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Woman

Age: 45

Sex: female

Date: 12 Oct 1915

Place: River Thames, Ham

A woman dressed as a man was found drowned in the River Thames at Ham near Kingston.

She was found in the Thames on Wednesday morning floating about 14 yards from the bank near the Half Mile Tree. Her finding was reported to the police by telephone by a woman

The police said that they had never seen a woman before so closely resembling a man. She was 12-13 stone in weight.

She had a three-quarter inch long scar in the middle of her forehead.

The police stated that there was little doubt that the woman had long posed as a man and although her hands were not those accustomed to hard manual labour, her general muscular development for a woman was stated as being extraordinary. It was thought that she had led an outdoor life and probably belonged to the working classes. At the post mortem however, it was reported that her hands were rough and clearly indicated that she had been accustomed to hard labour.

There was nothing about her trousers, shirt or vest to indicate their place or origin or where they were bought. However, her shoes had recently been half soled and it was barely possible that a shoemaker could be found that would recognise his work although the police said that they didn't know what district of London to look for him in.

Her full description was given as age 45, height 5ft 6in, slight build, round face, dark complexion, black hair cut short, dressed in blue serge trousers, white and brown striped cotton shirt, merino vest, black socks and fancy black leather men's shoes.

Death was stated as being due to asphyxia from drowning.


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

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Huddersfield Daily Examiner - Tuesday 12 October 1915

see Liverpool Echo - Friday 08 October 1915

see Surrey Advertiser - Saturday 16 October 1915