Coroner’s Inquests 1863 cases
There were 89 cases in 1863, presented in six sub-pages.
Thomas Obern, and three or four other spinners at Trowbridge, went out drinking on Saturday morning, for three or four hours, before returning to their workplace, where Mr James Cogswell, master-spinner, their employer, had his counting house, at the top of a flight of stairs. On asking for his money, his employer refused to countenance his intoxicated condition and told him to come back after laying down – on turning to descend the stairs, Obern fell down the entire stair and lay unconscious at the bottom, where his employer laid him down to sleep it off, except that this snoring sleep became a permanent sleep.
George Wheeler seemed to be an amiable friendly seventeen year old, and was interested enough in some workmen pulling down an old barn to try and help them, despite their trying to warn him off – why didn’t he listen to them?
William Read took his own life from a common and I think reasonable fear, that he might end his days in the union workhouse.
It’s easy to forget these days that when the railways were in their youth people commonly walked along the rails – Isabella Gunton travelled from Paddington on her way to Plymouth, and a young man had asked the railway staff to keep an eye on her, but at Swindon she appeared to have descended the train, walked along the platform, and then about three miles down the line, where she sat down to pull off her slippers, and was there destroyed.
There would be many fatal accidents on cycles in later years, but in this year Frederick Heath attempted to ride a velocipede home from chapel, but when his son shouted him to jump off when approaching a small stream in the road, he fell backwards and hit his head.
Singler, female infant – Westbury
Roberts, Mary – Bishops Cannings
Musselwhite, Henry – Barford St Martin
Simmonds, Rose – Donhead St Andrew
Halliday, Stephen – Trowbridge
Biffin, Samuel – West Lavington
Roff, Samuel – Collingbourne Ducis
Ingram, Giles – Fisherton Delamere
Sloper, George – East Lavington
Smockomb, Stephen – Broughton Giffard
Grant, William – Bradford on Avon
Dunford, female infant – Chitterne
Gillard, female infant – Donhead St Mary
Blistow, Sarah – Kingston Deverill
Druitt, male infant – Tedworth
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