Drowning in mill pond (1916)

Post date: Apr 08, 2016 2:43:31 PM

Extract from Kent Messenger of 9th September 1916

WATERINGBURY .

HOPPER’S CHILD DROWNED.

— Mr. T.Buss, county coroner, held an inquest on Saturday afternoon, concerning the death of Mary Driscoll, aged 2 ¹/₂ years, whose body was recovered from the Mill Pond the previous day. It appeared that the child, whose mother had come from London to the village hop-picking, and whose father is serving at the Front with the East Surrey Regiment, was left in the huts, about 200 yards from the pond, with an elder girl, while the mother had gone to the garden. With another little one, the deceased wandered away, and apparently fell into the pond, as her companion came back crying and frightened. Meanwhile, some boys noticed the body in the water, and a man named Shepherd recovered it.—The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental Death.”