THE BOWES-LYON SUICIDE
A LOVE TRAGEDY. LONDON, July 11. Bowes-Lyon was aged 24. He left letters revealing his unfortunate entanglement with a young woman. It is expected that the evidence at the inquest will be of a startling character. He left the dinner table in evening dress, apparently intending to make a last call on the lady. His family had noticed his depression and were in a state of anxiety, but were unable to do anything to avert the anticipated disaster.
THE INQUEST. LONDON, July 11. At the inquest on Bowes-Lyons, a verdict of suicide while of unsound mind was returned. A friend gave evidence that deceased ’phoned him on Monday evening from his hotel, and said he was going to kill himself. Witness taxied to the hotel and rushed to BowesLyon’s room. The deceased had recently been engaged to the daughter the late General Sir Charles Parsons, but last Friday Lady Parsons told him the engagement would be broken oft.
In a letter in the coroner’s possession, Miss Parsons wrote saying she did not love him.
A BROKEN HEART. Received July 12. 8.30 p.m. LONDON, July 11. At the Bowes-Lyon inquest the father declared. “My boy’s heart was broken. That was the end.’’ He said the deceased was his only remaining son. The others were killed during the war. When Miss Parsons broke off the engagement the deceased was in despair. Witness made a final effort to see her on Monday, but without result. In reply to a question, the father said his son drove to "Woking when he suicided probably because as a member of the New Zealand golf club there he knew the road well. The coroner, in recording his verdict, added that the agony of a broken engagement had unhinged the deceased’s mind. W. P. Bowes-Lyon, a well-known city stockbroker, and nephew of the Earl of Strathmore, was found shot dead behind the steering wheel of his motor-car, near Woking. A shotgun was at his feet. When leaving his father’s house for a drive he said he was not well.
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Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 18823, 13 July 1923, Page 5
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344THE BOWES-LYON SUICIDE Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 18823, 13 July 1923, Page 5
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