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Child

Age: 4

Sex: male

Date: 27 May 1902

Place: Great Northern Station, Sleaford

A male child was found dead in a hatbox at the lost property office of Victoria Station, Sheffield.

Before being delivered to the lost property office at Victoria Station the hat box had been for some time at the Great Northern Station in Sleaford.

The body was said to have been shockingly injured and in an advanced state of decomposition.

It was not known how the hat box arrived at the Great Northern Station in Sleaford, whether by a local resident or delivered by train and considerable effort was made visiting all the local houses to find out. It was thought that the box was left during a crush of holiday madness and placed with stealth with a lot of other boxes without anyone knowing. The station porter at Sleaford said it would have been at a time when many man servants would have been leaving yearly situations. There had been no smell noticed at Sleaford and after a few days being unclaimed it was sent to Sheffield.

The body was devoid of clothing and the sack that it was in bore no mark or indication of its origin or ownership.

The hat box was of a kind that could have been found in any town or village and bore no signs that might have led to its identification.

It was thought that the child's parents would have come from a comparatively humble walk of life and had allowed its nails to grow to a considerable length which were thickly encased in dirt.

The police said that unless the child came from a large centre of population that he must have been known to many and in consequence have been missed.

Due to the advanced state of decomposition the cause of death could not be determined but the doctor noted that there were signs of weakness in the chest indicating that the child had suffered from acute bronchitis.

Victoria Station, Sheffield was later closed in January 1970 although many of the features, including the arches and the inclined Victoria Station Road can still be seen today.

 

*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Sheffield Independent - Thursday 29 May 1902

see Wikipedia