Wandsworth Borough News, 25 June 1909
(free OCR text)
SCALDED TO DEATH. SAD FATE OF GRANT ROAD CHILD.
The inquest was held last Friday, by Mr. Troutbeck at the Battersea Coroner’s Court, on the body of a child, named Florence Spershott, aged 8 months, who died from the effects of scalds, through the upsetting of a saucepan of boiling water. John Warwick, of 96, Grant-road, said deceased was his daughter. He had lived with Elizabeth Spershott, and they had had five children, the deceased child being one of them. The accident happened on the Friday previous, but he did not know how it had occurred. Elizabeth Spershott, the mother, said on the Friday in question she was in the kitchen just going to make some tea. She was going to pour the water from a saucepan which was on the gas stove, when the deceased child, who was sitting on the other little girl's knee, in some way which witness did not notice, upset the saucepan, the boiling water falling on both of them. The Coroner: Have you got a kettle?—No. Why is that?—l could not afford to buy one. What wages have you coming in?—??s. a week, witness added that she took the child to the hospital immediately after the accident. Dr. Killen, of the Bolingbroke Hospital, said he saw the child when it was admitted. It was badly scalded and never rallied. It died on the Monday. Death was due to shock and extensive scalds. In addressing the jury, the Coroner remarked that gas stoves were not safe in a room where children were. A verdict of “Accidental death” was returned.
