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Charles William Nethersole

Age: unknown

Sex: male

Date: 25 Feb 1905

Place: Reading Street, St. Peters, Thanet, Kent

Charles William Nethersole was killed in St. Peter's, Thanet, Kent.

A soldier was tried for his manslaughter at the Kent Assizes at Maidstone on Monday 10 July 1905, but it was determined that there wasn't sufficient evidence to justify a conviction.

He had been sent to trial by both the magistrates and the coroner.

It was said that Charles Nethersole and the soldier had both been to the White Swan public house where they had had some words and that the Charles Nethersole was heard to say to the soldier, 'We will go outside and have it out'.

It was said then that they were seen to go outside whereupon Charles Nethersole was seen to at once pull off his coat to fight the soldier. However, it was claimed that the soldier had turned to walk away and that Charles Nethersole had struck him whereupon the soldier had then struck Charles Nethersole in self-defence, causing him to step back and fall.

It was said that Charles Nethersole was the worse for liquor at the time and was a very quarrelsome man. He was about 6ft 2in tall and bigger than the soldier.

The medical evidence showed that Charles Nethersole died from a fracture to the base of his skull that might have been caused by a fall.

A police inspector agreed that it was quite true that Charles Nethersole bore the character of a very quarrelsome man and that the soldier charged on the other hand was a highly respectable man.

After hearing the prosecution’s evidence, the judge said that he didn't think that the evidence was sufficient to justify a conviction and the jury returned a formal verdict of not guilty without hearing the defence.


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

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Kent & Sussex Courier - Friday 14 July 1905

see Canterbury Journal, Kentish Times and Farmers' Gazette - Saturday 15 July 1905

see Dover Express - Friday 14 July 1905