Baby

The body of a newly born child was found in the Coventry Canal at the rear of The Chantries on the afternoon of Saturday 22 April 1948.

A 79-year-old man who lived at The Chantries said that he was working in his garden when some small children called to him from the canal towpath and asked him to recover a 'doll' from the water. However, he found that it was the body of a male child.

When the body was examined by the police, they said that they found no marks of injury.

A doctor that carried out the post-mortem said that the cause of death was inattention at birth. He said that the child had had a separate existence and had been dead for three or four days and that its body had been in the water for about 48 hours.

The coroner said, 'This seems callous treatment for a child'.

A verdict of 'Death through inattention at birth' was returned.