Charles Morkot never appears to have lived in Swindon. Perhaps his two sons made a case for his burial in Radnor Street Cemetery following the dramatic circumstances of his death.
Charles Morkot was born in 1832 at Goring, Oxford, the son of agricultural labourer James and his wife Ann. Like his father, Charles began his working career as an agricultural labourer. However, the UK Railway Employment Records 1833-1956 (available to view on Ancestry) record that Charles began work as an Engineman with the GWR on April 24, 1856, shortly after his marriage to Susan Jane Hinton Shrimpton on April 5.
At the time of the 1861 census Charles had moved his family to Aston, Warwickshire where he worked as a Railway Engine Fireman. He progressed his career to become an Engine Driver and for sometime was employed on the record breaking Flying Dutchman loco. The Flying Dutchman was in operation between 1849 and 1892 travelling from Paddington to Exeter (and later Penzance) reaching speeds of 60 miles an hour in 1876.
Good Friday 1898 and George was enjoying his day off working in his garden at 5 Primrose villas, Kingston Road, Southall. He got up early and told his daughter Nellie that he was off to collect some manure for the garden from the stables at the “Three Tuns.” Returning with the wheelbarrow he told Nellie there were two more loads for the taking, and set off again.
Nellie told the Coroner’s Court that she saw him bring the three barrow loads home. She went into the garden where her father had been planting potatoes and spoke to him. She then saw a pint bottle with a Whitbread’s label on it, and remarked. “You have a little bottle here.” He replied, “Yes; the man in the yard said, ‘Here, Charlie, have a drink.'” He told her not to take it indoors, as it was a drop of beer. Nellie left him to his gardening and went back into the house.
Within minutes Charles staggered into the kitchen. The Whitbread bottle contained not a swig of refreshing beer; Charles had taken a fatal gulp of carbolic acid. Charles asked for a drink of water after which he appeared unable to talk again.
James D. Windle, the attending doctor, said he knew Charles had ingested carbolic acid by the smell on his breath. He washed out the patients stomach but Charles died from ‘coma and failure of the heart produced by poison.’ He had drank about one-third of the bottle. Less than a teaspoonful would have been fatal.
Annie Sanger, wife of the landlord of the “Three Tuns,” William Gladman, cabman, and local resident Henry Woodward were all called as witnesses but no one had any information on the mystery man in the yard who had given Charles the fatal drink.
The Coroner thought the best thing would be to adjourn the case for a few days. The carbolic might have been purchased somewhere. In the meantime they might try to discover who gave deceased the bottle. If whoever did so would come forward and say so they would be out of the difficulty, but in the event of his not doing so, they must try to find him.
The report in the Middlesex County Times concluded:
‘The Coroner: It is a matter of great public importance. Cases in my experience are every now and then cropping up which can be traced to carelessness of some kind, and it will put people on their guard. There was more than that in the present case. Deceased had said “A man in the yard gave it me to drink”; had he meant suicide he would not have said that. There was somebody who gave him the bottle, but had not the manliness to come forward and say so. A few days longer may find it out. He might know nothing of this inquiry, and when it goes forth he may come forward and help to clear it up.
Dr Vere Benson re-opened the inquiry in the hope that further evidence might be forthcoming. Two new witnesses, Phillip Rouse, groom and a man by the name of Fox, employed by the District Council, were called to give evidence but neither could add any additional information.
The report continued:
‘The Coroner then put the three following questions to the jury: – (1) Was the cause of death, in their opinion, carbolic acid poisoning? (2) Did deceased drink it in mistake for beer? (3) Did the evidence given prove to their satisfaction how he came into possession of the bottle? To the first two questions, the foreman answered in the affirmative, and to the third a negative reply was given. The verdict was therefore as follows: “That deceased died from the effect of carbolic acid poisoning, but that the evidence was not sufficient to show how he came by it, and that death was due to misadventure.”
To this, at the request of the jury, was attached the following rider: “That the practice of putting carbolic into vessels other than bottles properly labelled is highly dangerous and reprehensible.”
Charles Morkot, 65 years old, of 5 Primrose Villas, Kingston Road, Southall was buried on April 15, 1898 in Radnor Street Cemetery in grave plot C28. His wife Susan Jane Hinton Morkot was buried with him following her death in 1912. Other persons buried in the grave are Charles and Susan’s daughter Harriett Ellen Ham who died in 1954 and her husband Charles Ham who died in 1933. The cremated ashes of their daughter Nellie Lilian Jane Horley and her husband George G. Horley were interred in 1984 and 1963 respectively.
You might also like to read the story of Charles Morkot’s daughter-in-law.
Radnor Street Cemetery 