HONEYMOON SUICIDE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LI, Issue 9137, 9 July 1906, Page 6

HONEYMOON SUICIDE.

PAINFUL STORY OF A WIFE'S CHEERFUL FAREWELL.

Barely'-has a jury had a sadder case fco investigate than that of the drowning of Mrs Mariabella Howard Kershaw, wife of Captain F. W. Kershaw, R.N.R., commanding R.M.s., Ophir, who were on their honeymoon. On April 25fch last the wedding was solemnised at BTomsgrove Parish Church. The bride, Miss Mariabella Howard Lloyd, was the only daughter of M Howard Lloyd, of Gafton Manor, near Bromsgxove, and sister of Mr John Howard Lloyd, jun., a prominent member of the Birmingham Education. Committee. The ceremony passed off amid the rejoicings of a large number of friends and members of the general public, and Mr and Mrs Kershaw left for the honeymoon >n •the South of England. In tihe course s-f their tour, after visiting Xrondou, tfoey XT rived afc Cookham, a picturesque vill ij;e < n the Berkshire bank of the Thames, where they stayed at the house oi a Dr Ha.rrti.ig. Shortly after 8 o'clock* on Monday morning Mrs Ej&rshaw left her husband in the house, saying that she was going for a short walk before breakfast. There was . nothing in her conversation or manner to create suspicion. A little later George Hatch, when engaged in the gardens at Mill House, saw a lady who proved to be Mrs Korsbaw walking up and down the side of the mill stream, which, is part of ; tho Thames, and runs by the side of com1 mon land. He watched her for a quarter I of an hour, and then saw her plunge into the stream. He jumped into the water to rescue her, but the ...stream is very deep, and as he could not swim he turned back when almost out of his depth, and ran for assistance. -

This was forthcoming very promptly, and ultimately the lady's body was recovered, after having been in the water forty minutes. Dr Sheppard and the village constable endeavored to restore animation, but- failed, and the body was removed to Dr Harding's residence. No letter or anything else waa found to suggest a cause for the tragedy.

The ill-fated lady, who was thirty-two years of age^ yra& very popular in Bromsgrove and district. Prior to her marriage she lived with her" father, Mr Howard Lloyd, director of Lloyd's Banking Company, at Orafton Manor.

The inquest on the body of the ill-fatci lady was held in the afternoon.

Mr Kershaw sadd his wife was thirtytwo years of age. On Monday night they occupied tho same room, and on waking about eight o'clock he found his wife up and nearly dressed. He asked why sihe had got up so early, and she replied that it was such a glorious morning shejjpas going for a short walk before frfeakfast. Jle offered to go wit & fiir, but she cheerfully remarked thai' "he would b« half an lour getting" ready. - She said she was going to explore a meadow they had previously visited. They were on absolutely good terms and his wife was in excellent spirits. She chaffed Mm about being lazy. She had never attempted or threatened suicide.

A gardener said he saw Mrs Kershaw on the bank alongside the mill stream. She walked up and down three or four times and then walked deliberately into the water. He juirped in to try and rescue lier, but could not swim. In reply to a suggestion that Mrs Kershaw inigh* have slipped into the water in endeavoring to gather wild flowers, as she was a student of botany, the gardener declared that the lady walked deliberately into the water, passing under a barbedwire fence in the stream ,to reach deep water. She did not scream or call for help. The jury found that Mrs Kershaw drowned herself during a fit ol temporary insanity.