The Tragic Shooting at Lower House Farm

[Paulc]

I have been tracing and following a story about the accidental shooting of a 6 year old boy who was killed by the gun that belonged to one of my Ancestors and just brings home to me that not all family history stories are happy ones

https://chiddicksfamilytree.com/2020/09/10/the-tragic-fatality-at-lower-house-farm-part-2/

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Indeed. Through tracing residents of a small village I have come across a lot of fatal farming related accidents - my grandmother's fiance was killed when the horse of the wagon he was driving took fright and bolted, throwing him onto the road and causing a fatal head injury.
A 15 year old groom accidentally hanged himself by playing a silly game whereby the farm lads fastened towels to hooks in the ceiling, put their head into the loops, and swung themselves along from one draped towel to the next. Richard was alone in the stable and had been trying to improve his skill.
The daughter of one of my Northumbrian Irish families wanted to find a biscuit to eat, so took the oil lamp into her parents' bedroom to look in a drawer where the biscuits were kept. Her father was a miner and inside the same drawer were a couple of discarded and forgotten powder shots, used by miners in underground work. There was an explosion, the girl was badly burned and died the next morning.It was late evening and the mother had gone next door, leaving the little girl in the kitchen to mind the baby. At the inquest into Margaret's death, the coroner stated that no blame was to be placed on the parents. Child care issues and practices have improved somewhat since then.

[Paulc]

Oh Janet such tragic stories, heartbreaking to hear, but even more heartbreaking to live through

[Anne in Carlisle]

Three of my husband's grandfathers of various 'greats' were lost at sea. One in 1859 as he plied his trade as a sailor of a 'gold duster' in the River Humber. These little boats went out to meet ships arriving and offer them services. The other two were lost in 1895 and 1908 when their fishing trawlers went down in storms. Obviously living in Hull there was always a chance of finding these tragedies but three seems quite a lot to me.
Anne

[Paulc]

Every death is tragic, but people taken young or in their prime always seems that bit harder to take.