1844

Coroner’s Inquests 1844 cases

There were 81 cases in 1844, most of them of a standard nature. They are presented in five sub-pages.

Life was undoubtedly hard in the old days, seemingly much harder than today, when Martha and her father, Thomas Reeves, were forced into roaming the countryside selling matches door to door in the cold of the winter.

Suspiciously young child labour on a farm again rears its deathly head, as James Dewey, aged 12, was, “standing in the customary position driving four horses attached to a thrashing machine… .”

Joshua Barrett was riding a goods train on the Great Western Railway from London to Bristol, when his hat fell off, and he jumped out of the carriage after it, dying on the railway. Was the carriage roofed or windowed, or neither? How slow or fast was the train proceeding?

Eliza Holly was but one of so many child-burning cases, the mother being absent briefly from the home, but in this case the mother did not send for medical assistance to ease the inevitable, but took her child to a local gardener who was known for charming illnesses away, and we are given a description of his modus operandi – could the local surgeon have achieved any more?

An additional paragraph in the case of Henry Kent, who got lost over Pewsey Down during the night and ran down the steepest part of the hill to his death, tells us that he was mainstay to both his elderly parents and to the children of his late brother, all of whom would now be forced into the workhouse.

The last case of this year, that of John Matthews, gives an idea of how, when you are down, you are really down – threadbare clothes, frostbite, pawn-tickets for goods at a long distance, and empty promises of work – life was hard.

Loder, Elizabeth – Martin

Jerrard, Elizabeth – Broadchalke

Kilmister, Lydia – Highworth

Eatwell, Solomon – Highworth

Boucher, John – Langley Burrell

Franklin, Martha – Potterne

Hall, Roger – Hilperton

Baker, George – Bradford on Avon

Hill, Hannah – Seend

Shaw, Robert – Marlborough

Reeve, John – Malmesbury

Giles, Caleb – Warminster

Bollen, Jane – Winsley

King, Elizabeth – Warminster

Unknown male – Chilmark

Hillier, George – Bishops Cannings

Reeves, Thomas – Aldbourne

Salmon, Alfred – Swindon

Grey, Anne – Trowbridge

Poulsom, John – Trowbridge

Fisher, Anne – Trowbridge

Dewey, James – Chitterne

Bailey, Mary – Marlborough

Frayling, Alfred – Malmesbury

Allsop, Sarah – Stanton St Quinton

Tapper, Mary – Salisbury

Stretch, Martha – Harnham

Browne, John – Salisbury

Bryant, Isaac – Melksham

Hobbs, Thomas – Downton

Ruff, Harriett – Burbage

Simkins, Robert – Chippenham

MacPherson, Elizabeth – Swindon

Kebblewhite, George – Dauntsey

Lawrence, Samuel – Calne

Harding, Abraham – Bradford on Avon

Allen, George – Corsley

Young, Jane – Maiden Bradley

Coward, William – Mere

Dore, John – Rodborne Cheney

Lewis, Caroline – Bradford on Avon

Hosier, Sarah – Trowbridge

Holton, Thomas – Crockerton

Watts Grace – Chapmanslade

Dedman, George & Hull, Mary – Chippenham

Salmon, Joseph – Lacock

Whitehorn, Josiah – Salisbury

Barrett, Joshua – Chippenham

Helps, Elizabeth – Trowbridge

Farley, Richard – Heytesbury

Wilis, male infant – Hannington

Holly, Eliza – Studley

Kent, Henry – Pewsey

Butt, Thomas – Donhead St Andrew

Davis, Mark – Winterborne Stoke

Holloway, George – Whiteparish

Goddard, Reuben – Enford

Ferris, George – Bishops Canning

Flukes, John – Bratton

Fisher, John – Seend

Wells, William – Trowbridge

Richards, George – Corsham

Carter, Joseph – Steeple Langford

Griffith, Robert – Corsley

Bailey, Michael – Melksham

Huntley, Solomon – Limpley Stoke

Dix, Thomas – Heytesbury

Franklin, Mary – Broughton Gifford

Ball, Stephen – Longbridge Deverill

Beams, Eliza – Ludgershall

Viney, Elizabeth – Salisbury

White, Emma – Hindon

Golding, female infant – Bowerchalke

Slatter, James – Seend

Cornish, Thomas – Monkton Farleigh

Carey, John – Melksham

Bright, Joseph – Seend

Mace, Amelia – Highworth

Hiscock, Caroline – Little Blunsden

Stevens, J – Pewsey

Matthews, John – Malmesbury

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