July 2004 - Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society

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Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society - Journal Page 3 Thomas Beebe was my great grandfather, he was the son of John Beeby and was born in Dadlington on 25th February 1860. He married Clara Meller at Dadlington on 17th June 1880 (although it is interesting to note that on the 1881 census he is at his parents’ house and listed as unmarried, whilst Clara Beeby is listed as a married kitchen girl living at the home of Mr Charles Jee at Nuneaton fields). The spelling of Beeby had changed to Beebe when my grandfather was born and they were living at Cold Comfort in Hinckley, which was the area were the Sunnyside Hospital stands on the A447 Ashby road. When or why they moved to Attleborough I do not know. I did not know about what had happened to Thomas but then, at the January meeting, I was talking to someone about Higham on the Hill when a visitor to our meeting, Mrs Celia Hornbuckle, asked me had I read the history of the Mellers of Higham. She told me that she may be able to get me a copy but it turned out that she could not. While doing some researching in Leicester she saw the article in the Daily Post, noticed the name Beebe, thought he could be on my tree, and so contacted me with the details. The rest, as they say, is now History! I now have various accounts of the incident taken from local newspapers, one of which is printed below. Thomas was buried at Dadlington. His widow, Clara, died c1940 at Market Bosworth and is buried at Higham on the Hill. The following account is taken from the Nuneaton Chronicle of Friday January 16th 1891 SHOCKING SUICIDE ON THE RAILWAY NEAR NUNEATON A horrible discovery was made on Monday morning on the London and North-Western Railway Company's line between Hinckley and Nuneaton, a few yards on the Warwickshire side of the Watling Street, the body of a man, terribly mutilated, being found upon the metals. The head was completely severed, and one arm and one foot had also been cut off. Information on the Shocking Suicide By Tom Beebe discovery was first telephoned to Hinckley railway station, and the station master, accompanied by a policeman, immediately went to the scene, the body being at once removed, and placed on a platelayer's trolley. It being found that the accident happened in Warwickshire, the remains were brought to Nuneaton station. The exact district in which the occurrence took place was Hydes Pastures, which is situated in the Longford police division. The circumstances surrounding the case clearly point to it being one of suicide. A letter, written in pencil, was found upon the body, which, after being deciphered with difficulty, was found to read as follows:- "My dear Clara,- I felt so bad I could not help it. You have been a good wife to me. Don't you fret. I have always been afraid we should come to want. Do not fret my dear; I could not help it. Tell my Father not to fret. I could not help it. Take care of my children. God bless them. I wish I could be cheerful, but I could not. Good bye my dear." There was no signature to the letter, and for some time the man, whose body was brought to the Crown Inn, in Bond Street, remained unidentified. A description of the appearance, clothing, etc, was issued, and late the same evening the body was identified by his wife as that of Thomas Beebe, labourer, of Attleborough. It should be mentioned that a pair of reins were found lying near the scene of the accident, and the theory is that the man at first contemplated ending his life by hanging but that it occurred to him to find a more speedy method of ending his existence. An inquest on the body of Beebe was held at the Crown on Wednesday at noon by Dr. C. W. Iliffe, the district coroner, and a jury of whom Mr. C. Rowton was chosen foreman. Inspector Cliffe attended on behalf of the London and North-Western Railway Company, and produced a plan of the scene of the accident, which he explained to the Coroner. Dr. R. B. Nason, surgeon to the London & North Western Railway Company, said his son Dr. W. S. Nason was at the station when the remains of the deceased were brought in on a trolley. Witness attended subsequently and made an examination. The body was decapitated, one arm and one leg had been amputated, and the body was otherwise greatly mutilated. Witness did not previously know the deceased. Death was the result of mutilation and decapitation of the body. Clara Beebe, wife of the deceased, said her husband was 31 years of age. He was by trade a collier, working on the pit bank. He was ill five weeks ago but had not previously been ill, nor yet since. She could not say anything as to the condition of his mind. He lost his mother some weeks ago, and had been troubled by this event. During Saturday night he seemed rather queer, but appeared to get all right. Since the frost had been about, he had been troubled about the fear of coming to want, and this seemed to prey on his mind. On Sunday morning he went from home to the colliery, to unload a truck of clod. He kissed her as usual before leaving the house, and bade her "Good-bye," telling her he should return in two and a half hours. He did not return, however, until half-past five o'clock. She asked him where he had been, and he said he did not know. He seemed rather quiet, and she asked him what was the matter. He replied, "Nothing particular". He had a good tea, and also some of the dinner, which witness had kept hot. After tea he stayed for some time, going out shortly before eight o'clock. She did not see him alive again. He had never told her he was tired of life. When he came in on the Sunday evening she thought he had had some beer, as he looked rather down, and she said, "Aren't you well, Tom?" He said, "I'm all right." He had always thought, ever since they had been married that poverty would come upon him, and that they would come to want. His wages averaged about 16s or 18s per week. She had no idea that he contemplated suicide. He said when he went out that he felt funny. As they sat by the fire she asked him if he would read a chapter from the Bible, as he usually did, and he said he would. He (Continued on page 4)
Page 4 did not do so, however, but got up shortly afterwards and taking his hat, went out, saying he should be back in a few minutes. Charles Currin, miner, of Attleborough, said he knew the deceased. He last saw him alive at a quarter to six on Sunday night, when he was having his supper. Witness had seen him from time to time during the past year or so. His wife was joking him about having been away so long, and witness left the house, as he did not think it was any business of his to stay when the husband and wife were talking about their own affairs. He did not think that any domestic quarrel had occurred which would be likely to influence the deceased to act as he had done, In reply to the Coroner, P. C. Smith said he had made every enquiry as to the reins found near the body, but could not discover the owner. Mrs Beebe, recalled, said her husband did not possess any reins. The deceased had no reins when he left the house, and she had never seen him Great grandmother Jane had married three times. I had not found her death (or that of her third husband) in Cheshire where they lived and farmed, and half gave up thinking she had married a fourth time so I was looking for the wrong name (I still haven’t positively found her birth!). I had searched and re-searched the GRO for her death in Cheshire and had spent many an hour reading gravestones in the villages around Delamere all to no avail. Jane Dulson was reputedly born 1852 at Whixall, Shropshire “daughter of Thomas” – the only near match I have is daughter of Mary Dulson. In Cheshire in 1877 she married my widowed great-grandfather Joseph Challoner (b. 1836) as Jane Eardley a widow aged 26. Joseph and two of his children by Jane were to die in an epidemic in 1885 when near neighbour John Rigby also lost his wife. My grandfather and his brother survived along with their mother Jane and John Rigby who then got hitched in the local Methodist Chapel, and more children were born. By 1901 Jane’s Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society - Journal with any. By a juror: The note produced was in the deceased's handwriting. She did not see him write it. Thomas Allen, engine driver in the employ of the London and North- Western Railway Company, said he was driving the 8.25 train from Leicester to Nuneaton on Monday morning. When between Hinckley and Nuneaton, he saw something on the line, but could not tell what it was. It was near the bridge which crosses the Watling Street Road, on the down line, and on the bank side of the railway. He called the stoker's attention to the matter, and went on to the Midland junction, where he told the signal-man that there was something like a bag, lying on the side of the railway. Some platelayer's were sent back, who found the body of the deceased. They were travelling forty miles an hour at the time, and it was a foggy morning. Witness knew that it was not his engine that had caused the accident. P. C. Smith produced the reins found near the body, the letter referred to 20th Century Family Myths & Legends By Jacqui Simkins offspring bearing three surnames were living together on the farm at Onston: Eardley, Challoner and Rigby – a genealogist’s dream (or nightmare!). Within the family it was said that grandfather, Fred Challoner, had come south to Warwickshire where farms were cheaper and readily available, accompanied by his halfbrother Tom Rigby: they looked remarkably similar. My mother had never known who her grandmother Challoner was and this fuelled the assumption that Fred and Tom were the only family who moved south. It therefore almost passed unnoticed when someone mentioned that a John Rigby had once farmed at Little Packington (between Meriden and Coleshill). Unsure if this was John senior, John half-brother of Fred, or some unrelated Rigby, I took a visit to trawl the churchyard. I walked along the short drive of what is now signposted “private residence” to the church (now a house) and hoped nobody was home to challenge me. I found the gravestone with ease – I had at long last located the final resting above, and also a chain, the sum of 1 s 9d, and a red pocket handkerchief, which were found upon the deceased. The Coroner asked the police to hand the money found on the body over to the widow. In summing up, he pointed out that the case was an easy one for the jury to determine as to what was the condition of the man's mind. The deceased had evidently contemplated self destruction by taking about with him a pair of reins and a chain, either of which he might have used with which to hang himself, and it was probable that it afterwards occurred to him that the safest and quickest method of destruction would be by means of walking down the line and placing himself upon the rails in front of a passing train. There could be no question as to the condition of mind, because any man who acted like this must without any doubt be out of his mind. The jury returned a verdict of "Suicide whilst in a state of temporary insanity." Sergeant Lines had charge of the case. place of great-grandmother Jane along with her third husband John Rigby. Jane had died in 1924 at the age of 71 years – nearly a hundred miles from where I had been searching for her. Whilst uneasy that her grave appears to now be in private hands, it was a relief to know where she was (I have taken the matter of access up with the local vicar and diocesan office – watch this space!). Further research is needed to discover why so many Cheshire families came to Warwickshire during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Were agents sent to Cheshire to seek tenants for the farms? I have been told that rents were very low to attract dairy farmers, as there was a need to produce milk for the burgeoning town populations (Cheshire farmers were noted for their milk production): or is that another myth? However, I do know now that Fred Challoner, Tom Rigby, William Challoner and John Rigby Jnr (halfbrothers) all came to Warwickshire - though what happened to the latter two is to be discovered.
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July 2004 - Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society

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