Sheppard, Frederick 1907 March 15th Netheravon
Mr S Buchanan-Smith, City Coroner, held an inquest at the Infirmary on Monday evening, to enquire into the circumstances attending the death of Frederick William Sheppard, of Pewsey, who met with a bicycle accident on Wednesday, February 27th, and died in the Infirmary on Saturday, March 9th. Mr T Hatch was appointed by the jury as their foreman.
Mary Ann Sheppard said deceased was her husband. He lived at North Street, Pewsey, and was a watch and clock maker. He was 40 years of age. On Wednesday, February 27th, he left home at about 1 o’clock on his bicycle with her brother, Ernest Fred March. He was going to Netheravon. The next time she saw him was in the Salisbury Infirmary, and she was with him when he died, at about 5pm on Saturday. He was occasionally concious, but not sufficiently to tell her anything about the accident.
Ernest Fred March, of 55, St Pauls Road, Salisbury, said he was an engineer. On Wednesday, February 27th, he was with the deceased at Pewsey, and at 1pm they started cycling to Netheravon, deceased riding an ordinary safety bicycle, and witness a motor cycle. Everything went all right until they got within a mile of Netheravon, when there was a horse and trap standing practically in the centre of the road with some dogs behind it. As they were passing the horse a sheepdog crossed the road from the bank and collided with the bicycle Sheppard was riding, and he was thrown off. Witness stopped his bicycle and some men shouted for him to go for a doctor, which he did. He did not notice if anyone was in charge of the horse and trap. The deceased’s bicycle was not attached to his. They were going at about 14 or 15 miles and hour and it was a straight road.
In reply to the foreman, witness said he had been towing deceased by letting him take hold of his (witness’) belt, but when passing any traffic he always let go. At the time of the accident Sheppard was just in front of witness, and was riding with both his hands on the handlebars. There was room for him to pass.
Dr B N Ash, house surgeon of the Infirmary, stated that the deceased was brought in unconcious on the evening of the day the accident happened. Witness and Dr Randall examined him, and found he suffering from concussion of the brain, broken nose and other injuries to his face. He partially recovered conciousness on Saturday, and afterwards relapsed for some days, dying last Saturday at about 5pm, from hypostatic pneumonia following concussion of the brain.
The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental Death”.
Wiltshire Coroner's Inquests 1801-1920 