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William Bailey

Age: 60

Sex: male

Date: 14 Jul 1947

Place: Appleford Road, North Kensington, London

William Bailey was found dead in a bombed house in Appleford Road, North Kensington on Monday 14 July 1947.

His cause of death could not be determined due to the state of his decomposed body.

He had been a workman, employed by a firm of builders and decorators in Goldhawk Road in Shepherd's Bush as a bricklayer and had been working at the house. He was last seen on 19 June 1947.

He had been lodging for some time at Rowton House in Hammersmith. His employer said that he was not unduly alarmed when he didn't hear from William Bailey as he thought that he might have been ill and had been staying at home.

Another builder that worked for the same firm said that he had worked with William Bailey for the previous three years. He said that he didn't know whether he had any relatives but said that he knew that he used to take some white tablets for his stomach.

He said that William Bailey had recently been working at the bombed-out house in Appleford Road on his own and that he last saw him on 19 June 1947 when he saw him get on a trolley bus to go to work. He said that when he later went to the house on 9 July 1947 to get some material for a job he found William Bailey lying dead in a room on the ground floor.

The police surgeon that called at the house later that same day said that William Bailey's body was very decomposed and that he was unable to determine his cause of death.

The pathologist that later examined his body said that practically all his body tissue had been destroyed, having been eaten away, and that he too was also unable to determine a cause of death.

After hearing the doctors evidence, the coroner returned an open verdict.

Appleford Road has since been redeveloped.


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

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Kensington Post - Saturday 19 July 1947