William Blockley Inquest 1891

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Wellington, Shropshire, England, United Kingdom
Surname/tag: Blockley

The inquest into the death of William Blockley of who was killed in a cart accident in January 1891 in Welllington, Shropshire, England.

Transcription of the article in Eddowes's Shrewsbury Journal 21 January 1891:

FATAL ACCIDENT TO A WAGONER.- On Friday afternoon an inquiry was held by Mr J. V. F. Leader (district coroner), at the Red Lion public-house, Street Lane, Wellington, touching the death of a man named William Blockley. Mr W. Haywood acted as foreman of the jury. -John Griffiths, a labourer, residing at Huntington, near Wellington, identified the body of William Blockley as that of his cousin. He believed he was 32 years of age. He was employed as a coal wagoner by Mr Pickstone, of Charlton. - Mrs Rogers stated in evidence that she was standing at her door, about five o'clock on Thursday afternoon, when Blockley passed the house with a load of coal, and leading the horse. It was very slippery at the time. Deceased was going at a sharp walking pace. In a few minutes afterwards Mrs Spragg, landlady of the Red Lion, called her and said the man was killed. She (witness) assisted to get the man upstairs at the Red Lion, when it was found that he was quite dead. When laid out, it was noticed that the back, legs, and all one side of the deceased were like jelly, evidently where he had been run over by the wagon. - Mrs Nicholls, next witness, said Blockley passed her place at five o'clock, and said "How do you do," and laughed. He was perfectly sober, She followed behind, carrying some water she had been for, and suddenly noticed the man fall in the roadway. The road was like a sheet of ice and very slippery, Deceased was leading the horse by the bridle, and seemed to make an attempt to regain his footing, but could not, and before he could be reached the wheels passed over his back. She (witness) ran up and held his head, but he never spoke again, death seeming to have been instantaneous. - The Coroner stated that was all the evidence he had to put before the jury, but he was pleased to state in this case that the man was perfectly sober. He had a ticket in his pocket showing the weight of coal to have been four tons in the wagon, and considering that, with the slippery state of the roadway, the man's death seemed to have been accidentally caused. -The jury immediately returned a verdict of "Accidental death”