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Norah Annie Roper

Age: 45

Sex: female

Date: 24 Dec 1923

Place: Ramsgate, Kent

Norah Annie Roper disappeared after going out shopping and was later found dead in the sea.

Her body was washed ashore during rough seas at Ramsgate, Kent.

She had lived in York House, Cemetery Road in Deal, Kent, with her husband. She was described as having been a middle aged woman.

Her body was found by a young man that had been out searching for coal. The man had lived at 7 Brunswick Street in Ramsgate and said that he had been out on the sands at 8.05am looking for coal when he noticed something at the water’s edge opposite the Harbour Station.

A police constable that saw the body at 8.15am said that it had been lying about 100 yards from the sea wall in front of the signal box. He said that part of the clothing was missing, and that her body was much decomposed.

The police constable said that he thought that the recent prevailing winds would have tended to bring the body ashore.

Her body was identified by her husband, a Royal Marine pensioner.

He said that she had been unwell for some time as a result of a cycle accident about five years earlier, when she fractured two ribs. He said that she had complained of a piercing pain in her side, and that at night she would say that she felt as though something very cold and heavy had been placed on the top of her head.

He said that she had been medically attended to occasionally during the previous two months by a doctor who had advised her to avoid worrying.

He said that on 22 December 1913 they went out shopping with their 16-year-old son in town. He said that they left home shortly after 5.30pm and were together until 7pm when Norah Roper went into a shop to buy some drapery whilst he looked into a shop window and his son stood looking at some photos outside the Queen's Cinema.

He said that Norah Roper then came out of the shop and handed the shopping bag to their son, who took it without comment, and then came over to him.

However, he said that after that that neither of them saw her again.

He said that after waiting in the vicinity for three-quarters of an hour, they failed to find any trace of her and that in the morning they made enquiries with friends and relatives and as no information was forthcoming, they informed the police.

Her husband said that they had been married for five years and had no financial or domestic unhappiness.

He said that he first thought that Norah Roper had been wandering, noting that there was no reason to suppose that she would take her life, although he did say that at times she had remarked, 'Oh, it is awful, this pain'

Following the discovery of her body, Norah Roper's husband identified her clothing as well as the two wedding rings that she had worn.

Her inquest returned an open verdict. When the verdict was returned, the Coroner said, 'In this case the evidence of identification is clear, but the circumstances of death are not cleared up by the evidence, and there is no material on which I can find exactly how death occurred'.


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

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Thanet Advertiser - Saturday 12 January 1924