1/ Mitcham, April 1845 (Parish Clerk Suicide)
51-year-old W.J.Clark,parish clerk of Mitcham, hung himself by a rope attached to a beam in an outhouse belonging to his father. Clark had a 22-year-old wife, and he left her and the child they had in bed when he left for work at eight a.m. He didn’t turn up for breakfast, so she got worried, went into his office and found a letter addressed to her. It stated that it was impossible for him to exist any more, and (as is common in most Victorian suicide letters), that he would be dead by the time she read this. The cause of the act is supposed to be down to the fact that he had been fiddling the book’s, in respect of the office of Actuary to the Mitcham Savings Bank, a position which he held.
2/ Wimbledon, February 1910 “You Betrayed Me” suicide note
Gilbert Augustus Rainger was a 70-year-old artist and was down in the dumps due to his wife leaving him.He had been in a lunatic asylum, also bell’s should have rung, and he told a neighbour he would away with himself.He took some cyanide and left three letters…..Weird letters!
“you allowed yourselves to be hoodwinked, and betrayed me, your own father, and put me away, a perfectly sane man, and ruined me, and then, one by one sneaked out of supporting me.If the police had paid you to assist them, you could not have done it better. For 13 years they have shadowed me, and influenced my customer’s, and taken my work from me and brought me to the depths of despair and made me destroy myself.Not one of you raised a finger to guard me against them. I leave you to providence and your own consciences”.
A son said that they had helped all they could, and his pension was due next week.Verdict-Suicide during temporary insanity.
3/ Wimbledon, May 1899 (Chopped too much off with scissor’s, still make out the main story)
4/ Stratford Broadway, Newham, January 1910
A corpse was being transported in a hearse from a hospital to Plashet Cemetery, and bearers were riding on the hearse.The horse suddenly rose up and reared when a car passed by and two men were thrown with some force to the ground. Both men had serious injuries, but one of them, named Defries, died from his injuries later on that day. The other, named Stahl, is in a precarious condition.
5/ Teenage Burglars at Plaistow, Newham, September 1885
6/ Canning Town Wife Murder, July 7th, 1885
7/ Canning Town Wife Murder, July 14th, 1885
8/ Raynes Park, Merton, May 1904
Miss Annie Boolt aged forty-five, was classed as a lunatic and was under the care of Dr Bradley, in an institution at Greville Park, Raynes Park, Merton. She escaped and ran to the train line which runs close to the institution and there she was run over by a passing engine and was decapitated. The jury returned the verdict of “Accidental Death”, but suggested that this would never have happened if she had been properly supervised.
9/ Plaistow, Newham, March 1899
10/ Wimbledon (Child Remains) October 1893
Workmen at a sewage farm discovered the decaying remains of a child in one of the receiving tanks. It was taken out, and rather oddly, the staff there decided to cover it in lime and chuck in the furnace, before contacting the appropriate authorities.
11/ Wimbledon (Decomposed Corpse Found) July 1869
A boy was roaming about in a wheat-field near Wimbledon (this was when Wimbledon had fields!), when he stumbled across the corpse of a man lying at the base of a tree, with his throat slit from ear to ear. It was decomposed, and the medical official estimated that he’d been dead about 2 months. He was in his forties and had sat down taken off his tie and coat and calmly cut his own throat with the razor that found next to him.
12/ West Ham, April 1895
Alice Kops was charged at West Ham Police Court with procuring her 13-year-old daughter and Albert Jacobs was charged with committing a criminal offence on the girl. The daughter told how her mother had made her walk the streets to earn money. She had the good sense to run away to her uncle’s house and sought refuge there. Selling your own daughter for sexual favours!
13/ Canning Town? (Children Vanish) October 17th, 1885
14/ Canning Town? October 19th, 1885
15/ Plaistow Murderer, October 1900
William Burnett was hanged at Chelmsford for the murder of his wife at Plaistow in August. Burnett had been living off the immoral earnings from his wife and he suddenly exploded into a rage when she told him to get a job. An argument ensued and he ended up stabbing her all over her body.
16/ Plaistow Fire Fatalities, November 1899
The home of George Kramin was engulfed in flames when the fire was finally extinguished, firemen and police found two children burned to death. They found a third later on and a fourth was discovered with life-threatening injuries. The parents had been out for the evening and left the kids to look after themselves.
17/ Three Mills Distillery, West Ham, July 1901
Four lives were lost at the Three Mills Distillery in West Ham, one of which was the Managing Director of the distillery, Mr Godfrey M.Nicholson. It all happened when a well on the premises was being checked to ascertain how deep it was. It’s near to River Lea which runs through the distillery and hadn’t been checked for ages, so along with Mr Nicholson, some men went down there. A man named Pickett went down the ladder to measure the depth and he shouted up that it was eleven feet deep, then he suddenly dropped to the bottom. Mr Godfrey Nicholson went to help Pickett, but he too was overcome. Mr Elliott, the foreman went to rescue them and he fell in, then finally, a chap named Underhill went down and became the last victim. It is thought that they had been overcome by foul air and gases down there. They didn’t send any more down after the first four died! Very sensible.
18/ East Ham/Little Ilford Child Murder, March 7th, 1899
19/ East Ham/Little Ilford Child Murder, March 22nd, 1899
20/ Wimbledon, October 1897
21/ Fatal Fire at Plaistow, January 1902 (Three Children Burn to Death)
22/ Manslaughter at a Pub in Plaistow, March 1904.
23/ Electrocuted to Death, Pudding Mill Lane, Stratford. March 1904.
24/ Fatal Fire at Channelsea Road, Stratford. May 1906 (Six killed, three of them children)
25/ Shooting Accident, Barking and West Ham Marshes. November 1880
26/ Tragic Death at Stratford New Market Station. November 1880
An inquiry was held yesterday by Mr Collier at the East London Hospital as to the death of Joseph Stroud, forty-seven, late inspector of the Stratford New Market Station. On Tuesday last he was coupling some trucks at the Stratford New Market Station, on the Great Eastern Railway, when one of the chains which he had hold of for support broke, and he fell onto the metals. Before he could regain his feet the wheels of one of the trucks passed over him, causing injuries which resulted in his death. A verdict of “Accidental death” was returned.
27/ Fatal Accident on Plaistow Marshes. October 1880
