Charlotte Parkin

Charlotte Parkin died from injuries.

Her step-son was tried for her manslaughter but acquitted.

Charlotte Parkin had lived with her husband at the High Street Tavern in Derby. There had in effect been two families living there, Charlotte Parkin and her children, and her husband with his children from a previous marriage.

At the time Charlotte Parkin was said to have received her injuries, 17 April 1921, she had been at the tavern with her husband, her 14-year-old son, and her husband’s 31-year-old son, a welder's labourer, aged 31, the man that was tried for her manslaughter.

They were said to have been in the living room at the time, whilst a day servant had been in the kitchen.

At the time, it was said that Charlotte Parkin had not been entirely sober and that her step-son had appeared angry with her.

The servant said that she heard the stepson say:

She said she also heard him call her:

To which she heard Charlotte Parkin reply:

She said that she next heard Charlotte Parkin's son shout:

However, at the trial Charlotte Parkin's son denied that he had said that and said that at the time he made the statement and signed it that he had been frightened.

He said that when the stepson had asked Charlotte Parkin why she didn't alter her ways that Charlotte Parkin had jumped up at him and that the stepson had just put his hand on her and just pushed her back and that after that the stepson left, after which he and his father went into the bar, leaving Charlotte Parkin in the kitchen alone. He said that shortly after they heard a scream and when they rushed into the kitchen they found Charlotte Parkin at the bottom of three steps, having fallen down, noting that she had fallen down them on occasions before. He noted that she frequently had fits when she had been drinking and that when they had found her she had been foaming at the mouth.

The servant said that shortly after she went into the room and found Charlotte Parkin on the sofa.

No doctor was sent for, but sometime later the little boy was sent out to get something for her bruises and wounds.

About 6pm Charlotte Parkin seemed to have got up and gone out, calling upon a neighbour friend, who, on seeing her injuries, insisted upon her going to the infirmary.

Charlotte Parkin later died at the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary on Wednesday 21 April 1921.

When she was admitted to the infirmary, she had been in a semi-conscious condition. However, it was noted that she had been for some time addicted to drink and that there was no doubt that at the time she had been drinking heavily.

When she died, her death was stated as having been due to exhaustion, following upon alcoholic poisoning accelerated by the injuries she had received.

However, it was heard that her injuries could have been the result of a blow or a fall.

As such, at the trial, it was said that it was for the jury to consider the circumstances under which she received her injuries and whether they were due to an act of violence by the stepson without lawful excuse or justification.

Evidence heard at the trial included that of an architect, who had drawn plans of the house, which included drawings that showed the condition of the step leading from the kitchen to the scullery, it being heard that the scullery steps were badly worn and that the bottom step was defective and that at the bottom of the steps a sink projected about 18 inches that Charlotte Parkin could have hit her head on if she had fallen down the stairs.

It was at the bottom of the steps that the servant said she found Charlotte Parkin.

It was heard that when the stepson was arrested he had said:

However, after hearing the evidence, the jury found the stepson not guilty and he was discharged.