William Viney

William Viney was found unconscious in Jackson's Field, Bruton with a head injury on the evening of Thursday 22 June 1905.

He was taken to hospital where an operation was carried out on him on Thursday 22 June 1905 to relieve the pressure on his brain, but without avail and he died from his injuries the following day, Friday 23 June 1905.

He had lived with his parents in Cogley Cottage, a former keeper's house close to Cogley Wood.

His mother said that she had sent William Viney off to school earlier that morning at about 7.50am or 7.55am on the Wednesday morning, 21 June 1905. She said that he had 4 1/2 d with him to buy a loaf, a cloth for the loaf and a can to bring back some milk in. However, she said that he didn't return.

She said that after he didn't return that they went out looking for him in the evening.

A man said that he took a horse to Jackson's Field on the Thursday between 8.15pm and 8.30pm and that when he got there he found William Vine lying on the ground and so he went off to the station and fetched a porter.

He said that when they went back, they saw William Viney lying on a slope about 15 yards from the gate unconscious, but not dead. He said that there was a wound on his forehead and blood on the side and back of his head. He said that he then remained with William Viney while the porter went off to fetch a doctor.

When the doctor arrived, he found William Viney in the field and had him removed to the waiting room of the GWR station.

He said that when he examined William Viney, he found a deep wound about two inches long on the side of the left temple, noting that it was a gaping wound and showed the bone and that there was clotted blood about his head.

He said that there was a small wound about the size of a three-penny-piece above the other wound and said that the blood was clotted and dark as though it had been there for some considerable time.

William Viney was then removed to a relative’s house in Tetbury and when he was later examined, he was found to have had a skull fracture that was pressing on to his brain and an operation was carried out to relieve that.

However, William Viney died on the Friday morning 23 June 1905.

A post-mortem was carried out on his head only as the rest of his body showed no marks of violence and a fracture was found that formed a curve about seven inches in length and covered the side of his head along with some small fractures that extended from the main fracture. A small piece of bone was also found to have been driven into his brain, but no other marks of violence were found.

His cause of death was given as a coma due to compression from fracture of the skull.

It was said that the fracture must have been caused by considerable violence and that it could have been done by a rough blunt instrument.

He added that his injuries were not due to a fall, but that they might have been caused by the kick of a horse.

A schoolboy at King's School gave evidence at the inquest stating that when he had passed through Jackson's Field on the Wednesday evening that there had been a horse there but that early the next morning it was gone.

A policeman that examined William Viney said that he found that he had the 4 1/2d and the cloth that his mother had given him and said that when he searched around the field he found the can that he had been given near the bathing place.

When the coroner summed up he advised the jury to return an open verdict which they did, stating that William Viney died from a fracture of the skull, the result of external violence, but that how the fatal injuries were caused there was no evidence to show.

William Viney's funeral took place on Tuesday 27 June 1905 and was attended by a large number of pupils from his school the Bruton National School along with their teachers.