Disappointing search for an inquest report

Steve Bumstead

Steve Bumstead

Well-Known Member
Following the news of the new instant images on the GRO site I checked my list of missing certificates and plunged in. The first death entry I downloaded was for my ancestor, Elizabeth Dix who died in Bath in 1866, hoping for little more than the name of the informant. I was shocked and intrigued by the cause of death which was 'Accidental Burning'. I immediately searched on FMP newspaper records, hoping to find an account of the inquest in either the Bath or Bristol papers, but could find nothing. Knowing how much the Victorian papers loved a gory inquest I was quite surprised. The record shows the informant as A H English, coroner of Bath, and the inquest was dated January 6th 1866, the same day as the death. Perhaps burnings in the home were so common this didn't warrant a newspaper report.

The one thing that also came as a surprise was the mention of her husband's profession as a 'Wheel-chairman'; no doubt manning one of the Bath Chairs, quite common in the spa town
 
When trying to find an inquest report for a gr.grandfather who reportedly jumped in front of a train and was killed i didn't have any luck either. I think they were hit and miss with keeping these records. As you say, there are some pretty gory ones out there.
 
I've tried and failed I'm afraid. Can you tell me what Elizabeth's husband's name was and do you have an address where it happened? You're right in thinking that getting burnt to death at home was a fairly common occurrence, what with open fires and candles. Those who suffered the most appear to be children and the elderly - children's deaths by burning were reported far more that those of adults. The elderly I have come across whose inquests record an 'accidental death', usually succumbed to sitting too close to an open fire and falling asleep, or standing too close and having their clothing set alight :( If you can give me any more details, I'll have another look.
 
Thanks Ann; Elizabeth's husband was Thomas Dix (sometimes Dicks) and he had died in 1832 - I've found Elizabeth in each census 1841-61, always in the Walcot area of Bath. They were a fairly poor family it seems. She died at 9 Arundel Place, Northampton Street, just behind the Royal Crescent and was 82 years old according to the death entry (the burial record at the St Swithins area of Locksbrook Cemetery gives a slightly younger age I think).

I've always had a spot of trouble with this line, and never found a definitive marriage for Elizabeth and Thomas although I suspect it is the one dated July 2nd 1815 at St Michaels Bath, between Thomas Dicks and Elizabeth Robbins. The eldest child I've found (no baptism discovered so far) was Hannah, born c 1817 which would seem to fit.
 
Well, I've tried everything I can think of and still had no luck. However, I did find the following article which could possibly (just possibly) be your Hannah. The fact that she is termed 'poor' and that she was living in Walcot does fit, but without knowing if there was another Hannah Dicks/Dix who would fit the bill it can only be supposition.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette 16th April 1846
A poor woman, apparently almost in a starving state, with a child at the breast, who gave her name as Hannah Dicks, was charged with stealing and pledging a sheet, value 25s., the property of Jos. Ashley, a gardener, living in Gay's Buildings, Walcot. The magistrates evinced a reluctance to proceed with the charge, but the prosecutor pressed the case. It appeared that the prisoner had taken a furnished room of the prosecutor, about three weeks ago, and brought a man to live with her as her husband, who proved not he so. On Wednesday, the sheet was missed from the bed, and on the prisoner being taken into custody, she acknowledged that she had pawned it at Mr Anthony's to procure food for her children. The duplicate was found between the bed and the sacking. The pledging by the prisoner was proved. The prisoner, on being asked, with the usual caution, if she had any statement to make, said she would state the real truth: and went on to say, that a woman whom she named, who lodged in a room adjoining her own, asked her one day if she had got any food for her children. The prisoner replied that she had not. The woman then said to her that she had nothing to eat herself, and told her (prisoner) to take the sheet and pledge it, and gave her a brown-holland apron to take with it. Prisoner pledged them in the name of her adviser, and brought home the money to her, when she promised she would positively take them out on Saturday. They then bought some provisions with it, and gave to their children. The prisoner was committed for trial. Mr Batsford, the committing magistrate, told the prosecutor that he had no doubt done what was strictly required the law; but had he been less rigidly disposed in the case, the magistrates would have seconded his humanity under circumstances so distressing. The prisoner's children were ordered to be sent to the Union.
 
Oh Ann, thanks so much for this; I think this must be my Hannah for many of the details fit. What a distressing story - I knew the family were probably always on the edge, and this would confirm it. Hannah's partner was Henry Mitchell, a French polisher and they had, in all, eight children together of whom only three lived to adulthood. They never seemed to have married (although banns for a wedding were listed in 1842 they don't appear to have been called). They lived in Walcot until late 1846/7 when they moved to Bristol but returned in the early 1850s. Hannah died in Bath in December 1859 of consumption. The children referred to in the account were Rosina (6), who was to die in the workhouse the following month, Mary Ann aged 4 my gg grandmother and Henry (9 months) who presumable was the baby at breast. Interestingly all the older children's birth certificates give the parents as Hannah Dix and Henry Mitchell; the later ones name the mother as Hannah Mitchell. A very sad story all round, but it brings home how desperate the lives of some of our ancestors was. Thank you once again
 
Steve Bumstead said:
She died at 9 Arundel Place, Northampton Street, just behind the Royal Crescent and was 82 years old according to the death entry (the burial record at the St Swithins area of Locksbrook Cemetery gives a slightly younger age I think).
Click to expand...
No - the Bath Burial Index also has 82:

https://www.batharchives.co.uk/cemeteries/locksbrook-st-swithins-walcot/elizabeth-dix

(I also tried Bath Archives' Bath Ancestors index, but didn't find anything for either Dix or Dicks.)
 
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