Hi everyone,
I have a copy of Thomas WATERS death certificate containing the following information:
Thomas Walters died 9 Jul 1904 at the Chelsea Infirmary age 72, shoemaker late of 44 Slaidburn Street. Cause of death syncope pneumonia, injury caused by a fall, accidental. Certificate received from coroner. Inquest held 12 Jul 1904.
Of course, it may be that he just passed out and banged his head, but family legend has it that a wall fell on top of him! At Nanny Jan’s suggestion, I wrote to the LMA to see if they hold copies of the coroner's reports. I received this reply:
“Inquests into deaths which took place in Chelsea c. 1904 were carried out by the Coroner for the 'County of London, Western District'. I regret that relatively few coroners' records survive for London and we do not hold any coroners registers for this particular district between 1892 and 1930. Neither are there any of the more detailed case papers prior to 1927.
I have also checked to see whether we hold any relevant records from Chelsea Infirmary (later St Luke's Hospital) but regret that none survive for the period in question, except for the following register which I have checked without success: CHBG/196/002 - Infirmary, Cale Street: Particulars of infirmary cases, 1902-1905. As far as I can tell, no other records from the hospital are held elsewhere.”
They suggested I emailed Kensington and Chelsea Local Studies Library since they hold copies of local newspapers from that time. Someone there very kindly completed a check of the Kensington Post and the West London Press Chelsea News, but could find no mention of the accident, Thomas’ death or inquest. They looked at the nearest dated newspaper (July 15 for both) and the next copy.
So it seems I have hit the proverbial brick-wall. Shall I just let this one go or is there something else I could try?
Joy
