Age: 73
Sex: female
Date: 27 Apr 1940
Place: Kingsgate Road, Kilburn
Agnes Mary Reeks was found injured in Kingsgate Road, Kilburn.
Her injuries were said to have been consistent with a fall, but also with having been knocked down.
She died from a fractured skull and other injuries.
She had lived in Tennyson Road, Kilburn alone in a single room, and was found by a policeman in Quex Road, Kilburn on the Friday and taken to Paddington Hospital where she died the following morning.
The policeman said that when he found Agnes Reeks just before 11am, she was still conscious in the gutter and kept saying, 'Let me get up'. He said that her hat, handbag and a loaf of bread were also in the gutter.
It was noted that there was a baker's shop close by.
A friend of hers that also lived in Tennyson Road said that Agnes Reeks used to go to the 10 o'clock service every morning to the Roman Catholic Church in Quex Road and that she had gone three on the Friday morning.
The coroner said that he found a large bruise at the side of her head and a fissure fracture to her skull. He said that he also found that several of her ribs on one side were broken and that her cause of death was a fractured skull.
He added that Agnes Reeks's heart was in a weak state and that it might have led to her having a giddy attack.
The coroner said that Agnes Reeks had evidently been on her way home from church and had called at the baker's to buy some bread and that whilst crossing the road had either fallen or been knocked down but said that the there was insufficient evidence to show what had caused her injuries and returned an open verdict.
see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
see Marylebone Mercury - Saturday 27 April 1940, p1
see West London Observer - Friday 26 April 1940
see Kensington Post - Saturday 27 April 1940