Death by accidental??

[fatfish]

Hi all

Please can you help to decipher what the rest of this says.

Death by accidental.......

[Archivos]

drown
....ing?

The dot of the i makes it look like there's a descender from the line above, I think. 

I'm not 100% convinced, as the more I look, the less I see the word drown.  But that might just be from looking at it too much!

[rosie99]

Who does it refer to and what place & date was it. 

Maybe if it was an accident it would be reported in the newspaper

[fatfish]

It is for William Herrington death in Chiddingfold, Sussex in 1879.  This is taken from his burial record in St Marys Chiddingfold on 23 April 1879.

[carol8353]

I think we've lost the first (capital ) letter under the splodge down the left hand side of the page.

But that doesn't mean I know what it says!

Carol

[rosie99]

If it helps he was a 5 year old child 

[tonepad]

Would agree with 'drowning'

The 'd' and 'i' are formed similar to their use in the words above.

[Greensleeves]

Looking at a map of the area, there is a river and lots of ponds, so there would be plenty of opportunity for a child to drown.  Interestingly, it was quite a common cause of death at a time when few people could swim.  People of all ages would go to the river or a pond to wash and get out of their depth, or swept away. 

[ShaunJ]

Agree the -ing bit but I just can't make out drown in the line above, although it does seem a likely possibility.

It's curious that accidental was written without a break across the column but the next word is broken to fit.