1/ Junction Hotel Suicide, Dorchester, August 1892
A 20-year-old man from Surbiton, on a cycling holiday, was found shot in the mouth in his room at the Junction Hotel, Dorchester. He was on a tour of Dorset, but went to buy a revolver in Dorchester, went back to his room, locked the door and shot himself. Identity unknown. (Still there-on Great Western Road)
2/ Portland Prison, Dorset, July 1875
Still there as far as I know (2016).This was the largest prison with around two thousand inmates. They used to be worked in the “Crown Quarries”, as a sort of slave labour, to mine Portland stone. Also home to John Lee, the Babbacombe murderer, who famously survived the hangman’s rope three times.
Portland Prison Suicides
3/ October 1898 -William Staines hung himself in his cell from towelling, then kicked the stool from underneath himself.
4/ July 1887 -Henry Marshall had had enough of being inside, so he leapt over a railing, and fell 40 feet. Unfortunately, he landed head-first on the pavement below.
5/ July 1875 -A prisoner by the name of Wells, jumped from one of the galleries inside the prison to the floor below. It was a drop of 60 feet, and he lingered till the next day but died in agony.
6/ Blandford Murder 1883
7/ Moreton Estate near Dorchester, October 1896
8/ Wool Station Train Death, February 1916
Private Alfred Brookes Wadham of the Australian Infantry, had been given leave to go to his mother’s funeral in London. He was entering the station at Wool, in Dorset, when he fell out of the compartment of the train, directly in front of an approaching train. His right leg was severed, and his head was crushed. Wadham was a widower and 31 years of age, and he also fought at Gallipoli and was invalided home. The verdict was one of “Accidental Death”.
9/ Christchurch, May 1903 (Young Woman Decapitated)
Another train accident in Dorset! This one was at Christchurch Railway Station and resulted in the death of Miss Sophie Cross, 32-year-old, who’d been staying with a mate of her’s at Southbourne, near Bournemouth. Sophie was standing on the platform at Christchurch Railway Station when the express to London flies past, and witnesses say she jumped in front of it. The body was recovered, minus the young lady’s head, which was severed from her body.
10/ Poole Harbour Drowning, September 1885
While the pleasure steamer Bournemouth was coaling in Poole Harbour, three men fell off the plank, and one of them, named Freeborn, was sadly drowned.
11/ Boscombe, (Three Drowned) October 1885
12/ Bridport, October 1883 (Lady’s Suicide)
This is one of “Did she?Didn’t she?” scenarios. At Bridport, there is a 300-foot high cliff, the East Cliff, and it is this that the girl named West either threw herself off or just slipped and fell. Her body was found at the base of East Cliff, badly mangled. West recently moved to Bridport, and told neighbours she would not go back to her husband, and regretted marrying him. A couple of days later, she sent a letter to a guy in London asking for financial assistance but got no reply, and then she got depressed about her whole situation. Sounds like suicide!
13/ Chewton Glen, Bournemouth, (Fatal Landslip) April 1906
Miss Florence Adela Leach was a telegraphist from Bournemouth Post Office, and she and some friends went for a day out, also accompanied by her fiance, George Rushford. They took a walk along the beach between Mudeford and Chewton Glen. All the girls wanted a group photo at the base of the cliff, and Mr Pulsford was ready to take the picture when 30 tons of cliff debris suddenly collapsed upon them. Everybody got away, but the exception was Miss Leach, who was completely buried by tons of earth. When she was dug out, she was already dead. (Suffocation was the cause of death).
14/ Swanage Fatal Landslip, August 1885
15/ Blandford Suicide, August 1892
A bizarre suicide of an old lady took place in Blandford, when 60-year-old Catherine Forsyth set her bedroom alight, then slit her throat. After the blaze had been extinguished, her badly charred body was brought out. She had a cord fastened around her neck, and this strange act is attributed to her “boyfriend” had left her and married another woman.
16/ Rimpton near Sherborne June 1858 (Scythe Accident)
An unlucky accident occurred in the little village of Rimpton near Sherborne, involving some men who were scything a meadow. Charles Hodder was in the meadow mowing the overgrown grass and reeds when it was time for a drinks break. Hodder took a swig of his favourite beverage and then continued to mow. He finished before his colleagues, so he lay down in the grass for a short kip. One of other’s failed to spot him and the tip of the scythe went straight into his jugular vein. By the time help was forthcoming, the man had lost too much blood, and died in the field. He leaves a wife and five children.
17/ Bournemouth, (Fireman Killed) October 1885
18/ Bournemouth, July 1895 ( Ex M.P. Found Dead)
Mr Francis Coldwells, was the former M.P. for North Lambeth, in London, was found dead by his wife. He was in the summer-house in the garden of the house he been staying at in Bournemouth. He was sixty-three and had complained of internal pains recently. (Is house there any more?)
19/ Bridport, March 1882 (Mob Revenge)
In October 1881 a lad named Harry Spencer hanged himself at Broad Oak near the town of Bridport. The rash act was down to the abusive treatment of him by certain relatives. On Guy Fawkes Night, effigies of his wife’s parents were burned, while a crowd threw stones at the house where they lived. Several men were bound over to keep the peace. However, Mrs Spencer, wife of the suicide, died. It was thought this was brought on by the constant harassment of the locals and fearing for her life. The mob also got what they wanted when the mother of Mrs Spencer, put a gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger, blowing the back of her head off. She had also been harassed by the mob, with that and her daughter’s death she decided to end it all.
20/ Poole Suicide, October 1893
This story has a slightly sad, romantic twist to it. It all starts with Alfred Bourlet, a Frenchman, who was engaged to Peddie, who was a Geordie girl, and she went to Bournemouth. While there, she died. Now, this would suggest wrongdoings on his part, but this is where the story differs from others. He was absolutely heartbroken and he came from Paris to take care of the funeral arrangements. He placed a wreath on her grave, wrote a note saying he was going to kill himself, and that”My heart died the same time as my darling’s”. His body was found next day on the beach at Poole.
21/ Dorchester, December 1885 (Did he Die?)
22/ Portland Prison Execution, August 1869
23/ Loders (Strange Deaths) September 9th 1870.
Two lads, George Brown and Arthur Symes, the former aged eight and the latter nine, living in the village of Loders, Dorset, met with a shocking death on Tuesday evening. They were driving a couple of cows to feed, and round the waist of each lad was fastened a rope, which was attached to the cow. The lads went leisurely along the road, picking nuts in the hedgerows when the animals suddenly took fright and dragged he lads after them at a furious pace. The lads were found lying in the road, quite dead, Brown having been completely scalped.
Loders, September 10th 1870.
24/ Portland Prison Death July 1870
25/ Portland Prison Murder, July 1870
26/ Execution of Portland Prison Murderer, August 1870.
27/ Weymouth’s Female Swindler, November 1870.
28/ Acid Attack in Poole High Street, October 1870 (Not a particularly uncommon headline in Victorian times. This cowardly act has made a comeback in the 2010’s of the UK)
29/ Fatal Fight in Fordington, December 1870
30/ Death in the Snow, near Beaminster. January 1866
31/ Death on the Railway, Weymouth. April 1866
A lad named Robert Baker, aged fifteen, lost his life on Saturday last, under the following circumstances:- The boy, with several others, was pushing some trucks on the rail, which are used by the corps of the Royal Engineers to convey materials for the construction of the Nothe Fort at the entrance of the harbour, and the lad Baker was riding upon the buffers of one of the trucks, which, being pushed over the incline leading into the fort, began to descend very quickly. The boy, evidently seeing the danger, tried to jump off, but in doing so he stumbled and was caught by the wheels of the truck, which passed over his neck. His neck proved to be dislocated when medical aid arrived shortly after the accident happened. He died within two hours after the accident, during which his sufferings were dreadful.
32/ Weymouth Boating Fatality, May 1866
33/ Fatal Accident at Harbour Bridge, Weymouth. October 1866
34/ Fatal Explosion at Weymouth (Sketchley’s Saw-Mill) March 1867
35/ Attack on a Warder, Portland Prison. November 1866 (Did the poor chap, Gale, survive?)
36/ Three Drown at Wyke Regis, June 1866
37/ Portland Railway Fatalities, October 6th, 1903. (Four Killed)
October 7th, 1903. (The Inquests)
38/ Death During a Parlour Game, Broadstone, Poole. January 1904. (Snap-Dragon is a parlour game played in the winter time. Raisins were placed in a brandy, then brandy was lit, then raisins were picked out.)
