Top 100 Crazy Deaths
Top 100 Crazy Deaths
| Cause of Death | Who | When | How | Source of information | As found by |
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| Copper poisoning | Maud Davis | c 1875 | Maud Davis died young (c 1875) from copper poisoning from cider that had dripped into a copper bowl
Place: Dorset |
letter from Nicholas Brown | Information held |
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| Scalds after tumbling into a boiler full of swill | Willie Bryant | 1885 | He was in the yard when his father asked him to run and get the reaping hook hung over the boiler. Willie could not quite reach, the top of the boiler gave way, and he went in up to his knees in scalding swill. He then died, two weeks later. His mother wouldn't leave him throughout this time. He wanted to hear "Sweet Jesu meek and mild", and his mother couldn't bear to hear it sung after that. Willie is buried at the Old Church-in-the-Woods, Holcombe.
Place: Somerset |
conversation with Nora James, 1994 | Information held |
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| In the chicken run | Hugh F Hoskins (1864-1924) | 1924 | Found dead in the chicken run.
Place: Low Ham |
Langport Herald obituary 1924 | Information held |
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| In the hayfield | William Whittock (1776-1837) | Aug 1837 | died carrying out dinner to a female worker, Ann Oram, in the hayfield
Place: Somerset |
letter from Thomas or Joseph Haine 1837 to their sister in Ohio | Information held |
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| In the theatre | William T Creed (1839-1904) | 1904 | of a fatal syncope (heart attack), at a matinee performance in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Place: Theatre Royal |
Probate Indexes 1904 and Hendon Times obituary 1904 | Information held |
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| In a public house | Richard W B Creed (1857-1891) | 1891 | of Hilfield near Cerne Abbas 'died in the pub with many debts'
Place: Dorset |
notes by niece Phyllis Blease provided by her daughter Julia Meeres | Information held |
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| From choking | Alice S Garland (1861-1911) | 1911 | on a fishbone in Southampton
Place: Southampton |
email from descendant Alison Hargreaves | Information held |
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| From choking | Joshua Harrison (1838-1904) | 1904 | on his false teeth while sitting on a plank cutting up tobacco during his lunch-break, Windermere
Place: Windermere |
The Lakes Chronicle and Reporter obituary 1904 | Information held |
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| From a gunshot | James Davis (c 1858-1878) | 1878 | died from tetanus after losing his thumb while scaring rooks on a farm in Titchfield Hampshire
Place: Hampshire |
letter from Nicholas Brown and King's School Bruton year book | Information held |
|
| From a gunshot | Uriah Parsons (1823-1887) | 1887 | Lord of the Manor of Charlton Horethorne, died when his nephew's loaded gun went off after they returned from shooting
Place: Somerset |
Western Gazette 1887 | Information held |
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| From a gunshot | Mary Bowden (1867-1878) | 1878 | died when her brother fired a stray gunshot (in Cornwall)
Place: Cornwall |
letter from Jenny Richards and local newspaper report | Information held |
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| From electrocution | Leonard Carline (1900-1926) | 1926 | accidentally electrocuted at sea on a submarine near Hong Kong (in the South China Sea)
Place: South China Sea |
Hong Kong newspaper report, copy passed to me by nephew Tom Carline | Information held |
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| From a gunshot (20 years later) | Richard Rodda (1837-1875) | 1875 | A gunshot wound hit his leg as a boy of sixteen in Cornwall. Twenty years later the limb had to be amputated and he died as a result
Place: Swansea Hospital |
Death Certificate | Information held |
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| From a cow | Peter Padfield (1799-1857) | 1857 | Peter Padfield, tossed remorselessly by an infuriated cow (they had horns then)
Place: Somerset |
Padfield Family Journal | Information held |
|
| From a coal hole | Joseph Padfield (1802-1835) | 1835 | fell down an old coal-hole which had opened during the night when stepping out of the garden door to go milking
Place: Somerset |
Padfield Family Journal | Information held |
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| Racing back to his baby girl in the rain | Albert J C Martin (1856-1900) | 1900 | He developed pneumonia on the way back from his mother's funeral and quickly realised he was going to die, among his first activities being to make his will.
Place: Dorset |
will of Albert J C Martin (1900), plus conversation with Cornelius James Martin | Information held |
|
| In the house | Martha Creed (c 1784-1868) | 1868 | Falling down the stairs. The last of the family in the house, Plot Street, West Bradley, was Martha's great-grandson George Maidment (1911-2002), whose farming implements are now in the Museum of Rural Life, Glastonbury
Place: Somerset |
Memorial Card in possession of Pat Cotton; Burial Entry in West Bradley Parish Register; letter by W T Creed to his brother in New Zealand (1903). | Information held |
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| After returning from West Africa | Thomas Martin 'Tim' Lowry (c 1875-1938) | 1938 | from food poisoning after returning home by cargo boat to take a last look at the West African coast. Sir Bernard Spilsbury (mentioned in Agatha Christie novels)was the coroner
Place: London |
newspaper cutting kept in the family, provided by Jane d'Arcy. Family belief that he was poisoned by his African cook, source: letter from family member 1992 | Information held |
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| In a house fire | Esther Cook | C 1846 | [Thomas Cook] was absent from home and his wife discovering the house was on fire carried her little ones out and returned to secure valuable papers (money!?) and was burned in the house. Esther had emigrated from Somerset, England ten years earlier. She was about 29.
Place: Ohio |
26 Feb 1896 Warren Reserve Chronicle, published 50 years later | Information held |
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| Drowned or crushed at the Bath & West Show | Mary Haine (1853-1877) | 6 Jun 1877 | Bath City celebrated the three-day centenary of the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society, several toll bridges criss-crossing the Avon providing a short cut to the showground for the 10 000 people arriving at Bath Spa Station. Mary and several of her family had made the day trip from Ilchester. The 10.47am excursion train arrived from Salisbury, a thousand passengers looking forward to a day's enjoyment, in high spirits, rain not having yet begun. Due to large queues, there were estimated over 200 people on this bridge, walking as quickly as possible over 'little knowing the risk they ran'. Immediately, the bridge parted in the centre. The south end rested for a few minutes on the towpath giving seconds for many to escape, avoiding a worse disaster. The north end fell clean into the water. Mary was one of the five who died at the scene. Her sister Ellen's leg was broken. The inquest notes state: 'Identification of the body of Mary Haine was here given [at the Boatmans Arms] by Mr Thomas Haine, farmer, of Madbrook farm, Westbury, his wife's sister. Deceased, who was 21 years of age, and unmarried, managed her father's house, Southmead farm, Ilchester.' Mary was buried at Ilchester, the parish register gives her death as at Widcombe Bridge.
Place: Bath |
newspaper, Bath, 1877 | Information held |
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| Bite of a mad dog | Thomas Bailey | Buried 3 August 1762 | Thomas was my 6xg grandfather and all I know is what was written in the parish records: "died mad, occasion'd by ye bite of a mad dog". An interesting aside is that there was an inn named the 'Mad Dog'in the village reputed to be so named because the landlord claimed to have found a cure for rabies. Whether the landlord made this claim because of Thomas is intriguing but impossible to verify.
Place: Odell Bedfordshire |
Odell Parish Records | Information held |
|
| using prussic acid as a pick-me-up | Harold Banner | 15 Feb 1913 | Mr Banner had a drugstore at 50 London Road (he was not a registered chemist). He was in the habit of using prussic acid as a pick-me-up. His widow claimed he had had 'a happy life'.
Place: Grantham, Lincs |
Grantham Journal 22 Feb 1913 (page 3) | Information held |
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| Sledgehammer | Martha Tucker | June 1775 | One blazing hot day in June 1775 Reginald killed Martha because she had served him hot pork that had gone off. He murdered her with a sledgehammer. He went to wash his blood-stained shirt in the well.
Place: Ansford, Somerset |
Parson Woodforde's Diaries | Information held |
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| Lightening, Killed both by a "large ball of fire from heaven". | Mary Hopkins and William Pike | June 18, 1782 burial | Death noted in Pilton Parish record."A more full accout of ye above catastrophe, June in the 18th in the year 1782, the top part of the spire of this (church) tower was destroyed by lightening, the weather cock in part, melted and ye lightening conducted by ye bill of the cock into the clock, melted and lost some of the wires belonging to the clock--from thence decended to the Belfrey, kelled William Pike, a young man, then tolling the bell and also killed Mrs. Mary Hopkins, wife of Rev. Mr. Hopkins, Vicar of this parish."
Place: Pilton, Anglical Church |
Parish Records for Pilton Parish Church,Salt Lake City, Utah. | Information held |
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| falling on the fire | Annie Tanner | Lambeth | she 'fell on the fire' aged 80 according to her two stepsons
Place: 1951 |
letter by Muriel Mobbs (c 1981) | Information held |
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| According to my grandfather, Pliny Haine Hawkins, his brother died of "bowl trouble." | George William Hawkins | October 6, 1868 | According to my great-aunt, "I think George ... died from eating too many grapes."
Place: Cooperstown, Pennsylvania |
1)Family Bible of my great-grandparents 2)Essay by my grandfather | Information held |
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| Coroners Verdict: Death from injuries through accidental collision. | Sarah Mary SARGENT nee.SAVAGE | 11th May 1892 | Sarah died as a result of a road accident on Wednesday 11th May 1892 - Sarah was thrown from a horse drawn trap driven by son Joseph, age 19 years; Daisy age 3 was thrown out, but unhurt, Bertie age 5 stayed in the cart. The Cart had clipped a wheel of a horse drawn dust cart. Sarah suffered major internal injuries as wheels of the cart passed over her. Died at 7.30pm.
Place: Antigallican PH, Old Woolwich Road, Charlton |
Family Knowledge... but also found the Coroner's Inquest in the Kentish Mercury dated Wednesday 11th May 1892. | Information held |
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| Bombed and Sunk at Sea | Capt. William Alexander SARGENT | 5th May 1940 | William was Sea Captain of the "Crested Eagle", one of the General Steam Navigation Co. fleet built in 1925, a 1078 ton ship which was bombed and sunk in evacuation from Dunkirk 5/5/1940.
Place: Dunkirk |
Family knowledge | Information held |
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| Drowned in Princess Alice Disaster | John & Eugenie HAWKES | 3 September 1878 | Maria Eugenie Hawkes was only nine years old when both of her parents were killed in the Princess Alice disaster on the River Thames... She was being punished for being cheeky and had not been allowed to go with them.
In the nineteenth century there was a considerable increase in traffic on the River Thames and a growth in the use of pleasure craft such as rowing boats, paddlesteamers and steam launches giving trips down to the coastal resorts. This led to conflict with the working vessels. The worst disaster was the sinking of the pleasure steamer the `Princess Alice` which occurred on the evening of 3 September 1878 at Galleon`s Reach, eleven miles downriver from London Bridge. She was on her way back from Sheerness and after calling at Gravesend, moved out into the river to continue her journey. She was run down by a larger ship, the steam collier `Bywell Castle`. Passengers and crew were thrown into the water and 640 drowned, with 69 people surviving, the greatest tragedy ever to occur on the Thames. Bodies continued to be washed up on the banks of the river for some time afterwards. A mass funeral was held at Woolwich Cemetery on Monday 9 September 1878. Shock at the scale of the accident led to improvements in the rules of navigation on the river.
John & Louisa Hawkes, were the owners of the Anchor & Hope Public House at Charlton and this pub was passed on to another daughter Louisa, who was married to Charles Sargent - hence the link between the drowning of John Hawkes and his wife Eugenie in 1878 and the subsequent taking over of the Anchor & Hope Pub which remained in the Sarrgent family for 100 years.
Place: Galleon`s Reach, River Thames |
Family knowledge & articles in several newspapers including. Eg. Front page of the The London Illustrated News, Saturday 14th September 1878. | Information held |
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| not known | Thomas Saies | Sep 1891 | Story in the family is that, after burying his wife, Thomas left his grieving relatives in the house [Georgetown] and went outside for some fresh air. Worried that he had taken so long, someone went to fetch him and found him leaning against a fence, dead. there are death entries for Mary Ann Sayes and Thomas Sayes (Bedwellty) for September 1891 on consecutive pages 11a 58 and 11a 59. this might be one family tale that records support!
Place: Bedwelity Monmouthshire Wales |
family folk law | Information held |
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