Baby

The body of a newly-born child was found in a hedge bottom in Honeywell Lane on the morning of Tuesday 7 November 1905.

It was found by a woman who lived in Honeywell Lane as she was coming along from Barnsley. She said that she saw a brown paper parcel in the hedge bottom and that when she opened it she saw that it contained the body of a child.

She said that it was wrapped up in a black apron and a piece of carpet.

She said that she then informed a policeman that happened to be in the vicinity.

The policeman said that when he then looked, he found that underneath the apron there was a piece of white cloth tied round the child's head that was fastened just below its mouth.

A doctor who later examined the child's body said that the child had obviously had a separate existence, but added that he could not say how long it had lived for, but said that he didn't think that it had been dead for more than 24 hours.

He said that there was slight evidence of suffocation, but that he attributed the child’s death to want of attention at delivery and afterwards.

He said that from the appearance of the body, the presumption was that the mother had not been attended to at birth.

After an adjournment to find further information the inquest resumed on Saturday 18 November 1905 and returned an open verdict stating that the child was found dead from neglect, but whether criminal or not there was no evidence to show.