The year that saw the out-break of the Great War showed us clearly the fragility of the burgeoning air forces, with a series of disastrous air crashes on Salisbury Plain with the Gipps, Downer, Allen, Treeby, and Skene and Barlow cases.
The Brown / Dredge lovers’ suicide pact is the only such I have come across to use the verdict felo de se, which means ‘murder of self,’ indicating that they clearly knew and consented in their own deaths, and were not insane at the time.
The outbreak of the War both flooded the press and society with patriotism, and Salisbury Plain with soldiers from around the Empire. There are a number of deaths of Soldiers, some attributable to the inevitable rush at the onset of such a conflict, and one or two perhaps to the dawning of the nearness of personal battle.
The Resnick case is curious, featuring as it does Jewish craftsmen from London down in Wiltshire working on the camps. One wonders if there was an undercurrent of anti-Jewish feeling at the start of the Great War, for it seems possible the drunkard definitely pulled Resnick down on to the track and under the wheels of the train.
Brown, Walter / Dredge, Dorothy Redlynch
Allen, Clement / Burroughs, James Bulford
Frances infant Donhead St Andrew
Skene, Robin / Barlow, Raymond Netheravon
Biddiscombe, Frederick Donhead St Mary
Dorrington, Job Sutton Mandeville
Please see Copyright notice on the Home Page
Wiltshire Coroner's Inquests 1801-1920 
Posted by noel on January 19, 2017 at 4:39 pm
charles smith dies at bulford camp in september 1914 he was from longparish nr andover . any info on cause of death ?
Posted by bensloper on January 19, 2017 at 11:15 pm
Hello, I do not have the answer to that query Noel. You may look on freebmd to try and find the ref no for a death certificate and then apply to the relevant local registrar for a death certificate. There is a Charles Smith noted in newspaper items of Oct and Nov 1914 as deserting from Bulford, but, of course, its a very common name indeed. I found this on the British Newspaper Archive, a super resource you should have a look at. Good luck.