Age: 62
Sex: female
Date: 3 Aug 1905
Place: South Shore, Blackpool
Martha Barker was found dead on South Shore at Blackpool.
She had a wound to her throat and three of her four rings were missing.
The gash found in her throat had already been stitched although it was described as a superficial wound. She was also found to have bodily bruises.
She had been reported missing from Rawcliffe's Yard, South Shore.
She was about 5ft 6in high, of a thin build, grey hair and wore a white sailor hat, black cape and had elastic side boots.
She had been described as being in ill health for some time and low spirited and death was supposed to have been from drowning.
The wound in her throat was three inches long and unexplained.
Her husband said that he had not noticed the stitches the day before when they had dinner and that after dinner they had gone to bed. She was later seen by a neighbour leaving her house between 7-8pm.
The inquest stated that the wound to her throat had been caused several days before her death but it was not known who had stitched it.
She had been separated from her husband although at the time they had been reconciled. Her husband said that he did not care if he never saw her again because of her jealous and eccentric habits adding that he had had much trouble with her. He said that she would also get into fighting with another woman that lodged with him and he admitted that he had taken the lodgers part.
see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
see Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Thursday 03 August 1905
see Lancashire Evening Post - Monday 31 July 1905
see Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Thursday 03 August 1905