I'm hoping that, as I now live in the United States, someone can kindly help me out on a mystery I am trying to solve.
It is about the death of a distant uncle, called William Kingsnorth who was born in Bethersden on 18 Apr 1820. After being alerted by a grave inscription, I looked up his death certificate which said he was "accidentally shot" on 18th April 1851 in Challock. He was a farmer. I know this was a time when suicide was frowned upon, so perhaps the coroner had this get out so he could be buried in consecrated ground.. or it was a crime that was covered up. Who knows...?
I was told by the Kent Messenger that the newspaper that covers that area, The Kentish Times, donated its archive for this period to the "Ashford Heritage Centre" - but I'm struggling to find it online. If anyone knows of it and can spare a bit of time to have a look for me, I would be very very very grateful. Otherwise, pointers in the direction of this centre (contact details, website, email address, that kind of thing) would also really help.
I've also used a researcher in the past to help out with things like this and certainly would again..
I feel tantilisingly close to resolving this..!
