This section draws principally on newspaper articles and will contain various Kingshott-related items of interest that do not really fit in anywhere else, especially if I cannot identify the particular person involved. The spelling, punctuation, and grammar are exactly as written in the newspapers of the time.

The first case is a "man named Kingshot" and relates to his discovery of a still-born child.

 

Yesterday an inquest was held before Mr Carter, in the boardroom of Lambeth Workhouse on the body of a fine new-born male child which was found by a coal porter named Kingshot, in the dock at the terminus of the London and Southampton Railway, at Nine Elms, on Saturday afternoon last. The body subsequently underwent a post-mortem examination by Mr Duke, Surgeon of Kennington Common, who, on trying the usual tests, found that the child had never breathed. Verdict - "That the deceased child was still-born, but by whom the body was placed there was no evidence."

Morning Post - Friday 10th April 1840

The next case relates to the attempted rape of Sarah Kingshot whom there isn't sufficient evidence to identify at this time. 

Sussex Assizes
Horsham
Monday, March 25th
Attempt at Rape
Mr Pooley, as counsel for the prosecution, stated the case, which was proved in evidence by the prosecution, as follows:- 
[Sarah Kingshot] stated that she lived at the Turnpike Gate at Bursham, in this county, where she looked after her brother's children. On Sunday evening, the 8th May last, she had been but a short distance from home; when returning she met the prisoner and another man; she knew them both very well. The other man stopped her by catching hold of her arm and around her waist and after some struggle, he threw her on a sloping bank and ravished her. For this offence, that man was convicted at the last assizes. He, having perpetrated his purpose, went away and the prisoner, George Bury, then came up and said he knew what the other had done to her and that he would do the same. He was not, however, so strong as the other man, and she dragged him a considerable length on the road when he also succeeded in throwing her down against the bank. Just at that moment, two persons came along the road and the prisoner went away. They came up and she immediately told them how she had been served. They saw her home and the next day went before a magistrate and the prisoner was apprehended. She added, that she thought the prisoner was in liquor. There being no contradiction of this evidence, and no reason to impeach her testimony, the prisoner was found guilty. [The prisoner] was to be imprisoned for 18 months and once during that period must be placed in the pillory.

The Morning Chronicle - Wednesday 27th March 1816

 

 

A short article appeared in the Hampshire Telegraph in 1868, recording the sudden death of Fanny, wife of William Kingshott. This William Kingshott was my 5th cousin three times removed.

 

SUDDEN DEATH 

 

A case of sudden death occurred at Southsea yesterday (Tuesday) morning. Mrs Fanny Kingshott, aged 28, the wife of Mr William Kingshott, residing at number 12 Helen's Avenue, Cottage Grove, was found lying dead on the floor of her bedroom about half-past eight. The deceased had for some time past been subject to convulsions, and it is supposed that as she was in the act of getting out of bed she was seized with convulsions and so died. She was in perfect health when her husband left her at about half-past seven o'clock.

Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, Wednesday, April 8, 1868; Issue 3719

 

 

The next short article reports the unusual death of Mrs Caroline Kingshott. She was the wife of a George Robert Kingshott and her maiden name was Burrage. George was my 5th cousin three times removed.

 

KILLED BY A THOUSANDTH CHANCE

A thousandth chance killed Mrs Caroline Kingshott, aged fifty-five, who died at St Stephen's Hospital, Fulham, SW, after treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. 

Mrs Kingshott was given gold injections. In 999 cases the treatment is successful. In her case, it failed.

Dr G Sherriff said, at the inquest at Battersea yesterday, that the injections were a recognised treatment. 

The woman's condition was improving when she suddenly collapsed.

Dr Temple Gray said that death was due to poisoning by the gold treatment.

The Coroner, Dr Edwin Smith, recorded a verdict of death by misadventure. He said, "I should not hesitate myself to take this treatment or allow a member of my family to have it".

Daily Express, Saturday 4th April 1936, Page 2

Gold injections? That sounds like quack medicine to me. 

 

 

Next, we have the unlikely victim of a bar fight, in which two Italian gentlemen were sent to trial for injuring Mrs Alma May Kingshott, wife of Thomas Roy Kingshott, of Hobart. The latter was my 6th cousin twice removed.

 

ITALIANS SENT FOR TRIAL.

Grievous Bodily Harm Charges.

HOBART, July 28.-Demenico Carbone and Pilippo Papaleo. two Italians of Queenstown, were today committed, for trial at the next sittings of the Criminal Court at Hobart on charges of having committed grievous bodily harm. Carbone was charged with having stabbed Alma May Kingshott with a sharp instrument and Papaleo was charged with having shot Carbone with a pistol The charges were a sequel to an argument which arose over 7d allegedly due for the payment of beer.

The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Saturday 29 July 1939, page 20

 

 

We now move to a desperately sad story that I found in the Australian Newspaper Archive. It concerns the tragic death of my 7th cousin once removed, Betty June Kingshott.

 

NEW NORFOLK SCALDING FATALITY THE MOTHER'S STORY.

VERDICT OF ACCIDENTAL DEATH

The inquest on the body of Betty June Kingshott, aged two years and nine months, who died at the New Norfolk Cottage Hospital on May 1 as a result of being scalded at her parent's home, Montague Street, New Norfolk, on April 28, was concluded before the District Coroner (Mr. H. A; Warner), at New Norfolk yesterday. A verdict of accidental death was returned.

Eleanor Elizabeth Kingsliott, the mother of the child, said that at about noon on April 28 she was washing clothes in the back yard of her home, and her daughter Betty was playing around her. Witness had a copper of clothes boiling and was taking them out to drain through. Just as she picked up the basket of clothes with the idea of putting them into cold water, she heard the little girl cry out, "Oh, mummy.", Glancing around, she saw her daughter's feet protruding from the bath from where she had just taken the boiled clothes. Her child's back was in the bath, and she was holding on to the side with one hand. Witness lifted her daughter out, and while she was undressing her some of the neighbours came to her assistance. The injured child was wrapped in a blanket and taken to the New Norfolk Cottage Hospital, where she was attended by Dr J. Mcpherson. She did not see her child fall into the water. Linda Oakley, a married woman, living nearby, said she was informed of what had happened, and afterwards took the child to the hospital in her motor car. She saw where the little girl had fallen into the bath. The copper was on a slight incline, and there, was a quantity of soapy water about the ground. There were about five or six inches of water in the bath into which the child had fallen. Catherine Rider and Edith Bradmore also gave evidence. Dr John Mcpherson, in his evidence, said the child died at 12.15 a.m. on May 1 from shock and convulsions, due to being scalded on the back and arms. The Coroner returned a verdict of accidental death."

The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Wednesday 8 May 1929, page 7

 

Surely every parent's worst nightmare.

 

 

This next story does not come from a newspaper, but from the memory of a man called John Mellor. He went to school in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England and one of his teachers was a "Miss Kingshott". I do not know who she was but I have written to Mr Mellor to ask for more details. As is often the case, he never replied! He writes.

 

A SHARP REMINDER OF MY SCHOOLDAYS

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"I attended Bradley Street, Church of England Primary and Junior school, Uttoxeter. Some teachers remain in your memory, others disappear. I remember in particular Miss Kingshott, a tall, dark, angular lady. Her teaching was always forceful, her discipline strong. I remember her telling us of a visit to Oberammergau and the Passion play. I do not think I thought of her again. After the Royal Marines, I became a police constable in the Staffordshire Constabulary, later to be the Staffordshire County Police, I was stationed in Willenhall Division at Tettenhall Station. Bill Ford from Uttoxeter was on my shift. In 1951 I became the second man at the Compton sub-section, which comprised the villages and hamlets of Tettenhall Wood, Compton, Finchfield, Trescott and Wightwick. Very little supervision, the only means of communication was a Police Pillar at Tettenhall Wood Cross Roads. In 1952, about April time, we changed from flat caps to helmets, and on my helmet's first outing I was in School Road, when a shrill voice behind me said, "John Mellor!". I turned and said, "Yes, Miss"! Automatic reaction. It was Miss Kingshott, a little older, but still very much with it. She explained she was staying with her sister, in School Road, I gathered but did not previously know that Miss Kingshott was a native of Tettenhall Wood, although she lived in Uttoxeter for years. I left a year later. I never saw Miss Kingsott again. Pity."

 

 

Another sad and untimely death now. This report was sent to me as a newspaper clipping, and it is unfortunately undated and unsourced. The subject, Mrs Ellen Kingshott, was the wife of William Henry Kingshott, my 6th cousin twice removed. This was a terrible way to die, and one that was not uncommon in the past.

 

OLD LADY DIED FROM BURNS

Nobody Heard Cries

 

A verdict of death by misadventure was returned by the coroner (Mr F O Matthews) at the inquest at Orpington Hospital on Friday of Mrs Ellen Kingshott, aged 80, of 3 St Mary's Road, Wrotham, who died at the hospital on October 9 after receiving burns from a stove the previous day.

 

Mr James William Kingshott, farm labourer, of 7 Hillview, Basted, Borough Green, gave evidence of identification. he said his mother lived alone and had bronchitis, but refused to go to the hospital.

 

Mrs Lilian Thornberg, who lived next door to Mrs Kingshott, said that on October 8 at seven o'clock in the morning she went into her house to clean, as was usual, and found her in her usual sleeping position in the sitting room. She was in a chair with her head on the table.

 

Mrs Thornberg remarked that the room was full of smoke and Mrs Kingshott said she had had the stove on, and burned her right thigh, hip and right thumb when her apron strings had caught alight.

 

She had screamed but nobody had heard her.

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Poor dear. She clearly died a painful death. I have her death certificate which adds a little more detail. It lists the cause of her death as "toxaemia due to burns caused by her clothing coming in contact with flames from an oil stove at her home on the 8th October 1952".

 

 

This is a  report from the Daily Mirror on 11th September 1948. It is a strange case involving a lady called Miss Emma Kinshott. I have not yet worked out who she could be, but I am working on it.

 

 

THE VOICE NEXT DOOR - RADIO OR HER HUSBAND?

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Mrs Ethel Mason's husband went away about five months ago after forty five years of marriage. Recently she thought she heard his voice coming from the home of a neighbour, Miss Emma Kinshott.

She accused Miss Kinshott of hiding her husband. She searched the house but he wasn't there. Yesterday, Mrs Mason, of Lower Grove Road, Havant, appeared in court there because Miss Kinshott sought a protection order against her. The incident, it was recorded, occurred when "Lift Up Your Hearts" was due on the radio.  Police said Mr Mason was believed to be in London at the time. the magistrats, binding her over, suggested that Mrs Mason had heard a radio voice - not her husband's. But Mrs Mason said "I don't think he has one of those voices!".

The Daily Mirror - 11th September 1948

 

 

Of course, who is to say that Mrs. Mason didn't hear her husband's voice? Perhaps Emma Kinshott had been holding him hostage for five months! It seems that we will never know!

 

 

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