The Mysterious Death of Amelia Woolcott

[hmmm_tea]

When digging around family history, you sometimes come across newspaper articles about your relations. The vast majority of the ones I've seen about my family have been someone has been to visit a relation or an obituary rather than big newsworthy stories.

And then there's this article from the London Chronicle 18 February 1873 concerning the death of my 3x Great Grandmother, which seems to be a lot more grizzly then I'd ever imagined...

MYSTERIOUS DEATH IN THE EUSTON ROAD.

Dr. Lankester, the coroner for Central Middlesex, held on Saturday evening a lengthened investigation into the circumstances attending the death of Mrs. Amelia Woolcott, aged 61 years, wife of a carpenter and builder, living at 3, Wilstead-cottages, Euston-road. The court was crowded to excess during the whole of the proceedings.

George Samuel Woolcott stated that deceased was his mother. Early on the morning of Sunday the 2d inst. he went home (it was snowing very fast at the time) and found deceased insensible, and lying in a pool of blood in the front yard. He called for Assistance and removed her into the house. She remained in an insensible state without any medical attendance until the 5th, when Dr. Turnbull was called in. She never recovered her senses, and died on the 8th. He had not known his father to strike or illuse the decease for over two years past.

Mr. William Turnbull, M.R.C.S., 100, Hampstead-road, said he was called to see deceased on the 5th inst.; she was in a fit of apoplexy with convulsions. He was kept in ignorance of her being found insensible in the snow. He recommended that a nurse should be procured to attend her. She remained in an insensible state until her death. He would have given a certificate, but a sister called at his surgery and told him that deceased was a murdered woman; so he communicated with the Coroner, by whose order he made a post mortem examination, which showed that the cause of death was an effusion of blood on the brain from some blow or heavy fall.

George Woolcott, the husband of deceased, stated that on Saturday, the 1st inst., he had been with some friends, and went home between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, when he saw the deceased lying on the bed asleep. He lay down and recollected nothing more until he was aroused by his son, who asked if he knew where deceased was. He replied "No." He went downstairs and found her lying in a pool of blood in the front yard. He did not know how she got there.

After some further evidence the jury, having consulted, returned the following verdict:- "That the deceased expired from an effusion of blood on the brain, caused by a violent blow or a fall, but how or by whom caused the evidence failed to show."

Left me with far more questions than it answered, but certainly changed the way I look at my 3x Great Grandfather.

I do find it strange how matter-of-fact the article is. I know it was a different time, but I'd like to think that even back then something like this wasn’t completely normal.

Comments

[silver_chipmunk]

That is indeed very mysterious and strange. Could serve as the basis for a story or novel.

[miscuartosamores]

That is such a bittersweet find. Hopefully you'll be able to find more on what happened, if there is anything to find.

[gwendraith]

Wow, what a find albeit a sad one. I wonder what happened to her? It does sound a bit suspicious but who knows.

I've had some great finds like that, one very sad for my 4th great grandmother Hester, "died from burns sustained when her son dropped a candle wick into a jar of turpentine". The Globe - Saturday 14 September 1805 issue.

There's also a complete trial transcript of a case at the Old Bailey. My 4th great grandfather was a witness. He was a Thames Waterman working for another Waterman who stole £20. Long story short, this led to my grandfather, Samuel, taking over the boat and having his own business as postman on the river Thames in the Pool of London in 1810, delivering letters to and from ships. These waterman passed their business from father to son or brother and my families line of ownership lasted 142 years until the post of river postman was terminated in 1952 in favour of land postmen. It was fascinating finding all the other family in the post office records.

Sorry for the long comment, I get carried away with ancestry!

[hmmm_tea]

No worries about the long comment, I find these things interesting too.

It's always more interesting when you can find some back story to their lives. There are a few that I'm particularly interested in at the moment including a gardener, a Greenwich pensioner and a rag merchant from London who died owning 5 houses (I still haven't worked out where he got them).

[gwendraith]

It's true that a back story and the social history is what makes it so interesting rather than just having a name.

The London rag merchant is interesting. I hope you get more info about how he made enough money to invest in houses, or how he got them. Did he leave a will?

[wantedonvoyage]

The father and the son.. if she was in that bad shape, why did't they call someone in sooner, one must wonder? And we don't know how it turned out.

My father recently did a search of news articles for my church as we celebrate our 100th anniversary. I noticed that in the earlier period of time covered (from 1925) there was much more bandwidth (and--I assume--appetite) for news of the sort you first describe, like:

"Mrs. Florence Abernathy arrived in town on Tuesday's Silver Meteor to visit her sister Gertrude. As she alighted from the train, she was wearing that blue gingham number that had men and boys alike agog at least year's Strawberry Festival.

But as we got closer to the present, it was harder and harder to find coverage of even (relatively) major milestones, such as the 75th anniversary that occurred not long before my own arrival.

[hmmm_tea]

I think partly it would be medicine not being what it is today and also the fact doctors were probably expensive back then and they probably weren't well off.

She did somehow manage to survive 6 days (without medical help for the first half of them).

It's funny what the newspapers would use to cover, one example I've seen from 1919 simply says the following:

Miss Myrtle McNamara who has been visiting her sister Mrs J. Stevens in Philadelphia returned to her home on Tuesday.

It seems every little coming and going used to be newsworthy.

[batlatte]

Oh wow, what a terrible thing to come across, though very fascinating!

[rafqa]

I actually kind of appreciate the way they conveyed the bizarreness and deep suspicion around this tragedy, through a matter-of-fact and "objective" article--I think it comes through. What a sad and disturbing story.

[hmmm_tea]

Yes, in some ways it's a shame modern papers need to be more dramatic about these things to boost their sales.