Coroner’s inquiry into the death of Louisa Hewett, a child
From the pages of the West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser (1). comes a report of the coroner’s inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of Louisa Hewett. Louisa was the second daughter of Samuel Hewett and Harriet Curtis and granddaughter to James Hewett, brother to my 3 × great grandfather Hugh Hewett.
This would make Louisa my second cousin three times removed.
On the 25th ult., at Molines in St. Austell, on Louisa Hemett [i.e. Hewett], a child. The mother left the child in a chair near the fire, whilst going to the garden adjoining for clothes. Returning in about five minutes she found some of the kitchen full of smoke, and on approaching the child found her clothes all on fire. She put out the fire, but the injuries were such that she died in about two hours. It was supposed that some clothes, which the mother had put to dry, had caught fire and came in contact with the child’s clothes. Verdict, “accidentally burnt to death.”
Of course, the newspaper would just have to get her name wrong!
1. Isabel Harris, Weekly Newspaper. 9th May, 1851. News., CORNISH-GEN, mailing list, 24 April 2010 (http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/ENG/CORNISH-GEN.html)