Rushden Research Group: obituary

Rushden Argus (extract), 3rd July 1903, transcribed by Greville Watson

A Rushden Suicide

A Well-known Inhabitant Drowns Himself

Considerable excitement was roused in Rushden last Saturday morning by the report that a well-known inhabitant was missing under circumstances which pointed to his having deliberately taken his own life. It appears that the man in question – a labourer named Harry Stokes, about 40 years of age, and living on the Bedford-road – left his work at noon on Friday, and though seen later in the day did not return home. He was employed by Mr. W. Packwood, builder, and was engaged as a labourer upon buildings in the course of erection on the Higham-hill.

When leaving work at noon he said good-bye to several of his work-mates, telling them they would not see him again, but this was not taken seriously by any of them. He went, however, in the direction of Higham, and did not return to work. During the afternoon or evening he was seen by different persons in the neighbourhood of the River Nene, near Higham Wharf, but these people, of course, knew nothing of his threats.

It afterwards transpired that he waited about till late in the evening, when the neighbourhood was clear, and is then supposed to have got into the water. At any rate, some of his clothes were found on the bank about nine o’clock by a man named Joseph Burton, who had been fishing in the river. Burton at once communicated with the police, but no further trace of the missing man could be found. As soon as it was light on Saturday dragging operations were commenced by a number of police under PS Slaughter and others, but up to two o’clock their efforts had been unavailing, and the search was suspended for a time.

Large numbers of people visited the place on Sunday, as described in the report of the boating accident given elsewhere, but it was not till Monday evening, shortly after the conclusion of the inquest on Wm. Cheeseman, that the body was found.

It appears that a Rushden lad, named Lionel Marlow, was engaged in fishing with a hook and line, when he noticed something strange in the water about 300 yards from the bridge in the direction of Ditchford. This, on examination, proved to be the body of Stokes, which was in a standing position, with the top of the head just out of the water. Intimation was at once given to PS Slaughter, who had been in charge of the inquest and had not yet left the inn. He procured a boat, and with the assistance of bystanders got the body out of the water.

Rushden Argus (extract), 3rd July 1903, transcribed by Greville Watson

Drowning Fatality

Sad Death of a Rushden Man

The sensation caused by the sad suicide of a Rushden man in the Nene near Higham Ferrers was, on Sunday evening, intensified by a fatal boating accident not far from the place where the clothes of the man Stokes were found.

Hundreds of people visited the place on Sunday, and in the evening large numbers were about the banks and meadows in the neighbourhood of the wharf. Amongst them were a number of men employed in laying the mains at Rushden for the new waterworks. A few minutes after seven o’clock two Rushden men took a small boat which had just been brought back to the Wharf Inn by young men from the Chichele College at Higham. No permission to do so was given by the owner, Mr. Thomas Middleton, but immediately the occupants left it the men stepped in and pushed off.

The boat was a light shallow outrigger, and one of the men immediately afterwards got out, saying that he could not swim, and the boat was very unsteady. Another man named William Cheeseman took his place, and when someone shouted from the bank on seeing the unsteady motion of the boat, both occupants replied that it was all right as they could both swim. About 200 yards from the wharf, however, the boat was upset, one of the men apparently reaching for an oar which had slipped. Both were thrown into the water, but Cheeseman’s companion managed to swim safely to the shore.

Several people witnessed the accident, amongst them being Mr. Harry Vann, son of Mr. A. G. C. Vann, of Higham, who at once went to the rescue. Throwing off part of his clothing, he jumped into the water and swam towards Cheeseman and succeeded in getting a hold under his arm, and by this means towed him several yards. Then Cheeseman endeavoured to get on to the oar, with the result that it was submerged and the end caught in Mr. Vann’s shirt, both being taken under. Mr. Vann had to be pulled out in an insensible condition, and had afterwards to be assisted home.

A fellow workman of Cheeseman’s, named Mason, prepared to dive in, but in doing so got his foot entangled in the roots of a tree, spraining his ankle severely, so that he had afterwards to be taken home by the ambulance. Others entered the water, and the body was recovered after it had been in about twelve minutes. Artificial respiration was tried for some time, but in vain.

Dr. Rooke arrived on the scene, and tried to restore animation, but had to announce that the man was dead.

One sad feature of the occurrence was that Mrs. Cheeseman was an eye-witness of the occurrence. Deceased was a native of Faversham, and was 25 years of age.

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