20 Years Fighting Pain

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 804, 26 October 1929, Page 18

20 Years Fighting Pain

Tragic Death of Eton Vice-Provost

lett, the club steward, had a look round the grounds, as was their duty. “I was walking toward the bathin': hut when I saw the figure of a man standing a few yards from the river bank. “I thought it was Mr. Niblett waiting for me. I called out, but got no reply. The figure turned round and disappeared over the river bank, and I heard a splash. “I called again, and was surprised when Mr. Niblett answered. I went round to Mr. Niblett, and we both went to the edge of the river. "I saw the head of someone swimming a few yards from the bank. ■ called out: ‘Are you all right?’ but got no answer. The person then swam down stream very slowly toward Eton. “We followed along the bank calling out: ‘Who are you? Do you want any help?’ Long Fight With Pain “But the figure continued swimming, and the last time I called out J heard an indistinct reply. I thought it was, ‘I am all right.’ It kept on swimming and then went into the shade and I lost sight of it. It wa a male figure about sft Bin, wearing dark suit.” ~ The Coroner: Have you any dou£ in your own mind that it was the O ceased?—Yes, every doubt, sir. think myself it was a stranger. ,Dr. W. H. W. Attlee, of Eton, Mr. Nacnaghten, who had been una his care for more than’ 20 years, suffered a good deal from gout. For the last 18 months he had B periods of depression, and was a» - for several weeks last autumn 10 nursing home receiving treatment nerves. The coroner, returning the rera ■ said that Mr. Macnaghten’s oea would be lamented by many P® ' whom he had educated and who now scattered all over the worldMr. Hugh Macnaghten was a of striking personality, and on ®°. best-loved figures at Eton Co , with which he had been assoctat from his earliest days. uiiant He was an old Etonian, a bri scholar, and a poet of distincitvinks. He was the author of several one of the best known being n l * , Years at Eton,” published in l ’ „ Four of the present Eton m were his pupils at Eton. f o r He was house master at h-t ‘vjcamany years, and was appointee provost in 1920.

VIDENCE of a dramatic aT1( l patlietic nature, reEaJrST/rSI vealing a famous college Hi" rcs!l®B»V.n official's long light with Vr-^Aj pain, which ended in his committing suicide, was told at the inquest on Mr. Hugh Macuaghten, vice-provost of Eton, whose body was found in the Thames. A night porter’s story of seeing the swimming figure of a man in the water at midnight was a dramatic feature of the evidence. Mr. Macnaghten, who was a brilliant scholar, had been missing several days from the Etonian Country Club, where he was staying with his sister. At the inquest a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane was returned. Mr. Terence Charles Macnaghten said that his brother was 60 years of age. He had suffered from depression due to rheumatic gout, which he tried’ to deal with by not eating sufficiently. Major D. D. Milne, acting hon. secretary of the Etonian Country Club, said Mr. McNaghten and his sister went into residence there, but Mr. Macnaghten had been confined to his room with gout. “He always seemed very cheerful and perfectly normal in every way ’’ Major Milne added. Porter’s Dramatic Story George Fuller Coker, night porter at the Etonian Country Club, said about midnight on the evening of Mr. Macnaghten's death, he and Mr. Nib-