying that she was off to meet her boyfriend and if he didn’t come then she was off to see some friends in Caroline Street. Police questioned the boyfriend, Charles Fovington, but he said she never saw him that night but he spotted her while on his way to Shodfriar’s Hall. her body was found floating in the North Forty Foot Drain in Boston West. Then at the end of October 1886, a labourer named George Smith confessed to murdering the girl.he accosted a policeman in Angel’s Lane, Stratford in East London and said that he killed Pacey by striking with his fist, then rifled her pockets but found nothing, so shoved her into the ditch nearby. He saw the headline in the papers a few days later about how the poor lass had been murdered and he fled to London. A couple of weeks after his confession, they came to the conclusion that although he was in that part of the country, he didn’t kill Pacey and he had done it to be imprisoned and to have food and a roof over his head. (Was murderer ever found?)

87/ North Street, Boston, October 1886 (Susan Pocklington aged 40- charged with manslaughter)

88/ Spalding Murder, November 1879

George Rolt, a rag and bone man, was found dead on the Pinchbeck Road, evidently a case of murder. He seems to have been bludgeoned to death by a blow on the back of his head, as he was walking across some fields on his way home, then he strangled to make sure. He was found by a shepherd within 300-400 yards of the market-place when it was packed with people the night before. Footprint casts were taken and a man’s cap was found near the body. A woman who cohabited with Rolt has been arrested. Rolt used to carry a large amount of gold upon him and this was known by several people. Henry Howitt was arrested at Sibsey and his house-keeper, 23-year-old Elizabeth Ireland and John Brewster Vessey were also apprehended for Rolt’s murder. Howitt confessed to police that they killed him and on February 7th, 1880, they were all sentenced to death.

In mid-March of 1880, this was in the papers:-

“The Spalding Murder- the three persons sentenced to death for the murder of George Rolt at Spalding and who were respited a few weeks since, have been sentenced to penal servitude for life. They passed through Spalding on Thursday morning, the woman wearing a hood which she wore the night of the murder. She appeared very unconcerned. The destination of the prisoners was probably Millbank.”

89/ Boston Public Park Suicide, September 1883

An inquest was held on the body of John Nicholls aged forty-eight, a labourer living in St John’s Road, and who was found hanging by the neck about midnight on Friday on the Public Park railings. Evidence showed that he had been a great drinker. About eleven p.m. Friday night, he went home drunk as a skunk and then soon afterwards went out again. On not returning a search was made in the neighbourhood and there he was found hanging on the railings of the Public Park.

90/ Skirbeck, (Pit Suicide) July 1883

The suicide of a farmers wife, Mrs Lanes, wife of Richard Lanes of Skirbeck, has caused quite a buzz in the neighbourhood. Her body was found in a pit on the farm and evidence revealed that she had been of unsound mind for a long time and had to be watched. Between two and three in the morning, she crept out of the house and killed herself. Her lifeless corpse was found in the pit, which was close to the house.

91/ River Welland Drowning, Spalding, August 1889

92/ Little Postland Suicide, near Spalding, May 1905

93/ Tower Street, Boston, September 1883 (Suicide of a Boy)

About 10-30 Monday morning, fourteen-year-old Barnet Jones, who is just finishing school, was left at home to look after some members of the family whilst his Mum went into town. On the mother’s return, she found her son had hanged himself with a piece of clothes-line under the staircase. An alarm was raised and the boy was cut down, but life was extinct. The Welsh father of the lad, Evans Williams Jones, has been the timekeeper at the Great Northern Railway Locomotive Works at Boston, had tried to get the boy a position at the Works, on which he seemed keen. There is no discernible reason why he killed himself and it was recorded as “Suicide whilst temporarily insane”.

94/ Dogdyke Railway Fatality, August 1883

George Whitton aged seventy-three, a sheath-maker from Sheffield, received fatal injuries at the railway at Dogdyke last night. He was part of a group of excursionists who were visiting the area for angling on the River Witham and that when the match was over he was clipped by a passing engine and hurled a considerable distance. He was unconscious and whisked off to the Boston Cottage Hospital, where he died shortly after admission. “Accidental Death”.

95/ River Glen, Pinchbeck, April 1884 (Child Murder?)

The body of three-year-old Gilbert Holmes was found floating on the surface of the River Glen at Pinchbeck. The man who found him thought that he showed signs of life and tried mouth to mouth, but he was already dead. Gilbert is the son of a local cattle dealer, John Holmes. The mother was seen nearby going into a cottage with her clothes soaking wet and told the people who lived there that she and her son had been in the drain. Mrs Holmes had previously mentioned that it would be best for her and the child to be out of the way. Mr Holmes said she had talked about her and the boy being drowned by her hand but he talked her out of such things. The couple had six kids together and it was after the birth of the first, that she became deranged and for six months she was an inmate of a lunatic asylum. (Post-natal depression?). Mrs Holmes was taken into custody by police on suspicion of murdering young Gilbert and also of attempted suicide.

96/ The Wash Drowning, December 1872

97/ Quadring, (Alcohol Poisoning) June 1900

Lucy Leverton aged twenty-one, from Quadring, swigged down a pint of neat whisky and lingered for a few days before expiring from the effects. Coroners jury gave the verdict of “Death from alcoholic poisoning”.

98/ River Witham, Boston, September 1887

An inquest at the Ram Hotel in Boston, on the body of Herbert Smith aged fifteen-years, who was drowned whilst attempting to swim across the Witham on Saturday afternoon. A verdict of “Accidentally Drowned” was returned.

99/ Tongue End (Spalding) (Two Men Burned to Death)August 1884

Two charred corpses were discovered in a stable that was used for storing oil cake, on Mr Shillaker’s farm at Tongue End. They were found by the foreman, and the were identified as father and son, named Canaan(?), the father being about fifty, with the son in his twenties and both being from Ireland. The two were allowed to sleep on the premises and as they had been out drinking that night, it is believed that a lighted candle fell into the straw in the stalls and set them alight. The son was found in a crawling position near the entrance and must have tried to get help, but only made it as far as the stable door. He was stark naked and suffered horrific burns all over his body.

100/ Sibsey, May 1878 (Gold in the Graveyard?)

More famous for being the birth-place of “Old Mother Riley” or Arthur Lucan as he was known to friends and family. This little tale is a story of buried treasure in the graveyard. Mary Ann Scott, who was a middle-aged lady, was given a medical examination and was held at Lincoln after her story that she had travelled from America to find gold and silver in her father’s grave at Sibsey. Scott left Liverpool and came to Lincoln, leaving a quantity of valuable luggage on the platform. When she was searched there was indeed a load of gold and lots of cash in U.S. Dollars, a pistol along with ammunition and gunpowder, plus a knife. (Was it true?)

101/ Tattershall Road Suicide, Boston, December 1915

102/ Skirbeck Murder? January 1860

The body of a woman named Jane Jackson was exhumed at the cemetery. Deceased was the wife of David Jackson, millwright of Skirbeck, and died on December 8th, 1859 of an illness which she had for about ten days and was nursed by a woman named Catherine Taylor, who visited her. Medical men were baffled by her symptoms and the day after she died, Mrs Taylor fled to London. One of the surgeons was that suspicious so he requested permission from relatives to have her body dug up and for it to be tested for poisons. A large sum of money had also vanished and finding a forged note for £150 also got the tongues wagging in the neighbourhood. The corpse was exhumed and the husband was questioned. He stated that he’d been away from home when his wife died and said the forged note was not her hand-writing. Meanwhile, a portion of her intestines has been sent away for analysis and it could be weeks before any results come through. (Was she murdered?)

103/ Boston Dock, (8 Ton Weight Crushes Man) April 1884

Henry Neale was a beer-house keeper, who was sadly crushed to death on Boston Dock. He was the landlord of the “Hope and Anchor” and was working for Abbott and Son of Gateshead, helping to assist the erection of a large cylinder, part of the large coal-hoist, by means of a screw jack. The eight-ton weight fell on him, crushing him to death instantly. The jury recommended that better packing should have been used, but this was a bit too late for Henry.

104/ Sibsey Murder, July 1901

William Enoch Kirk, who was sentenced to death at the beginning of July for the murder of his wife at Sibsey near Boston, by slitting her throat, has been given a reprieve. At trial, he was pleading insanity and further investigation into his medical condition has resulted in the Home Secretary advising His Majesty to commute the sentence. (Diminished responsibility?)

105/ Spilsby Road, Boston, February 1887

106/ Benington Double Child Murder, February 1844

Mary Johnson only twelve years old was charged with the wilful murder of her two brothers at Benington near Boston. Her story was, that she went to Mrs Overton’s shop to ask about a letter, it wasn’t there so she left. About ten minutes later, as in she strolls again, this time asks for a pennyworth of arsenic, which she was given! That night the two boys became violently ill and both died the next morning. The father had left the three children alone that night, while he went with the housekeeper to a chapel. When they got back the two lads were at a neighbour’s house in a dreadful state, vomiting and sweating. The father dragged the girl to the shop and asked if she had given her any arsenic, to which the shopkeeper replied “Yes”. The girl said it was for a woman she met on the roadside but that was all rubbish. Johnson was taken to Lincoln Castle and imprisoned there while awaiting trial, but she seemed fairly calm and if anything undisturbed by any of things were happening to her. The chaplain who she spoke to at the Castle, said that she had confessed to the crime to him. (What happened to her?)

107/ Whaplode, January 1860 (Suicide Day after Marriage)

William Sandworth aged forty, who, the day after his marriage, went down to a local pond and drowned himself. The deceased had married Mary Atkin and they had spent the night at her parent’s house at Whaplode. He woke up the next morning complaining of a terrible pain in his side, then he got dressed, walked out and went down to the pond and jumped in. The person he worked for said that he had seen the chap with fever-like symptoms and he was talking wildly and he thought that Sandworth was going mad or suffering from depression.

108/ Gosberton Suicide, September 1864

The wife of a local farmer at Gosberton, Mrs Mary Cooke, was discovered dead in a field. The chemist, William Peach, said she had been into his shop and purchased some mouse poison and an ounce of laudanum. The mouse poison contained strychnine. Her husband, William Cooke, told of how he left home at six a.m., leaving his wife in a fairly good mood. He did tell the jury that his wife was recently an inmate of a lunatic asylum and had been released in late June of this year, with a couple of attempted suicides in that time. On returning at eight o’clock, he found Mary had gone walkabout and feared the worse. The verdict was one of “Suicide by poison whilst of unsound mind”.

109/ Peaco*ck Hotel Fatality, Boston, June 1861 (Was in Market Place, now demolished)

110/ Wyberton, June 1862 (Mysterious Drowning)

On the 12th June, as a youth was fishing in the Forty Foot Drain near Mr Taylors the brickmakers, adjoining Wyberton Chain Bridge, he noticed the dead corpse of a man floating in the water. He called Mr Taylor who managed to fish the body out of the water and found the man to be already beyond help, as clearly he had been in the water for a number of days. They found a silver watch with a gold chain, along with £5 in cash, a railway pass and a pocket-book, but no identifying paperwork of any sort. The pass was taken to the Railway Station by a policeman and found it that it was George Baxter’s, who was paymaster at the G.N.R at Doncaster. His father was Mr Baxter of Skirbeck Quarter and was due to get married very soon. He said he was going away for a couple of days and reached Boston at 9-15 one evening. He gave his bag to a porter and said he’d be back later to collect it. He must have then made his way through West Street along Sleaford Road, to the Forty Foot Drain and there he killed himself.

111/ Boston Triple Child Murder, July 1844

Eliza Joyce aged thirty-one, was charged with the wilful murder of her two children. The first victim was eighteen-month-old step-daughter, Emma, whom she poisoned with laudanum in October of 1841. By the exact same method, she then killed the six-week-old daughter, Ann Joyce, in January of 1842. The evil cow also killed her step-son, Edward William Joyce. She confessed to all three murders while she was in the workhouse after she and her husband had split up.

16th August 1844

At the gallows at Lincoln Castle, Eliza Joyce was hanged for her cruel murders of three innocent children. A crowd of approximately 5000 spectators were there to watch her fate at the hands of William Calcraft.

112/ West Street Suicide, Boston, May 1880

113/ Wrangle May 1884 (Mary Lefley)

This case was probably one of the best-known murders committed in Victorian times in the Boston district, along with Priscilla Biggadyke. Mary Lefley aged forty-nine was hanged at Lincoln Prison for the crime of wilfully murdering her husband, with a poisoned rice pudding in February of that year. What is strange about the case, is that the amount of arsenic in the pudding wasn’t noticed by her husband. It states that two grains of arsenic can kill a grown man and she put 135 grains of arsenic in her fifty-nine-year-old hubby’s pudding and he still lapped it up!

May 1892

An old man had died in the village of Wrangle in 1892, and he claims, on his death bed, to have procured the arsenic with which Mary Lefley poisoned her husband. He also claimed that the two of them were on intimate terms and ever since she was hanged at Lincoln Prison in 1884, it has preyed on his mind. He, therefore, was an accessory to murder, but nobody could say or figure out how she got hold of that amount of arsenic. Lefley protested her innocence right up to the moment the trap-door opened.

114/ Cowbit Drownings, near Spalding, December 1883

An inquest at Cowbit touching on the death of two young men named Batterham, who were drowned the previous afternoon. The deceased were rowing on Cowbit Wash when they overbalanced and the boat capsized throwing the two cousins into the water. Neither were good swimmers and they both drowned very quickly. A woman saw one of the lads rise to the surface and went to raise the alarm but neither of the bodies was recovered till nearly an hour after the accident.

115/ Sibsey Murder, March 1859

William Stevenson aged sixty-four, lived at Sibsey with his son. He went to Boston Market one day with a few quid about him when on his journey home he stopped off for a pint at the Ship Inn. Three men Edward Sands, William Pickett and Henry Carey entered the placewhen an argument broke out between Sands and Stevenson. To calm the situation down he took out some cash and got them all a drink. They must have seen his wad of cash because the next time Stevenson was seen he was face down in a ditch, dead as a dodo. All three were apprehended for the crime and only Carey and Pickett hung for it. A crowd of around 25,000 turned up to watch them squirm on the gallows. Pickett struggled for a couple of minutes, writhing about, whereas Carey’s neck snapped instantly.

116/ Deeping St Nicholas, (Shocking Death) October 1887

117/ Sibsey Wife Murder/Suicide, December 1902

A man named Root aged sixty, who was a plate-layer and resided at the Gate House at Sibsey High Ferry, had an argument with his 62-year-old missus and he threw her out of the house. She fled to Frithville and stayed with their daughter. After giving it the weekend for everyone to calm down, he headed for Frithville, but this wasn’t to kiss and make up. He took his axe with him! He lunged at her, splitting her head open with just one blow, then he legged it and committed suicide by putting his head on the railway line and letting a train run over him.

118/ Hammond Beck Drain (Boston) (Body in Drain) October 1880

Albert Morton, a farmer residing at Frampton Fen, was found drowned in Hammond Beck Drain, which runs past his farm. Morton left Boston with a neighbour called Pridgeon and before they got very far the two parted company, as Pridgeon had to call at a grocer’s shop. Pridgeon tried to overtake Morton, but failed to do so and went home. On Sunday morning, Morton hadn’t returned and his wife grew uneasy and told Pridgeon that he wasn’t back yet. Pridgeon organised a search, went to Boston and asked around, but nobody had seen him. A search was made of the drain and that’s when his corpse was found, about a mile from his house. Morton leaves a widow and six children and is believed to be a tragic accident.

119/ Quadring Murder, September 1842

Mary Spencer was left a cottage by her father, which she adapted into a day school. It only had a couple of rooms, so she lived in one, with the school in the other. Three kids opened the door at nine a.m. on Friday morning and found poor Mary drenched in blood and wearing only her night-clothes. They ran away screaming and banged on the neighbour’s door and he, in turn, called for a surgeon from Gosberton, who discovered a nine-inch long wound from her neck to her chest. On checking the building they discovered that the murderer had got in through a back window. They arrested a bloke named William Howett, albeit in an amazing coincidence. Mr Loughland was measuring some land when he started a conversation about the killing of Miss Spencer and whose father would be sat down taking a tea-break; yes you’ve got it, Howett’s father, who exclaimed:

“I wonder what Bill’s been up to this time, he was out all night and came back covered in blood”. Howett was apprehended and is definitely the killer of poor Mary Spencer.

120/ Weston Wife Murder, near Spalding, May 1899

Edward Bell aged twenty-six was charged with poisoning his wife, Mary Elizabeth Bell, with a co*cktail of strychnine and mercury. The mother said her daughter got worse as he gave her a powder, supposedly given to him by a doctor. A week later she received a letter from Bell stating that the doctor hadn’t given him the powder and that he was miserable and was going to leave the area. Here’s the juicy part of the story….Bell was seeing another woman behind his wife’s back, Mary Sheila Hodson of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire. They met at Gedney and were writing love letters to each other and they got engaged on May 1st, a couple of days after his wife’s funeral!

June 1899 (Bell’s Sweetheart Mobbed)

Edward Bell was taken back to Lincoln Prison after being in Spalding courts, with his departure postponed until the evening, when two police officers took him to Surfleet in a cab to avoid a demonstration at the Railway Station. Miss Hodson left Spalding and headed for Peterborough and she too met hostility from the crowds, so it was decided that she would be held back for a few hours until things calmed down. A crowd had gathered at the Station with dozens of adults clambering to get a glance of her, swearing and making rude gestures. For nearly half an hour the police kept her in the waiting room, away from the mob. As she finally got on board the train, there was hissing and booing from all persons present.

121/ Boston Haven Drowning, October 1863

122/ Boston, (Suicide in Chemist’s) February 1863

Eighteen-year-old John Maltby Dawson was an apprentice to a chemist, Mr E.Lewis of Market Place in Boston, and the lad killed himself by taking some prussic acid. Lewis described a boy that was hard-working and had been with him for three years. Another young lad was doing an apprenticeship and there was animosity on Dawson’s part. Dawson went down to the cellar and was gone a few minutes, when Lewis found him, he was sat upright on a hamper with the bottle of prussic acid in his hand. It was deemed to be a “suicide under temporary insanity” and the lad was buried at Keddington Church near Louth.

123/ Boston Haven, (Body in Haven) April 1864

The body of Ann Lunn was found floating on the surface of Boston Haven near to the packet-yard. Her pockets had four shillings in them and a small hymn book. The appearance of the body would suggest that she had been in the water for some days, being slightly decomposed. The body also had several large bruises on it, but these could have been made by a foreign body after her death. The verdict was one of “Found Drowned” as they weren’t aware if was accidental or a deliberate suicide.

124/ Boston Haven Mystery, April 1864

125/ Fishtoft, (Double Child Murderer) March 1876

William Gilbert Harrod was indicted for the wilful murder of William Henry Hebblewhite on 19th February 1876. Nothing unusual in that you may say, but this murderer was only twelve, with his victim being a ten-year-old boy. Even stranger still, is that he is a rare breed of child double murderers, with his other victim being Albert Hockley aged five, on October the 2nd 1875. Harrod had been accused of bullying poor Hebblewhite and when the two had a chance meeting on the roadside, Harrod took the opportunity for revenge. The two started scrapping and Harrod got a wooden stake and bashed his head in with it, then lobbed him in a pond.

Harrod was found guilty of manslaughter, with the charge of Hockley’s murder not being prosecuted.

126/ Boston, September 1901 (Attempted Murder/Suicide)

Thomas Wakefield attacked his missus with a knife, slashing her face, throat and head, then tried to kill himself by slitting his throat. They were both found and rushed off to the hospital, with neither of them expected to pull through. The children witnessed the whole thing and describe a frantic struggle between the two, with Mrs Wakefield escaping, then hurdling a six-foot fence in the backyard and was helped by the neighbours. A butcher’s knife was discovered at the scene. Relatives and friends tell of an unhappy relationship between the two, always at each other’s throats. A letter was also found at the premises signed by Wakefield, clearly stating that he was going to kill his wife and then himself. (Did either survive?).

127/ Cowbridge Crossing Suicide, Boston, September 1887

128/ Moulton Innkeeper Drowned, near Spalding, June 1888

An inquest was held at Moulton touching the death of William Osbourne, an innkeeper of Moulton. He had left home to go to Spalding Market on Friday morning but he did not return home that night and nothing was seen or heard of him again until his body was found in a pit by the roadside along from Moulton to Spalding, about fifty yards from the deceased’s home. It was ascertained that the deceased, on his way back home called at a public-house against Moulton Railway Station and left there on Friday evening, about 10 o’clock, in a perfectly sober condition. The body was found by a boy who was in an adjoining field. The verdict “Found Drowned”.

129/ Maud Foster Drain, Drowning, near Boston, November 1862

130/ Archer Lane Suicide, Boston, November 1887

42-year-old John Brocklesby took an overdose of opium and killed himself. His mother said he visited her in Archer Lane and he had clearly been out drinking. He said he’d had a quarrel with his wife and that he wouldn’t speak to her ever again, that then he’d bought some opium which he was going to take. He went out that night and was brought back by three men, who dropped him off at her house and he lay asleep on the sofa. The mother woke at three a.m. and remembered what her son had said about the opium and she went down to check if he’d not done anything stupid. She sent for the police, and they, in turn, sent for a doctor, but he was dead by 10-00 a.m. the next morning. He had tried to kill himself before, in 1868 in fact, by taking some laudanum, so he was prone to suicidal tendencies.

131/ Spalding Police Station Fatality, January 1862

Sarah Goode, or Gooch aged twenty-two who was a domestic servant of William Ward of Spalding, died in a police lock-up. Mr Ward said that she was a good servant, but after only a month there she handed her notice in saying that she didn’t want to be treated so unkindly. Ward replied that she hadn’t bee ill-treated in any way and asked her to stay. However, she ignored his pleas and packed her boxes and left a couple of days later, but left the boxes at his house. A couple of days after that she turned up on the doorstep asking if she could get a dress out of the box, with her request allowed. A rumour reached Mrs Ward that some stolen collars were in her possession and Mrs Ward asked if she could look in them, but she objected. Goode was apprehended and placed in the cell on the charge of having stolen property in her possession. The fact was, she was an orphan and had nowhere to go, no money and a little sister in the Swaffham Union House. All of these things preyed on her mind. The policeman on night duty heard a groan, then he entered and she was there with her arms extended, knees were drawn up and one eye was set and she was insensible. A doctor was sent for and he found no pulse and she was pronounced dead at three a.m. The Coroner said she had died from “Natural Causes”, in a way she had worked herself into a frenzy and the nervous system could not cope. (Medically what does it sound as though she died from?)

132/ Little London, Spalding, (Wheelchair into the Welland) December 1915

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1/ Aldbury Double Murder, December 1891

William Puddephatt aged thirty-eight, a gamekeeper and Joseph Crawley aged thirty-eight, a night watchman were brutally beaten to death by unknown assailants one night. They had gone out to patrol the area and woods looking for poachers when they must have come across somebody poaching, then been beaten with butts of rifles etc. This all occurred on the land of Mr.J.Williamson of Pendley Tring near Stock’s Wood. Their heads were smashed in and Puddephatt had a broken arm and it is clear that a gang of poachers overpowered the two.

2/ Brandfordbury, (Carrying Dead Infant) November 1880

Not strictly in Hertfordshire but the victim came from here. Eliza Brewer, only fifteen years old was found wandering the streets of London whilst carrying a tiny bundle in her arms. When stopped by a policeman, it was realized that the bundle was a dead infant. She was the daughter of a Brandfordbury gamekeeper and gave birth a week ago in the streets. A kind woman offered to take her in but when she saw the dead child she turfed her out.

3/ Leavesden Poisoning, April 7th, 1899

4/ Leavesden Poisoning, April 11th, 1899

5/ Leavesden Poisoning, April 14th, 1899

to phosphorus poisoning. Chief Constable Wood stated that when arrested the accused said:”I know nothing whatever about it; I am as innocent a girl as ever was born”. The prisoner was remanded.

6/ St Albans (Traction Engine Fatality) December 1898

A traction engine towing several trucks was going through St Albans one night, when George Summerling, the attendant, lost his balance and fell under the wheels of the engine. He was rushed to St Albans Hospital with terrible injuries but he died the next morning.

7/ River Lee near Rye House, May 1888 (Lovers Suicide)

The drowned corpses of two lovers were found in the River Lee near to Rye House in Hertfordshire. They were interlocked in each other’s arms and tied together with a handkerchief. They were identified later as Edwin Whitehouse, an ostler, twenty-eight years of age and Lizzie Webb, his nineteen-year-old girlfriend. A letter in Lizzie’s pocket told her Mum not to fret and begging that the two of them be buried in the same plot. They both seemed in cheerful spirits on Sunday and went to the pubs and had a few drinks, then were observed on the tow-path between Rye and Stanstead. A boatman found their hats on the bank the next morning and raised the alarm. The pair were found bound together. (See also number 11)

8/ Aldbury, February 1899

A police constable named Gordon, stationed at Aldbury, was found drowned in the canal there. He fell in the water whilst endeavouring to rescue his dog from drowning.

9/ Potter’s Bar Station (Earl Killed) May 1899

10/ St Albans Murder, June 1910

A murder was committed on St Albans Road, between Barnet and St Albans, known as London Colney Farm. A lodger entered the bedroom of the daughter of the landlord and cut her throat with a butchers knife. The murderer calmly washed his hands of the blood and walked to the nearest police station and handed himself over. The victim was Gertrude Allen, 24, and he is named Arthur Trussell, and they had been seeing each other for some time, but again jealousy reared its ugly head. Trussell said the officer, “I wish you to come across.I have killed her”, and when he went he found her laid on a bed with her head nearly severed off.

11/ River Lee near Rye House? 1883 (see number 7)

12/ Hertford, May 1897 (Boy Decapitated)

A 16-year-old boy dressed in Haileybury College uniform was found dead on the Great Eastern Railway line about 2 miles from his school. He was decapitated, with the wheels of the train having gone over his neck. (Name?)

13/ Hoddesdon (Scythe Suicide) January 1851

An agricultural worker called Henry Selbykilled himself at Hoddesdon by cutting his throat with a scythe. 10 out of 10 for originality, but the jury gave the verdict that he was insane. You don’ t say!

14/ Watford, (Corpse in Woods) May 1863

A gamekeeper who worked for Lord Ebury found the dead body of a man hanging from a tree in a wood. Rigor Mortis had set in and the medical examiner said he’d been dead a day or so. His clothing was of a foreign make and is thought to be of German origin. He is 5 feet 9 inches tall, thinnish build and short brown moustache and a short goatee. He had a dark complexion, high cheekbones and a bruise on his forehead. He was well dressed but by no means immaculate in appearance and he had two half-crowns and two halfpence and other change. A man of similar description was seen on Watford Road and the locals have heard a rumour that he was the murderer of the woman in St Giles, but this is not the case. The verdict, “Felo de Se”.

15/ Ware Suicide, March 1892

16/ Hertford, February 1900 (Mother and Child Dead)

A 35-year-old mother and widow, named Such, was found dead with her child in a bedroom at her house, with both their throats cut from ear to ear. It is supposed that she killed the child first then committed suicide. Her husband died a week and a half ago, and she had been drinking heavily ever since his burial.

17/ Peahen Inn Suicide, St Albans, January 1853

This pub is still there in St Albans! A man arrived at the Peahen and booked in. He had just come from the Watford Station on the London and North Western Railway, saying that he had a lot of writing to do. He had something to eat, got a stamp, and went to post a letter, then retired to bed at 10 o’clock. Next morning a chambermaid went into his room with a letter addressed to “Mr Bowden, Peahen Inn, to be delivered immediately”, and when asked he replied “oh, no, no, no,” then told the girl he would like a lie in. The chambermaid went back at midday but it was locked. Staff forced their way in and found him lying on the bed with his throat cut. The inquest found out he was unknown in St Albans but was well-dressed, a good-looking strapping six-footer, with a hat that had “Bailey August 12,52” with the letters “H.W.D.” written above. (What room?)

18/ Bishops Stortford, (Fatal Landslide) August 1892

19/ Watford, July 1835 (Twelve Lives Lost)

Twelve men were killed in an accident which took place in a tunnel near Watford, being built for the Birmingham Railway. Eleven excavators and their inspector were in there tunnelling when a large mass of earth fell upon them burying them all under tons of soil. (Which tunnel?)

20/ Rickmansworth Child Murder, June 1840

Eliza Pope, a 17-year-old, in the employ of Johnson and Sons, linen drapers, had gone to bed one night with a fellow servant. The other servant heard cries of a baby and went to see where the child was. On entering Pope’s room she saw that she was in great pain, and then accused her of giving birth, which she denied. The servant told the family and they searched her room, and found a new-born baby under the bed, in a bad state. The neck had been pinched, probably to quieten and kill the infant at the same time. Its little jaw-bone was also broken, but nobody noticed that Pope was pregnant. Wilful murder against Eliza Pope.

21/ Hemel Hempstead Filicide, May 1905

Thomas Downing, aged thirty, a labourer, was reading an article about the Markyate motor case and the drowning of two kids at Boxmoor when he suddenly lost it. He went for his three kids with a coal hammer and started hitting each of them. He then went for his mother and his wife. When help arrived, they were all in a dangerous condition and taken to West Herts Infirmary. Downing meanwhile threw the weapon in the garden and handed himself into police. Downing stated that: “I have done it. I done it, because I wished to see them safe in Heaven. I done it with a coal hammer and hit them all on the head”. Two of the children are in a critical condition.

22/ Half Moon Inn Murder, Bishop Stortford, April 1892

23/ South Mimms, March 1861 (Human Remains)

Now more famous for the M25 services, but in the 1860’s it was just a little village and when the body of an adult female was found in a ditch, there was an investigation. The body had been there for several months and because of the terrible decomposition, there was no way of identification or how she died. The jury’s verdict was “That deceased was found dead in a certain ditch containing water, without detection of marks of violence in or upon her body, and that by what means the said woman came into the water, or by what means the death was caused, there was not sufficient evidence to show” (Who was she?)

24/ Cheshunt, March 1830 (Matricide/Suicide)

The body of an elderly woman was discovered in the river at Cheshunt. She was identified as Mrs M.Worril, a 72-year-old widow, living at Hoddesdon. Her servant said that she went out with her daughter, Mrs Kimpton. As time ticked on it was realised that Mrs Kimpton was also missing, and the river was dragged again, and she was found. It was concluded that they arranged a suicide pact, and evidence gathered later it seems that the daughter pushed her mother in then drowned herself.

25/ St Albans, (Burned to Death) February 1898.

26/ Hertford Murder, March 10th 1899

A shocking murder has taken place at Hertford. About 5 o’clock yesterday morning a married woman named Mercy Nicholls, of Ware, was found in a dying condition in a passage off Railway Street. Her clothes which had apparently been torn off herwere discovered close by. She died in hospital a few hours afterwards. A labourer is stated to have voluntarily confessed to the crime and is in custody.

Hertford Murder, March 11th, 1899

Hertford Murder, March 17th, 1899

Hertford Murder, March 24th, 1899

John Smith was charged with the murder of a woman named Mercy Nicholls at Hertford, on the morning of the 9th inst. The prisoner, who is an undersized boy and apparently of weak intellect, was most unconcerned. When spoken to he muttered unintelligible and senseless replies. He was committed for trial on the capital charge.

27/ Bushey Station near Watford, October 1884

A suspected murder that was committed in London, and is believed that the remains of the body were thrown out of a train at Bushey Station near Watford. At half past eight on Monday morning, a workman, Jesse Parson, was near an embankment close to Bushey Station, when he found a coffin lid and then further up the line he found the coffin itself. Inside was a collection of bones, with others strewn around and also were traces of quicklime. Medical examiners found that the feet, shins and the skull were missing and a search has turned up no further parts. The coffin itself was four feet long and the body was of a full-grown person, hence the bottom of the legs hacked off, for it to fit in, maybe! (Ever identified?)

28/ Vicarage Road, Watford, April 1889 (Child Murder)

Joseph Taynton, aged fifteen and his sister, ten-year-old Jessie Maria Taynton, were left alone in the house at South Terrace, Vicarage Road in Watford, the parents having gone to town. The mother came back at 10-30 and found the door locked, so she got her neighbour, Mr Williams, to help her get in. When they got in they found Jessie on the ground with her head smashed in and blood and brain matter all over the place. She died shortly after being found. The murder weapon, a hammer, was found next to the body and then discovered that the brother had legged it. A search for him, found him walking back home covered in blood spatters. He was arrested for the murder of his sister.

29/ Hatfield (Body Found) October 1915

A man’s body was discovered in a field at Hatfield in Hertfordshire, by a policeman. Next to him were some bottles and a note, saying:- ” I have no friends or relatives. Get rid of me. Signed- Jim Flatters, Nottingham”.

30/ Leavesden Asylum Ceremony, September 1870

31/ Hatfield Train Crash, December 1870.

32/ Welwyn Railway Accident. June 12th,1866

33/ Attempted Murder near Hertford, May 3rd, 1866 (See No34, below, for the Passingham case)

34/ Attempted Murder at the Three Harts, Hertford. May 14th, 1866 (See No 33 for the Passingham case, halfway down)

35/ Manslaughter of Wife, Watford. November 1903

36/ Hemel Hempstead Wife Murder, May 1905.

37/ Father Tries to Kill His Children, Hemel Hempstead, May 1905.

38/ Markyate Motor Fatality (Chauffeur Convicted of Manslaughter) July 1905.

39/ Chorleywood Murder, near Watford. November 22nd, 1906

Friday, 23rd November 1906.

The execution of Chorleywood murderer, David Hooker, a farm labourer, who was found guilty at Hertford Assizes on Monday for the murder of his wife, by shooting her at Chorleywood, has been fixed for the 11th December.

5th December 1906.

The death sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life.

40/ Murder of Mt Anstie, Marshall’s Wick, near St Albans. 9th November 1880

Wednesday 30th November 1880 (Execution)

At St Alban’s yesterday morning, Thomas Wheeler, the murderer of Mr Anstie, was executed within the precincts of the county gaol. He made a full confession of his guilt before his execution.