Inquest at Higham Ferrers
The inquest on the body of Mrs. Gertrude Knighton aged 29 years of 8 Station Road Rushden, whose body was recovered from the river on Wednesday morning, was held at the Mortuary Higham Ferrers on Wednesday afternoon by the coroner Mr. J.T. Parker.
Eileen Dickens, an aunt, said she used to sleep with the deceased who was a married woman, living alone. She stopped with the deceased, not because the deceased was afraid, but for company. Witness last saw the deceased on Wednesday morning just before eight o’clock when she said she was going to work. She asked for the back door to be left open. Deceased had complained of her head, but not for the week before she was missing. She had never threatened suicide. Witness did not know what the deceased meant by the words in the note she left behind saying “I can’t go on like this any longer.”
Walter Geo. Dickens, 106 Harborough Road, Rushden, said he was the deceased’s brother. Deceased had been married five years, and her husband, Thomas Alfred Martin Knighton, was in the Army and in Germany. When he last saw his sister she was worried about her husband and seemed depressed. She had no financial worries and he had never heard of her threatening to take her own life. Then made a search for the deceased and when they found a note they informed the police. The note stated: “Dear Mother and Dad – I hope you will all try and forgive me for bringing all this trouble upon you all. But I cannot go on like this any longer. My Head! I do not know what I am doing half my time. Give my love to Tom. He is one of the best. Perhaps I may meet him one day. I have tried – God knows! But it may be all right some day. Goodbye – Gert.” Deceased had suffered from influenza, but had only stayed in bed two days. The illness left her depressed.
P.C. Powell said the Rushden Police had been dragging the river for some days as a hat was found near Ditchford by the river bank. He visited the river at 7.30am on Wednesday and found the body near the late Mr. Chown’s Mill in the parish of Higham Ferrers. With assistance of a man named Vorley they removed the body. The note was found under the deceased’s pillow. He had been told that the deceased did not lie up sufficiently long enough when she had influenza. There was no information of the deceased’s movements since the morning she was missing; but the ground was moist and she could be traced to the river, and that was how the hat was found. The Coroner returned a verdict of “Suicide while of unsound mind.”
After the inquest P.C. Powell mentioned that they had lost three sets of drags in the search for the body. Fortunately for him some had been recovered. During his stay at Higham Ferrers he had recovered 30 bodies from the river and had lost no fewer than 11 sets of drags. He had to find them himself and he asked the coroner if he could have the drags lost on that occasion replaced.
The Coroner said he could not allow the item on the expenses, but he considered it extraordinary that the policemen had to find the drags. He thought the implements should be provided out of the police rate. He should be inclined to say “If you want the bodies recovered give me the drags.”
