Worcestershire – Death On My Doorstep

1/ Kempsey Church Suicide, (Name?) March 1874

An awful suicide took place near the church door of this little Worcestershire village. He shot himself by putting the gun in his mouth and discharging the weapon. His head was shattered and bits of his face were found near the scene.

2/ Kempsey, January 1849 (Lucky Escape)

A sad accident occurred at Kempsey when a young lad fell off a ladder but landed flat on his feet. He then stumbled back and fell into a well. Talk about unlucky!. He was heard moving about and he had managed to grab on to the wall and was eventually rescued. Talk about lucky!

3/ Hadzor Double Murder, near Droitwich, September 1901

A widow named Gordon had moved to Hadzor Wood with her four and a half-year-old son, for the sake of his health. A neighbour was told by Mrs Gordon that her sister was being released from Warneford Asylum and was coming to stay for a few weeks. The sister, Annie McDonnell was picked up at Oxford by Mrs Gordon and went back to Hadzor with her. They were pleased to see each other, but this must have quickly changed at night time, because the following morning the postman named Harris, dropped off the post and saw Miss McDonnell covered in blood and lying on the floor. He ran to get help and when he returned she’d gone from that spot and moved to a well in the garden! When the body was lifted up, she had razor cuts on her arms and legs. Back in the house the bodies of her two victims, Mrs Gordon and her son. Both had their heads smashed in with a hammer, but both were still alive but only just, but neither had the strength to utter a word and died soon afterwards. The evidence suggests that McDonnell was not well enough for a home visit and had gone on a frantic rampage.

4/ Melton Grange Suicide, Malvern, December 1889

5/ ???, Worcestershire, January 1890

6/ Worcester, August 1854

Worcester was in a state of shock at hearing the news that Dr Grahamsley, the medical superintendent of the Worcester City and County Lunatic Asylum at Powick, had killed himself by taking prussic acid. He was in fine fettle last week when he was in Worcester itself, and there is no reason why he should commit the rash act. He is Scottish by birth and got the position at the Asylum when it was finished two or three years ago. (Did he kill himself in the Asylum?)

7/ Wolverley near Kidderminster, June 1888 (Child Murder)

8/ Shatterford Murder, June 1888

9/ Upper Arley, September 1873 (Human Remains Found)

Human remains have been discovered in the Severn at Upper Arley in Worcestershire. They are male and of an adult and are really disfigured. They have been in the water for three or four months and the corpse has been handed to the surgeon for a proper examination. (Who was it?)

10/ Worcester Cathedral Fatality, January 1857

The cathedral at Worcester was under repair and work was being done to restore the sacred edifice. Three men were repairing the south transept, when a fatal accident occurred, the second fatal accident within a few weeks. The names of the men were Charles Ogbourne, Thomas Southern and William Jones, and they were up scaffolding fifty feet high, and fixing poles and planks to make it higher still. Everything was going OK until one of the poles broke and they were precipitated to the stone floor below them. The works foreman, Charles Butt, found the three men lying there and he got help and they were taken to Worcester Infirmary. Charles Ogbourne died after a couple of hours, Jones had a concussion, and a broken leg and shoulder and Southern received serious injuries, but they are not life-threatening.

11/ Worcester/Severn, January 1903 (Mysterious Death)

An open verdict was returned by a coroner’s jury at Worcester on Friday in the case of an unknown man who was found drowned in the Severn with his hands and feet tied together. The tied hands had been caught in a bush growing at the edge of the water.

12/ Bromsgrove November 1897 (Murder/Suicide?)

A man’s body, aged in his mid to late forties, was found by a labourer on the Birmingham Road in Bromsgrove, opposite the gates of All Saints Vicarage. A razor was laid next to the body and the head was nearly severed from the neck.

13/ Worcester, November 1902

George Jakeman, employed by Mr Walter Grundy, a butcher of Worcester, went to attend to the cows and some time afterwards he was found dead in the farm buildings, having received a kick from a cow which struck him over the heart and apparently caused instantaneous death.

14/ Great Malvern Suicide, March 1890

15/ Worcester Teenage Suicide, May 1891

This is a determined effort to commit suicide by a thirteen-year-old girl in Worcestershire. As the express train trundled into Worcester and a young naked girl ran in front of the engine and she was squashed on the line. Police sent a P.C. Williams to clear up the matter and when he got there he was horrified to find that the corpse was that of his niece, Kate Hughes, who lived at Kings Winsford. Her clothes were found under an archway under the main line and they were soaking wet, which suggests that she tried to drown herself first. (She did try at Loughern Brook).

16/ St Cloud Mansion Fire, Powick, November 1902

17/ Spetchley/Ravenshill Railway Fatality, June 1847

The drunken antics of three Navvies ended up with fatal results, in between Ravenshill and Spetchley on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway. They had all been drinking heavily and they stopped next to the railway tracks for a sleep. (This seems to ask for trouble!) During their sleep, they fidgeted about and ended up on the line. A train came through and ran over the head of one, and causing serious injuries to the other two. (Who were they?/Did anyone else die?)

18/ St John’s, Worcester September 1864 (Died of Shock)

A tradesman’s daughter from St John’s, Worcester, saw the dead bodies of a man and woman being taken out of the Severn after they both committed suicide together and she consequently died of the shock of it all. She was walking over the bridge at the time they were fished out and being a delicate creature in the first place, she keeled over and died at the scene. (What bridge?/What suicides?)

19/ Worcester Assizes, May 1885 (Murder Charges)

20/ Bromsgrove, August 1885 (Fatal Gun Accident)

On Friday night two boys named Mitchell and Hartle were playing in the house of the latter at Bromsgrove when the report of a gun was heard and a labourer entering the house found Mitchell shot dead through the temple. A gun belonging to Hartle’s older brother, which had recently been discharged, was lying near. Hartle ran away but was arrested soon afterwards.

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22/ Norton, (Soldier’s Suicide), March 1895

23/ River Severn Drownings, near Worcester, August 1892

George Reynolds of Buscott near Gloucester and John Stokes of Kidderminster, who were both employed on the Severn improvement works, went to bathe in the river a few miles below Worcester. Suddenly Reynolds was seized with cramp and sank. Stokes heard him cry out before he disappeared and went to his assistance, but he also sank and both young men were drowned.

24/ Arley Drownings, July 1885

25/ Foregate Street Railway Station, Worcester May 1888 (Infant Remains)

A parcel from Reading had been at the booking office for six weeks with no-one claiming it. A foul stench was emanating from the package so they opened it and found the decomposing remains of an infant. It had been wrapped in linen and a paper from March the 25th was underneath. Inside was the inscription:-“April 16th. By goods train to Reading. Mr Green, Foregate Street Station, Worcester. To be called for.” Police are investigating the matter.

26/ Worcester Executions, March 1890

27/ Ombersley Suicide, (Wife Takes Her Time), January 1863

A middle-aged beerhouse keeper named Thomas May was discovered hanging in a hay-loft adjoining the house. Owning a beer-house was not a good move for May, as it fuelled his alcoholism and had been drunk for a fortnight all except three days. May told his wife one morning that he was off to Kidderminster, swigged a couple of pints of cider, then left. His wife was in the garden when she heard some noise from hay-loft, so she went to take a look. Her husband was suspended from a beam. Instead of cutting him down she calmly put on her hat and shawl and walked two miles to get her 15-year-old son to help her. She then walked home and waited for the lad to arrive, after he’d finished his work. At midday, they both entered the hay-loft and the son ran off to get the local constable. On her way to get her son, she met several people but never mentioned her husband, saying that it would cause a furore in the village. Apparently, he was a violent man and had tried to kill himself a couple of times before and the marriage was not a happy one.

28/ Bournheath, September 1885

29/ Worcester Suicide, June 1891

William Jenkins a labourer, had a barney with his missus one morning and stormed out in a mood. Several hours passed by and he hadn’t been seen and the wife grew more and worried. She had a look around for him and nearly fainted when she went to the top of the house and found him hanging in a doorway, stark naked. He got undressed, tied the rope above the doorway of the garret stairs and made a noose with other end and swung himself off.

30/ Pershore, March 1898 (Coroner’s Suicide)

31/ Worcester Child Murder/Suicide, April 1895

32/ Church Tavern Suicide, Mealcheapen Street, Worcester, January 1859

A woman of about forty years of age walked into the Church Tavern in Mealcheapen Street in Worcester and got a room for the night. A female attendant waited on her and she was not seen until the next morning when the usual story occurred. They knock on the door, no answer, so they force open the door and find a dead body in the room. This unknown woman was hanging from a bedpost and had tied a scarf around her neck, causing her death from asphyxia. Mary Phillips said the deceased had mentioned to her of losing her husband and the woman had left some letters that could throw some light on the matter. They stated that she had lost her husband by death and she was in difficulty financially and she addressed the person as “Eliza” in the letters. One of them read:

” I was walking around my little room all last night, and this man kept by me. I said what shall I do put a knife in the hair if your harm it will soon be over. I said no William, my husband, I come to share your fate, whatever it may be. O, my God, my God have mercy. ” Another piece of scrap paper had the following written on it:-

“Mrs Pardos- do not advertise me for I have no friend in the world, but the mad House, therefore I must trust you as a stranger and the Lord will reward you for taking Charity, I have no power, so you can sell my close and my chain there. Mr Hemmings, 20 High St, Worcester offers me fifty shillings for it. Worth more than that. But I have not the bill with me, C.F.Yarnold”

She had twenty-six shillings in her pocket, a few nick-nacks and a gold chain. She may have come from Liverpool, but other than this information nothing is known about her. Most of the letter contents are somewhat gibberish but it was what she wrote!

33/ Alvechurch near Redditch, March 3rd, 1885

34/ Alvechurch Murder, near Redditch, March 10th 1885

35/ Alvechurch near Redditch May 8th, 1885

36/ Alvechurch Murder, near Redditch, May 26th, 1885

James Berry performed the hanging and as the fatal bolt was drawn to allow the drop, the black flag announced to outsiders that the hanging was to take place. This hanging went slightly wrong, as the long drop nearly severed Shrimpton’s head from his body and a huge gash appeared in the throat. As a consequence of this b***s up, there was an inquest into what went wrong.

37/ Worcester Murder, June 1899

38/ Worcester Railway Suicide, July 1870

39/ Bewdley Drowning, December 5th 1870

The body of a middle-aged man has been found in the Severn, under circumstances of some suspicion. Some children on the riverside near Bewdley noticed the body floating along, and they informed some men of it, and the body was got out. It had all the appearance of a gentleman’s servant. There was no coat on the man and he had several scalp wounds. The body was removed to the adjacent inn, pending an inquiry before the coroner.