Baby

The body of a newly born male child was found in a hedge in Cowley off the Cheltenham to Cirencester Road.

It was found on the Sunday 14 December 1947 by a farmer who lived at The Old Rectory in Cowley whilst he was walking in a field adjoining the main Cheltenham to Cirencester Road. He said that it was in a brown paper parcel lying in the hedge and that when he opened it he discovered the child's body.

The identity of the child's mother was not ascertained.

The doctor that examined the child's body said that he thought that it had been dead for about three days and that it had died from cerebral haemorrhage, probably from a long labour, and not due to violence. He said that the child was full term and otherwise healthy and had had a separate existence.

The jury returned an open verdict stating that they agreed that the child's death was due to cerebral haemorrhage but that there was insufficient evidence to show how the haemorrhage had been caused.