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  • Curiosity

    My Maternal Grandfather is Clifford William Willis b. 1899 Cowes IoW d. 1967 Cowes.
    ( He sounds boring when put like that but he had a full and interesting life ).

    Clifford had a brother Bernard Weston Willis b. 1893 Cowes d. 1939 Southampton.
    I had Bernard on the 1901 and 1911 Census , his WW1 Territorial Army record , he worked at J Samuel Whites shipyard in Cowes , no marriage found , and the death in 1939 in Southampton.

    Then I spotted in the Probate register that he had left a Will.
    Died 29 Oct 1939 at Southampton Police Headquarters .
    This is when I became curious.

    So off to Southampton library and searched the Southern Daily Echo for late October 1939.

    He was arrested on 28 Oct 1939 and charged with “ Gross indecency in a public place , Southampton Cattle Market “ ( fill in your own thoughts ) , he was put in the cells to appear in court on Monday 30 October.

    About 7pm Sunday he was found hanged in his cell , he had made a rope out of his clothing , stood on the toilet , tied his rope round the pipe to the cistern and when found his toes were dangling in the water in cistern.

    There was an inquest and the Jury returned a verdict of Suicide .

    Bernard Weston Willis was given a memorial service at St Marys Church West Cowes and was then buried with his parents and siblings in Northwood Cemetery. RIP.

    Ken

  • #2
    How very very sad, Ken.

    OC

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    • #3
      What an awful story.

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      • #4
        What a distressing find for you, and how much more so for those family alive at the time.

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        • #5
          A very sad story, Ken

          Jay
          Janet in Yorkshire



          Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

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          • #6
            A while ago, the barber who used to cut my sons' hair was accused of sexually molesting an under-age girl. There was a big article about it in our local free rag. The next week the barber committed suicide by throwing himself on the railway line. There was some talk of it being an accident, but I think it was suicide, though whether it was guilt or shame that made him do it, no one will know.
            ~ with love from Little Nell~
            Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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