There are 33 cases in 1882.
Susannah Berry, an old woman (woman being the lower-class term, as opposed to lady) fell on to a candle and could not get up, dying hideously from burns. Sarah Symes, also an aged lady, drank herself to an early death. Sarah Yarlett threw herself determinedly into shallow water under the influence of drink. William Brittan was yet another victim of moving shafting and belts in a mill.
St Mary’s Home in Salisbury was a female penitentiary, where young females could reform their lives, parting with their illegitimate offspring in the process – the case of Edward Tapper throws a little light on what happened to the children in such cases. The last days of women on the tramp are shown in the Unknown female cases at Amesbury and Collingbourne Ducis.
Elizabeth Penny lived in a small cot at Taylor’s Almshouses in Bedwin Street, subsisting on a pittance and a few pennies she could make for odd jobs – even Sam Sims, a fellow inmate, said she looked ‘picket.’
Dangerfield, Frederick Swindon
Unknown female Collingbourne Ducis
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Wiltshire Coroner's Inquests 1801-1920 