St Giles Cripplegate
Yesterday I came across one Benjamin Croot, a licensed victualler, whose daughter Margaret married into a Hawkins family that I'm researching. Whenever I find a distinctive or unusual name, I ransack the newspapers for more information, both The British Newspaper Archive and the 19th Century British Library Newspapers database (accessible free at home 24/7 via my local library membership).
I'd already tracked Benjamin Croot through the parish registers and 1841 census, up to his death in 1846 and probate in 1847, so this time I wasn't expecting much, but I was in for a shock ...
I'd already tracked Benjamin Croot through the parish registers and 1841 census, up to his death in 1846 and probate in 1847, so this time I wasn't expecting much, but I was in for a shock ...
The Standard (17 November 1846)
HORRIBLE SUICIDE IN BRIDGEWATER-SQUARE Yesterday considerable excitement prevailed in the immediate vicinity of Bridgewater-square, Barbican, in consequence of a dreadful case of self-destruction committed the previous night by a gentleman named Benjamin Croot, who resided at No. 7 in the square. It appears that the deceased until very recently held a lucrative situation at Harmer and Pearson's, distillers, Red-cross-street, Cripplegate, but having left that house, he had entered into the business on his own account, and was erecting a distillery a few miles from town. During the last week or two a marked change had taken place in his manner. On Sunday night, between ten and eleven o'clock, whilst his daughter was in one of the lower rooms, she was alarmed at hearing a heavy fall in the apartment in which her father was. She immediately repaired to the spot, when an awful spectacle presented itself: her unfortunate parent was found on the floor, with a frightful wound at the lower part of the body, which he had inflicted by plunging a sword into himself. A medical gentleman was promptly in attendance, but death speedily ensued. It appears that, to accomplish his object, the deceased had first cut himself over the bowels, and afterwards placed the handle of the sword on the floor, and then have thrown himself on to the point of the blade.
HORRIBLE SUICIDE IN BRIDGEWATER-SQUARE Yesterday considerable excitement prevailed in the immediate vicinity of Bridgewater-square, Barbican, in consequence of a dreadful case of self-destruction committed the previous night by a gentleman named Benjamin Croot, who resided at No. 7 in the square. It appears that the deceased until very recently held a lucrative situation at Harmer and Pearson's, distillers, Red-cross-street, Cripplegate, but having left that house, he had entered into the business on his own account, and was erecting a distillery a few miles from town. During the last week or two a marked change had taken place in his manner. On Sunday night, between ten and eleven o'clock, whilst his daughter was in one of the lower rooms, she was alarmed at hearing a heavy fall in the apartment in which her father was. She immediately repaired to the spot, when an awful spectacle presented itself: her unfortunate parent was found on the floor, with a frightful wound at the lower part of the body, which he had inflicted by plunging a sword into himself. A medical gentleman was promptly in attendance, but death speedily ensued. It appears that, to accomplish his object, the deceased had first cut himself over the bowels, and afterwards placed the handle of the sword on the floor, and then have thrown himself on to the point of the blade.
The inquest was held, as usual, in a nearby pub.
The Standard (18 November 1846)
THE DREADFUL SUICIDE IN BRIDGEWATER-SQUARE Last evening, Mr. W. Payne, city coroner, held an inquest at the George, Beech-lane, Barbican, on the body of Mr. Benjamin Croot, aged 59, the particulars relative to whose death appeared in the Standard yesterday. The only additional fact given in the evidence was with reference to his state of mind, from which it appeared that the leaving of his former employ, where he had been for so many years, for the purpose of commencing business on his own account, had so depressed him in spirits (from fear that he should not be able to carry it on), that Mr. Conison, surgeon, Old Jewry, was called in by his friends. The jury returned a verdict of Temporary Insanity.
THE DREADFUL SUICIDE IN BRIDGEWATER-SQUARE Last evening, Mr. W. Payne, city coroner, held an inquest at the George, Beech-lane, Barbican, on the body of Mr. Benjamin Croot, aged 59, the particulars relative to whose death appeared in the Standard yesterday. The only additional fact given in the evidence was with reference to his state of mind, from which it appeared that the leaving of his former employ, where he had been for so many years, for the purpose of commencing business on his own account, had so depressed him in spirits (from fear that he should not be able to carry it on), that Mr. Conison, surgeon, Old Jewry, was called in by his friends. The jury returned a verdict of Temporary Insanity.
The jury's verdict allowed Benjamin Croot a burial in consecrated ground. He was interred at the church of St Giles Cripplegate on 22 November.
This will be one to chase up in the coroners' records at LMA. They hold an almost complete run of reports and depositions for the City of London and the Ancient Borough of Southwark. Otherwise, relatively few records survive for the Middlesex and Surrey coroners' districts at this period (Westminster excepted). That is where newspaper reports like this really come into their own.
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