PETERSFIELD
MELANCHOLY DEATH OF TWO BOYS BY DROWNING.—An inquest was held at the Five Bells, Buriton, touching on the deaths of two fine boys, sons of Edward Shenton, Esq., Buriton, who were drowned in a pond at Pill Meadow, in his occupation, on Thursday, the 3rd. inst., before Edward Hoskins, Esq., coroner.
John Stubbs deposed—I am bailiff to Mr. Shenton, the father of the two boys, a farmer, in the occupation of Buriton Farm. The boys whose bodies have been viewed are Henry Edward, aged 15, and Robert, aged 13, his sons. I came home on Thursday evening about eight o’clock. I saw the groom. who told me they were missing, and said he had just sent Steele, a man employed on the farm, to Mr. Chase’s. After changing my things I went to the farm to see if they were come home. It was then about half-past eight o’clock. I heard they were not at home. From something I heard I went to Pillmead pond. There were then about twenty people there, who were cutting through the pond head to lower the water. I found Henry Edward’s body floating under the ice. He was quite dead. I recovered the body of Robert. He was also quite dead. He was a little scratched on the face, occasioned, I believe, from the ice. Their clothes and appearance indicated they had been in the water.
William Steele deposed—I am a farm labourer, in the employ of Mr. Shenton. I knew Henry Edward and Robert Shenton, whose bodies we have viewed. I saw the elder deceased about nine o’clock in the yard by the cow stalls, with a gun. I did not see either after. About seven o’clock in the evening Mr. Shenton asked me to go to Mr. Chase’s and enquire after the boys. I did not get any information, and returned to Pillmeadow pond. I searched round the pond and discovered two footprints. The two footprints were about a yard apart. I saw the elder deceased taken out. There were no other footprints. I followed the tracts through two meadows and a field to a road where there was much traffic.
William Samuel Seward deposed—I live at Weston, and was at Mr. Shenton’s farm at Buriton. When I got there about seven o’clock Mr. Shenton said he was anxious about the boys from their absence since twelve o’clock, and that he had sent Steele to Mr. Chase’s, and if they were not there he was to come back by the pond. Soon after a message came that they were not at Mr. Chase’s, but there was a track to the pond. I then went with Mr. Shenton and others to the pond. We took a light. No one was there when we got there. We saw the tracts of two juveniles going down the bank to the pond. There were two places where there was no ryme or snow; they nearly touched; they were sufficiently wide for either to pass through.Another place was quite round. Where there was no snow the ice had been broken, but frozen over again. The bodies were found about a yard apart, near the round part which was broken.
William Emm deposed—I am a farm labourer in the employ of Mr. Shenton. I knew the two poor boys who were drowned. I last saw them alive on Thursday. When I saw Henry Edward shoot off his gun in Eastfield, near about 11 o’clock in the morning; they went in the direction of the Pill Meadow. I saw nothing after.
Frederick William Holt deposed—I am a registered medical practitioner at Petersfield. I was at Mr. Shenton’s on Thursday evening. I saw the bodies of the deceased when they were brought to the house between one and two in the morning. They were stiff, and appeared to have been dead several hours. There were a few scratches on the face of Robert, apparently from the ice. There were no marks of violence on either of the deceased.
The Coroner feelingly observed, in reverting to the sad and distressing circumstances of the deaths of the two unfortunate youths, that in his opinion there was nothing to attribute the cause of death to but to drowning.
The jury gave their verdict that ‟Harry Edward and Robert Shenton were casually, accidentally, and by misfortune drowned.”
Hampshire Telegraph — 09 January 1867
FATAL ACCIDENT—TWO BROTHERS DROWNED TOGETHER.
On Thursday last a distressing accident occurred in this neighbourhood. Two sons of E. Shenton, Esq., of Manor Farm, Buriton, Henry and Robert, aged respectively 15 and 13, who were spending their Christmas holidays at home, went out on the farm with a gun to a place called Pill Mead Pond to amuse themselves by shooting small birds. They left home in the forenoon, and not having returned when evening set in, fears were entertained that some accident had befallen them, and a search was commenced, which resulted in their bodies being found within a few yards of each other at the bottom of the pond. They were not found till near midnight, and as the watch in one of their pockets had stopped at about half-past eleven, it was evident that they must have been in the water full twelve hours, so that any attempts at resuscitation were utterly hopeless. The gun was found in the pond the following morning. The sad event cast quite a gloom over the village of Buriton, and the deepest sympathy is felt for the bereaved family by all classes in Petersfield and the neighbourhood.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph — Saturday 12 January 1867
DISTRESSING OCCURRENCE.—The family of Mr. E. Shenton, of Manor Farm, Buriton, has been suddenly plunged into deep sorrow by the death of his second and third sons, Henry and Robert, aged 15 and 13, who were drowned together in a pond on the farm. They were home for their Christmas holidays, and had gone out to amuse themselves with a gun, as they had often done before. They did not return to dinner at the usual hour, but nothing was thought of this, as there happened be a shooting party on the farm that day, and it was supposed that they had gone to see the sport; but as the afternoon passed, and evening set in, their absence occasioned some surprise and anxiety, and a messenger was despatched to the house of a neighbouring farmer to see if they were there. On his return without any tidings of them serious alarm was felt for their safety, and a sort of presentiment flashed through Mr. Shenton’s mind that they had fallen into Pill-mead pond, a place he knew they were in the habit of frequenting with their guns. He mentioned this to some friends who were spending the evening with him, and the party at once broke up, and set out on a search. The footsteps the boys were tracked in the snow to the pond in question, when the worst fears of the distracted father received a sad confirmation from the fact that no footsteps could be traced beyond the pond nor a homeward direction. Fires were immediately kindled at the edge of tho pond to afford light; the sluices were raised, and the bank was cut through to let off the water, and a vigorous search commenced, in which Mr. Seward, of Weston, and Messrs. Soames, Grain, and Holt, of Petersfield (the gentleman who were Mr. Shenton’s guests for the evening) took an active part, but it was not till about midnight that the bodies were found; they were lying within a few yards of each other. One of the young gentlemen had a watch in his pocket, which had stopped about half-past eleven, which was, no doubt, about the time the accident occurred, so that the bodies were in the water about twelve hours. Of course life had been a long time extinct, and, although there was a medical gentleman present (Mr. Holt, assistant to Messrs. Whicher and Cross), he could do nothing but pronounce the case utterly hopeless.—Hants Chronicle.