Thomasina Mitchell

Thomasina Mitchell died from an abortion on 22 November 1953 at her home in Hamilton Grove, West Norwood.

Her inquest returned a verdict of self-induced abortion.

She had had four children. Her husband had been a painter and decorator.

It was noted that she had kept two secrets from her husband, first, that she was expecting a baby, and second, that she was 32-years-old and not 44-years-old, as she had told him.

It was heard that the day before she died Thomasina Mitchell had told her husband that she didn't feel well and that he had given her two sleeping tablets and a capsule after which she dozed off. Later that night Thomasina Mitchell's husband slept with their son so that Thomasina Mitchell could rest and he said that she asked for water twice during the night.

Thomasina Mitchell's husband said that early the following morning he saw that the bed clothes were off Thomasina Mitchell's bed and that when he went to put them back on he found that Thomasina Mitchell was cold and dead.

At her inquest, when the Coroner asked the police whether they were satisfied that no one else had been involved in Thomasina Mitchell's death, the police said, 'I have found no evidence at all to suggest that it was so'. The Coroner then asked the police, 'You are satisfied she was quite secret about this?', and the police replied, 'I am, sir'. The Coroner then noted, 'The husband seems to have been in the dark about this matter'.

Hamilton Grove has since been demolished and the land redeveloped, but was just off Hamilton Road to the south of Carnac Street where the resistance memorial is today by the Vincennes Estate.