Child

The body of a child was found under a hedge.

It was found wrapped up in a paper parcel on the Saturday 18 December 1915, placed under a hedge in the front garden of a house in Sea View Road.

The woman that owned the house said that her husband left in July for a munition works in England and that she herself had closed the house up and gone away on 10 September 1915. She said that she returned to the house the previous Thursday but had stayed with her sister over the weekend. She said that she went to the house several times and had noticed the paper parcel in the garden under the hedge but said that her curiosity was in no way aroused and she didn't examine it.

The woman's sister said that she hadn't been to the house while her sister was away, but said that on the Saturday she went there with her sister and said that she was attracted to the parcel by seeing a leg sticking out of it. She said that she then told her sister who told her that it was a parcel of old papers, but she told her that it was something more and that then, after seeing what was in it, she informed the police.

When the parcel was taken away by a policeman and examined it was found that the child was wrapped up in an old sheet that seemed to have a good deal of wear and bore four patches. The child itself was clothed in a blue cashmere petticoat with lace collar and there was a binder round the waist. Also, in the parcel they found a gentleman's handkerchief which bore laundry marks but did not seem to be worn.

The doctor said that decomposition had taken place to such an extent that the sex of the body could not be determined, but it was concluded from the length of the child's hair that it was female. It was also said that the child was probably between three or four years old and that it had probably been dead for between three or four months.

It was noted that one of her thigh bones was missing but it was thought that it could have been taken by a dog.

An open verdict was returned.