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John Hammond

Age: 27

Sex: male

Date: 24 Apr 1932

Place: Buxton to Ashbourne Road

John Hammond was found dead on a road with head injuries.

An appeal was broadcast by the BBC for anyone that could give information about the accident or the removal of his body from the road.

He was a quarryman from Hudlow and had been drinking with another quarryman up until 10pm on 24 April 1932 at an inn. The other quarryman said that he had parted from him when he had reached his own horse. He said that when John Hammond had walked off he had been walking quite fast and that he seemed quite sober.

When a policeman went to see his body the next day, 25 April 1932, at 7.15pm he said that there was no trace of blood on the sixteen feet of roadway between where his body was found and a spot of blood in the middle of the road. He also said that he found six matches, five of which had been struck, surrounding his head as though someone had been examining his body.

The Coroner said that it was very unsatisfactory. He said that undoubtedly John Hammond had met with some violence, the likeliest form of which was being struck by a motor car or motor cycle. He said that John Hammond was probably walking in the middle of the road and had heard something behind him and had turned half around, was struck on the leg, fell forward and was knocked unconscious. He said that it was a puzzle how he got to the side of the road sixteen feet away without leaving a trail of blood noting that he could not have possibly crawled himself. The Coroner then said that it led to the conclusion that the person or persons in the vehicle that had knocked him down had put him on the roadside and then, probably after seeing that he was dead had thought that they had better get away while the going was good.

The Coroner added that there was an alternative possibility, that being that John Hammond had been struck by one vehicle and then found by another, who had thought the least trouble would be to put him on the roadside and leave him there.


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

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald - Saturday 30 April 1932

see Belfast News-Letter - Thursday 28 April 1932