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Arthur Richardson

Age: 65

Sex: male

Date: 6 Sep 1946

Place: 45 Milton Street, Coventry

Arthur Richardson drowned in a water butt outside his house on the morning of 6 September 1946.

His daughter said that he had seemed fine the night before when he had retired.

She said that he had suffered with his stomach and was of a worrying nature, adding that he had been concerned by new rationing orders for poultry feeding stuff as he had kept a large number of hens.

A witness that helped get Arthur Richardson out of the water butt said that it was possible that  he might have slipped into the water butt whilst getting water for his hens, noting that it was not incompatible with his habits for him to have got up in the middle of the night to do such a job if he had forgotten to do it earlier.

However, the police said that they thought that it was unlikely that Arthur Richardson could have slipped into the butt, but agreed that if he had done so that it would have been almost impossible for him to have got himself out, owing to his weight.

The doctor said that his death was due to asphyxia caused by immersion in water.

The coroner said, 'I certainly cannot record a verdict of accidental death in this case, but in view of what I have been told, there is just a shade of doubt', and recorded an open verdict.


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

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Coventry Evening Telegraph - Tuesday 10 September 1946