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Tragic Deaths from Long Ago
Clare Martin
The Tragedy of the Edwin Family
Headstone commemorating Thomas and Elizabeth Edwin and their family
This headstone illustrates the tragedy of infant mortality 200 years ago. The gravestone was erected in St James churchyard in memory of Thomas and Elizabeth Edwin and their 16 children who all died before them, 14 of them in infancy. Between 1792 and 1814, Elizabeth Edwin gave birth to 17 children. Eight of these children were not baptised because they died so soon after birth or perhaps were stillborn. The other six infants all died within five months of being baptised. In the midst of this, further tragedy struck when the first-born child, Thomas, died in July 1803 aged 11. Since death certificates did not exist before 1837, the cause of the Edwin children’s deaths is unknown. Thomas Edwin, a baker and son of the Thomas Edwin mentioned in The Great Fire of Great Horwood, was one of the wealthier villagers so the family probably did not live in squalor. The most likely explanation is that the children shared a fatal congenital medical condition.
The Edwin family's home on Little Horwood Road
At last, in 1805, the couple’s eleventh child, Martha, was born and survived but in May 1817 their only surviving son, John, died aged 19. Elizabeth Edwin died in September 1822, aged 49, and Thomas Edwin died in July 1827 aged 64. On 25th February 1829 Martha Edwin married Samuel Gamaliel Aveline, sadly with none of her own family surviving to witness their marriage. She and Samuel lived into their late seventies but never had children, perhaps because they did not want to risk further tragedy.
More Tragic Deaths from Long Ago
Newspaper reports of inquests reveal some of the other tragic or unusual ways in which Great Horwood and Singleborough residents died. These are some examples:
Newspaper reports of inquests reveal some of the other tragic or unusual ways in which Great Horwood and Singleborough residents died. These are some examples:
Saw-pit Suffocation
Henry Cooper, a farmer, was returning home drunk from one of the village public houses on the night of 20th December 1755 when he fell headfirst into a saw-pit full of rainwater and ‘suffocated’. Verdict -‘accidental death’.
Deadly Prank
In September 1783, Thomas Short of Singleborough:
Henry Cooper, a farmer, was returning home drunk from one of the village public houses on the night of 20th December 1755 when he fell headfirst into a saw-pit full of rainwater and ‘suffocated’. Verdict -‘accidental death’.
Deadly Prank
In September 1783, Thomas Short of Singleborough:
as he was driving a cart loaded with beans, (being his last or Harvest-home load) some persons in the street wantonly threw water upon the horses, by which means they took fright and threw him down, when the near wheel passed over his body, which so much bruised and otherwise hurt him, that he languished in great agony two days and then died.
Verdict – Accidental death.
A Cakeman’s Fate
One evening in November 1827 James Short, a travelling cakeman from Great Horwood, enjoyed a pint of beer in the Shoulder of Mutton in Calverton before taking some cakes to an adjoining farmhouse. On his way out in the dark, he failed to see a pond, fell in and was discovered dead by Mr Elliott, landlord of the inn. ‘Every means was used to restore animation but the vital spark was extinct. Verdict – Found Drowned’.
Cause of Death Unknown
In September 1832, William Harrup of Great Horwood, aged about 40, ‘on retiring to rest as usual was discovered in the morning a corpse’. Verdict – ‘Died by the Visitation of God’.
Bonfire Night Death
12-year-old Thomas Harris, brother of the memoirist, John, was commemorating the Gunpowder Plot with other boys by letting off fireworks on Bonfire Night 1843. One lad, George Harrup, had part of a gun barrel with a stick pushed into one end as a handle. The boys put gunpowder, rammed down with paper, into the hole and then the older boys persuaded Thomas to apply a lighted stick to the touch hole. The powder exploded and blew the stick with such force against his chest that, although it did not break the skin, Thomas ‘cried oh! three times, fell down and died about an hour afterwards’. The Coroner berated the other boys, some of whom were 18 or 19, for allowing Thomas to fire the powder off when they had admitted that they were too scared to do it themselves. Verdict – Accidental death.
A Cakeman’s Fate
One evening in November 1827 James Short, a travelling cakeman from Great Horwood, enjoyed a pint of beer in the Shoulder of Mutton in Calverton before taking some cakes to an adjoining farmhouse. On his way out in the dark, he failed to see a pond, fell in and was discovered dead by Mr Elliott, landlord of the inn. ‘Every means was used to restore animation but the vital spark was extinct. Verdict – Found Drowned’.
Cause of Death Unknown
In September 1832, William Harrup of Great Horwood, aged about 40, ‘on retiring to rest as usual was discovered in the morning a corpse’. Verdict – ‘Died by the Visitation of God’.
Bonfire Night Death
12-year-old Thomas Harris, brother of the memoirist, John, was commemorating the Gunpowder Plot with other boys by letting off fireworks on Bonfire Night 1843. One lad, George Harrup, had part of a gun barrel with a stick pushed into one end as a handle. The boys put gunpowder, rammed down with paper, into the hole and then the older boys persuaded Thomas to apply a lighted stick to the touch hole. The powder exploded and blew the stick with such force against his chest that, although it did not break the skin, Thomas ‘cried oh! three times, fell down and died about an hour afterwards’. The Coroner berated the other boys, some of whom were 18 or 19, for allowing Thomas to fire the powder off when they had admitted that they were too scared to do it themselves. Verdict – Accidental death.
Gravestone ‘In memory of the children of Grant & Jane Harris’. Thomas is the fourth of five names listed.
Wagon Tragedy
Several children were following a wheat wagon in August 1863 when six-year-old Richard Lee fell against the moving wheel, trapping his arm in it, and was badly injured.
Several children were following a wheat wagon in August 1863 when six-year-old Richard Lee fell against the moving wheel, trapping his arm in it, and was badly injured.
On being extricated he was at once taken to Dr Denne’s surgery where every attention was shown him, but his system suffered so much from the shock that he sunk beneath it the following day. Verdict – accidental death.
Lee family gravestone. Richard Lee's name and age are just visible in the centre of the stone.
A Terrible Shock for Ellen
Young Ellen Marks came home for lunch on 9th May 1872, only to find her baby brother crying and her 36-year-old mother Ann ‘kneeling against a box in the bed-room as if in the act of taking out some article of clothing’. She was dead. At the inquest before the appropriately named Coroner, Mr R De’ath, Mr Wynter, a surgeon of Winslow, said that he had known Ann since she was a child and that she had always suffered from weakness ‘which was increased by suckling her last child too long’. Verdict – death from natural causes.
Someone Gets Away With Murder
80-year-old labourer James Bull of Singleborough was found dead in his bed on 2nd January 1895 with a cord twisted tightly round his neck. Dr Henry Walker of Winslow told the inquest that:
Young Ellen Marks came home for lunch on 9th May 1872, only to find her baby brother crying and her 36-year-old mother Ann ‘kneeling against a box in the bed-room as if in the act of taking out some article of clothing’. She was dead. At the inquest before the appropriately named Coroner, Mr R De’ath, Mr Wynter, a surgeon of Winslow, said that he had known Ann since she was a child and that she had always suffered from weakness ‘which was increased by suckling her last child too long’. Verdict – death from natural causes.
Someone Gets Away With Murder
80-year-old labourer James Bull of Singleborough was found dead in his bed on 2nd January 1895 with a cord twisted tightly round his neck. Dr Henry Walker of Winslow told the inquest that:
He could find no sign of violence; only a rope round the deceased’s neck, which was twisted three times round very tightly and tied in front. The arms were straight down the body, and the hands clenched. The bed clothes were very neatly laid over the body. There was no evidence of any struggle beyond a deep indentation round the pillow.
On performing the post-mortem he believed:
The actual cause of death was syncope [fainting]. The only symptoms of strangulation was [sic] the lungs being congested and the cord being drawn so tightly round the neck.
The foreman of the jury did not think that Bull could possibly have tied the cord himself because the bed was so neatly arranged and his arms so straight:
The jury, after a lengthy consideration found that deceased died from failure of the heart’s action, there being no evidence to show whether the cord found round his neck had, or had not, anything to do with the cause of death.
Station Accident
On 29th September 1902 James Mallett, 31, was loading 2cwt bags of oil cake [animal feed] on to a wagon at Winslow railway station when the wagon broke and tipped up, trapping him between the wagon and two or three of the bags. Though in pain, he got up and continued his work, thinking that he had escaped serious injury. Unfortunately, the accident had ruptured his stomach, allowing its contents to leak into his abdominal cavity and chest. He developed peritonitis and pleural pneumonia and died nearly a month after the accident. Verdict – ‘Death from injuries accidentally received at Winslow station’.
Unusual Suicide
On 2nd April 1905 George Hobbs of Spring Lane, Great Horwood drowned himself in a well. He had been suffering from influenza but ignored Dr Kennish’s advice to go to bed and ‘go on his club’, that is to say, claim from the sick benefit club while unable to work. The Coroner, Mr Thomas Vaisey, felt that, if only Hobbs had followed the doctor’s advice and rested for a few days, he would have been all right. Instead, Hobbs left for work as usual that Sunday morning but, passing the well on the way, he took off the lid and climbed in. He was found when his nephew, Percy Bowden, spotted his hat by the well. Levi Marks brought a pitchfork and drag. ‘He put the drag underneath the feet and the body came straight up standing…quite cold and stiff’. Verdict – committed suicide while in a state of temporary insanity.
Sources:
Stuart Reynolds and Andrew Howard, St James Church Great Horwood: Outline plan of Churchyard, MS, January 1988.
Buckingham Advertiser, Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Aylesbury News, Bucks Herald, Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, Derby Mercury, Huddersfield Daily Chronicle, Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, Norfolk Chronicle, Northampton Mercury, Morning Post, Oxford Journal, various issues.
Stuart Reynolds and Andrew Howard, St James Church Great Horwood: Outline plan of Churchyard, MS, January 1988.
Buckingham Advertiser, Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Aylesbury News, Bucks Herald, Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, Derby Mercury, Huddersfield Daily Chronicle, Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, Norfolk Chronicle, Northampton Mercury, Morning Post, Oxford Journal, various issues.
© Clare Martin, 2012.