by Jill Evans
A post-mortem examination had been carried out on Tuesday morning, in Toller’s presence. On opening up the chest, it was found that the heart was much enlarged with valvular disease. Seven of the ribs on the right side of the body were fractured. Examination of the head revealed extensive effusion on the brain, and that the brain tissue was rather soft.
Sheepscombe, home of Walter Partridge. (Author’s collection)
Toller concluded that the serious effusion of the brain, along with the diseased heart, were the primary causes of death, but the fractures of the ribs had no doubt accelerated death. The patient would probably not have lived for more than a few days more, if his ribs had not been fractured. Toller believed that the injury to the ribs could have been inflicted up to ten hours before death. He told the Coroner that he had taken great pains to obtain information from warders and patients, but they revealed nothing which might explain how the injuries to Partridge were caused.
Dr Thomas said he was sent to attend Partridge a little before ten o’clock on Monday morning. He found Partridge in the day room, where he was sitting down with his head bent on his chest. He was conscious, but breathing very slowly and the doctor was unable to find a pulse. Partridge died about five minutes later. Thomas saw nothing at the time which made him suspect that any violence had been used.
About twenty minutes later, when the body had been washed and laid out, Thomas had noticed that Partridge had suffered some sort of injury to his ribs. He cautioned the attendants to be very careful when moving the body, as he was anxious to keep it in the same condition as when death occurred. He asked the attendant in charge, Stephens, if any violence had taken place, to which he replied, ‘None that I know of’.
Dr Thomas agreed with Toller’s evidence as to the results of the post-mortem and the cause of death, but he believed the broken ribs must have been received within a few hours before Partridge died. He could hardly understand how a person with these injuries could have gone about without showing symptoms of pain, although persons in Partridge’s condition were not so sensitive in their expression of pain as sane people.
He had seen the deceased on Sunday night, at about half past eight. His attention had been called to Partridge by the attendant Hopkins, who said this patient had been very restless and excitable all day, and had been breaking glass. Thomas asked him how he was and Partridge replied that he had never felt better in his life, and was in no pain whatsoever.
Asked about Partridge’s behaviour in the asylum, Dr Thomas replied that he had been very mischievous and dirty, and would often steal other patients’ food. He had heard them abuse him for doing so, but he had never seen another patient strike him.
Frederick Charles Stephens stated that he was in charge of Ward 5, where Partridge was placed, during the day. Ward 5 had twelve single rooms, a padded room, a bathroom and three dormitories. The twelve single rooms opened onto a corridor. Partridge used to sleep in a single room by himself.
On the morning of Monday, 12 June, he went into Partridge’s room to wake him up, but found him standing by the wall. They said good morning to each other and Stephens told Partridge to get dressed and handed him his clothes, but then realised that he was ‘in a very dirty state’. He therefore told attendant William Hawkins to bathe him and watch him dress. He was in the dormitory, eighteen or twenty yards away from the bathroom, while Hawkins and Partridge were in there. He saw Partridge just outside the bathroom door at about seven o’clock, when he was getting dressed, supervised by Hawkins. Stephens saw him again about fifteen minutes later, dressed and walking beside Hawkins to the day room. He next saw him at a quarter to eight, sitting at the breakfast table in the day room, and he seemed all right then.
Ground-floor plan of Gloucester Lunatic Asylum, by T. Fulljames, around 1842. (Gloucestershire Archives, D12733/1)
At about ten minutes to ten, Hawkins came and asked him if he thought Partridge was fit to go out to the airing court. Stephens asked what was wrong with him, and Hawkins took him to the day room. He found Partridge sitting on a locker and leaning against the wall. He said, ‘Why, Hawkins, this man’s a-dying!’ and told him to fetch Tom Dent, the head attendant. Hawkins was gone longer than expected, so Stephens sent attendant Hopkins for Dr Thomas. The doctor ordered Partridge to be taken to the dormitory, where he died shortly after. Later, when it became known about Partridge’s injuries, Hawkins said perhaps the body was dropped when it was taken to the mortuary.
Stephens had also seen Partridge on the previous day, and was with him more or less from six in the morning until two o’clock in the afternoon. He showed no sign of being in pain. Stephens said he had never heard that Partridge had been subjected to violence by other patients and knew nothing that could account for the broken ribs.
Thomas Dancey, master tailor at the asylum, was also an attendant for half a day on alternate Sundays. On Sunday, 11 June, he was on duty from nine in the morning until half past twelve. Partridge was walking in the yard with the other patients and seemed fine then, but earlier he had been breaking the glass of the pump-room windows. At half past twelve, he left Partridge in the care of attendant Knight. There was some disagreement between Partridge and a patient named Wilkins, and another attendant separated them.
Close-up of a corridor, from the ground-floor plan of Gloucester Lunatic Asylum, T. Fulljames, around 1842. (Gloucestershire Archives, D12733/1)
William Hawkins said he saw Partridge at about six o’clock on Monday morning. He was in a dirty condition and Hawkins took him to the bathroom. He got into the bath without help and Hawkins didn’t see any marks of violence on him. He watched Partridge get dressed then walked with him to the day room. Hawkins hadn’t heard of anything which might account for Partridge’s injuries, but on the previous day, at about five o’clock in the evening, as he was leaving the day room, he heard Partridge fall. He went back in and picked him up, sitting him on a seat by the table. Partridge couldn’t have had a quarrel with another patient because Hawkins would have heard. He saw him safely to bed at about nine o’clock on Sunday night, then next saw him on Monday morning.
Three other attendants, Jennings, Cam and Dyke, also gave evidence. They could throw no light on how Partridge came by his injuries. The Coroner then called in several patients, two of whom said they were always treated kindly by the attendants. The others made statements which were vague and unreliable. The Coroner remarked on the fact that the deceased man had received very serious injuries, yet no one seemed to know how he came by them. The hearing had now been going on for six hours and the inquest was adjourned to allow more time for further inquiries to be made.
On Wednesday, 21 June, the inquest resumed. The jury visited the asylum and viewed the bathroom, day room and the bedroom used by Partridge, and also visited the pump-house, where the deceased had broken some windows on the day before his death.
Dr Thomas was recalled and was questioned more about Partridge’s injuries. He believed there must have been direct pressure on the chest to have caused the fractures. Asked whether an attendant might have applied a knee to the chest to restrain the patient, Dr Thomas said this practice was not permitted at the asylum.
Dr William Kebbell, senior assistant medical officer at the asylum, thought Partridge’s injuries might have been sustained within six hours of death, but probably less. He believed the injuries were caused by considerable force on the chest, applied while the patient was lying down on a hard surface.
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Attendant Stephens was recalled. He said there were fifty-one patients in Ward 5 and four attendants in the ward on the Monday morning. There were between twenty-six and twenty-eight patients in the day room. Hawkins would have been relieved by another attendant in the day room for ten to fifteen minutes, so he could go and get some breakfast. On that morning, Hawkins was relieved by attendant Camm at twenty-five minutes to nine.
William Hawkins gave more evidence, and said that when he fetched Stephens to look at
Partridge and was told to go and fetch attendant Dent, he couldn’t find him. He was only away from the day room for about two minutes. He did lose sight of Partridge earlier in the morning, when he popped out of the day room to fetch water to wash other patients. This was before the patients had been served breakfast.
A few minutes before he fetched Stephens on Monday morning, he had noticed that Partridge’s hands were dirty and went to get water, but he was only away for a minute. About ten minutes after washing Partridge’s hands, he noticed a gurgling sound in his throat, but didn’t worry about it because he had heard him make this noise before. Ten minutes after that, he saw that Partridge’s head was hanging down to one side, and it was then that he went to fetch Stephens.
The Coroner then warned Hawkins that he did not have to answer the questions he was about to ask him, and cautioned him against saying anything to incriminate himself. In reply to his questions, Hawkins said that he did not, on that Monday or on any other day, use violence of any kind towards Partridge, except to lay hold of his collar or his arm to lead him away, and this was never done in an angry or violent manner. Sometimes Partridge had refused to get in or out of the bath, but not on this particular Monday. When it had happened on other occasions, Hawkins had called for assistance.
Hawkins stated that nothing had come to his knowledge regarding how Partridge had come by his injuries, except that he had been told by some patients and attendant Jennings that on Sunday Partridge had fallen by the pump-house when breaking windows. He understood that he had fallen into some bushes, and Jennings and a patient called Reason had helped him up.
On Monday morning, Partridge was quieter than usual. The bathroom door was open at all times when an attendant was inside with a patient. Stephens was going backwards and forwards past the door. He was in the bathroom with Partridge for ten or twelve minutes. When he later went out of the day room for a minute or two, there was no attendant, which was against the rules. On his return, he didn’t notice anything wrong with Partridge.
In reply to a question asked by Dr Thomas, Hawkins said, ‘I asked if the deceased’s body had slipped out of the hands of the attendants carrying it, in taking it out of the coffin on to the slab at the mortuary.’
This part of the inquiry lasted five hours. The hearing was then adjourned for another week.
On Monday, 26 June, the inquest resumed. Samuel Hopkins, an attendant who had helped Stephens to lay out Partridge’s body, was questioned. He had first seen Partridge that Monday at a quarter to eight, when he was sitting at the breakfast table waiting for his food. He didn’t see him again until about ten minutes to ten, when Partridge appeared to be dying. Hopkins and Stephens had washed Partridge’s body at about half past eleven in the morning. The body was afterwards taken downstairs and placed in a coffin. They had to carry the body down twelve to fifteen steps, but at no time had they let it fall.
Attendant Stephens was questioned next and stated that an hour or two after hearing about Partridge’s injuries, he asked Hawkins if he knew anything about it, and he said he did not. He had spoken to him several times since, and on one occasion Hawkins had told him about Partridge falling in the day room on the Sunday afternoon.
Attendants Knight and Moulder, who had helped take Partridge’s body to the mortuary, were asked whether the body had fallen while it was being conveyed. The two men emphatically denied this.
The foreman of the jury, Mr Matthews, said there was a rumour current in the city that thirteen of the attendants had, since the opening of the inquiry, received notice to leave. When asked if this was true, Toller replied that two of the medical assistants were about to leave, and four of the attendants had given notice, but this had nothing to do with the inquiry.
Head attendant Tom Dent was then called. He had seen Partridge in his bedroom at about half past six on the Monday morning, when he seemed in his usual health. He also seemed fine when Dent saw him later in the day room, where he was sitting at the breakfast table, crumbling bread between his fingers. He had endeavoured to find out how Partridge’s injuries were caused, without success. He had helped lift the body out at the mortuary at five minutes to ten on Tuesday morning; the body had been lifted gently.
The Coroner again tried to interview several patients, but their answers to his questions were not of any help. He decided to ask for the view of an independent medical man, and to report the case to the Commissioners of Lunacy. After another gruelling session of over six hours, the inquest was adjourned for a fortnight.
The inquiry was resumed once more on Monday, 10 July. Dr G.R. Cubitt, a surgeon in Stroud, attended to give evidence as an independent medical expert, but Mr Toller was ill and unable to attend.
Before the evidence was heard, the foreman of the jury said he had to mention something which had happened the other day. One of the jurors, Mr Smith, was walking down the street when he met a group of men standing together at the Cross, one of whom was attendant William Hawkins. When Smith got near the men, Hawkins remarked, ‘Here is one of the ********.’ He believed three men had been present, and Mr Smith was sure it was Hawkins who had made the remark. The foreman said that it was an unpleasant enough thing to be a jury member on this case, without being insulted in the streets.
Postcard of the Cross, from Southgate Street, around 1910. (Author’s collection)
The Coroner called Hawkins and Hopkins in and asked them about the incident. Hawkins denied having made any such remark, and Hopkins said he didn’t know anything about it. Mr Smith said he was sure it was Hawkins who spoke. The two attendants were allowed to stand down.
Dr G.R. Cubitt said he didn’t believe that Partridge could have suffered his injuries before he was woken on Monday morning and then have got in and out of the bath without assistance, dressed himself and walked to the day room. He thought the injuries must have been inflicted after a quarter to eight on Monday morning, when Partridge was sitting in the day room. He couldn’t believe that a fall in the airing yard, which was said to have happened on Sunday, or the fall in the day room on the same day, could have caused the injuries.
Tom Dent, the head attendant, was called and asked if the rumour was true that he was going to leave the asylum. He replied that this was correct, but his leaving had nothing to do with the case.
The Coroner then began summing up the evidence. He said that it appeared that the deceased had received his injuries some time on Monday and it seemed unlikely that the attendant Hawkins, who was with the patient for most of the day, knew nothing about how this had happened. He wasn’t satisfied with the evidence given by Hawkins, and he thought it was an extraordinary question which he had asked, as to whether the body might have been dropped on the way to the mortuary.
All the witnesses agreed that Partridge was in his usual health at a quarter to eight on Monday morning. The Coroner thought the injuries had been inflicted deliberately, and although there was no evidence to say by whom, he had his suspicions. The jury foreman said, ‘So have we.’
The Coroner told the jury that the law provided that if a man was suffering from a disease and another man inflicted injuries upon him which accelerated his death, he was guilty of murder or manslaughter. To be manslaughter, there must be extenuating circumstances, such as a fight or a struggle. No such evidence had come forth in this case, and if they concluded that the injuries had been inflicted wilfully and maliciously, then this was a case of wilful murder.
After considering for a short time, the jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person or persons unknown. The Coroner commented that it was perfectly monstrous that people who were sent to that institution to be cared for and treated properly should be subjected to such terrible treatment as that poor man had received.
The foreman suggested that there should be some inquiry into the management of the asylum. He believed it was entirely owing to the many changes in staff and mismanagement of the institution that they were there that day. The Coroner replied that he was sorry t
hat Mr Toller was not there to hear that remark, but the question raised was one for the Visiting Committee. The inquiry was then closed. The proceedings in this final session had lasted three and a half hours.
In July, it was announced in the local newspapers that the Visiting Justices (magistrates who oversaw the running of the asylum and carried out inspections) had commenced an inquiry into the circumstances of the affair. They had suspended all the attendants whose names had been called into question and placed the matter formally in the hands of the police, who were searching for additional evidence which might lead to someone standing trial. The Lunacy Commissioners (officials who addressed any issues that arose in asylums) had also started an investigation. Attendant Stephens had resigned since the inquest. Near the end of the month, it was reported that Mr Toller, the superintendent of the asylum, had sent in his resignation, because his health had given way ‘under the stress of duty’.
It wasn’t until November 1882 that news broke that an arrest had finally been made. Deputy Chief Constable Chipp had gone to the lodgings of William Hawkins on 3 November, at about seven o’clock in the evening, armed with a warrant which had been issued by the Treasury. Hawkins was arrested on suspicion of causing the death of Walter Partridge.
The next day, Hawkins was brought before the County Petty Sessional Court. Mr Pollard, Solicitor to the Treasury, said he appeared under instructions received from the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Sir William Vernon Harcourt. The circumstances of the case had been brought to the attention of the Home Secretary, along with the report of the Lunacy Commissioners, and he deemed it right that the prisoner should be brought before the court to decide if he should be sent for trial. Hawkins was remanded until Friday.