Suicide

[Gill D]

My MIL's stepfather John F (don't know what it stands for) Abrahams committed suicide sometime between 1930 and 1940. They lived in the Poplar, Stepney area of London. I can find no death but I also wondered whether this would be something that would have been in the newspapers of the day but don't know where to look. I have no idea of his dob other than he married Millicent cross in 1938.

Can anyone help find his death and suggest where to look for a newspaper report

Many thanks

[JBee]

see thread below

[JBee]

There's death in Sept 1946 age 45 of a John F Abrahams in East Ham vol 5a page 2

[Gill D]

Thank you I had restricted my search because my MIL had always indicated that she was very young when this happened. If he died in 1946 she would have been 16 years old and perhaps her memory is a little faded! Do yiu think suicides would be reported in the papers of the day?

[Olde Crone Holden]

Yes, suicides were usually reported in local papers but I'm thinking that he may have attempted suicide when MIL was very young, for which crime he would have ben locked up, and may have died of something else in 1946!

I'd have to get the cert, myself....

OC

[Gill D]

Hi. According to MIL he was definitely dead, he gassed himself in the oven after putting the cat out! Perhaps her memory has faded of the time and it was 1946 and not earlier as she suggested. I will get a copy of this certificate as you suggest. Thank you

[Guest]

did John F Abraham have a Father John and come from Wood Green? if so there is a newspaper article in 1900 on an Essex Will

[Gill D]

Hi Val yes I believe his father was also john but I do not know whether or not he comes from wood green. Is the will of John or john senior please? Please can you confirm how I would access this? Thank you

[Guest]

have pmd you

[Guest]

Essex Newsman Sat 10 Mar 1900.jpghere it is

[DavidNewton]

Based on the info in the thread and ancestry searches I came up with a speculative timeline:
Christening
John Frederick Abrahams, son of John & Sophia Abrahams of 299 Brunswick Rd, Chr 25 Nov 1900 at St Michael's Bromley, DoB 1 Nov 1900
1901 Census
Jno F Abrahams son of Jno Abrahams still at 299 Brunswick Rd, Poplar
1911 Census
John F. Abrahams (age 10) son of John & Sophia Abrahams living at Bromley Hall Rd, Poplar
Marriage(s)
John F Abrahams & Lucy V Snaith, 1919 Q1, Poplar Middlesex
(followed by a birth John F Abrahams, 1919 Q4, Poplar & two death in the same quarter & John F Abrahams, age 0 and Lucy V Abrahams, 1919 age 21)
Second? Marriage
John F. Abrahams & Milicent V.Cross, 1938 Q4 at East Ham Essex
Death
John F. Abrahams, Sep 1946 East Ham aged 45

Added in Edit: forgot to say I did a British Newspaper Archive search for 1945-6 and found nothing

[Janet]

Finding a newsaper report is going to depend very much on where he died, and so therefore which paper that the record might have been recorded. For what its worth I have an ancestor who committed suicide, but he died in Scotland, not where he lived in Devon, so no report was found in a Devon paper, but I did find a report in a Scottish paper. At present not all the newspapers, particularly the provincial newspapers, have been dogitised, so not finding the newspaper details on line at present will not necessarily mean that the death was not recorded by a newspaper. It could be just that the paper where the death may have been recorded has not yet been digitised.

Your best bet at this stage is to ring/mail the nearest MAIN library to where the death occurred, and to find out what papers would have been available at this time for that area, and see if that library has any hard copies or microfilm copies for the newspaper/newspapers, bearing in mind that names of newspapers have changed over the years, and some have gone out of circulation. Sometimes a library will do a search for you if you know the date. The main library in Winchester offered to do a search for me at a cost of about £7.

Janet

[DavidNewton]

Following up another line of thought.

Is it possible your MiL has the wrong person? Probably just a coincidence of surnames but In the Gloucester Citizen of 23 Feb 1932 there is a record of a schoolteacher William James Cross who committed suicide by putting his head in a gas oven. He was teaching at Sleaford St Elementary School in Battersea.

To add to the coincidence a Millicent V Tickle married a James Cross in Prescot Lancashire in 1925.

This is of course very speculative.

[Olde Crone Holden]

David

That is a very interesting possibility you have found and makes it even more imperative to get the death cert!

OC

[Gill D]

Hi Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. My MIL has always told the story for as long as I have known her which is 45 plus years that she came home from school one day and her stepfather had gassed himself in the oven and she found him. Slight amusement was that he had put the cat out to ensure that it was not gassed!!! I am going to get the death certificate for the 1946 death and see what that comes up with. I will contact the library at East Ham and see what they come up with. I have also e mailed a couple of what are current local newspapers to ask whether there is anything in their archives and will await their response. Thanks again to all

[Gill D]

Hi the mystery has been solved. The death certificate arrived this morning which confirmed that he died of asphyxia due to carbon monoxide poisoning whilst the balance of his mind was disturbed. Very sad but at least I know I had the right man and now his death certificate. Thanks to all who helped me. I plan to visit the newham library in the near future to see if there were any newspaper reports but that won't be yet. Thanks again.