South Yorkshire Times, September 23rd 1944
Feared He Would Lose Leg
Brampton Man’s Suicide
Obsessed with the idea that his leg, fractured at work a few months ago, would have to be amputated, Clifford Hardwick (46) haulage hand at Cortonwood Colliery of 32, Rother Street, Brampton, took his life by throwing himself into the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Canal at Broomhill. He was found in the water the same day by his wife who was searching for him.
At the inquest at Wath on Friday, Dr. Gilbert Forbes (Police Surgeon, Sheffield) said that the fracture in Hardwick’s left leg was firmly united and there was no evidence of sepsis. His only disability would have been a slight limp due to a ¾ inch shortening of the leg as a result of the fracture. Hardwick, he said had an obsession which was unfounded.
Body Found By Wife
Mrs. Alathea Hardwick, 32 Rother Street, Brampton, said her husband met with an accident at Cortonwood Colliery on June 28th. He sustained a fracture of the left leg and had laceration, and was admitted to Mexborough Montagu Hospital. When she visited him in hospital, he was very depressed. After he had come home on September 1st, he continued to be depressed. He said his leg was going the wrong way and thought it would have to be amputated. On September 9th her husband saw Dr. Bailey of Wath who gave him some tablets. On Tuesday, the 12th, at about 2-30 in the afternoon, he asked for his crutches which her daughter handed to him. He said he was going for a stroll round the budlings and would try to go a little farther than usual to strengthen his legs. Witness said her husband was out much longer than usual and she began to worry about him. She went out to look for him from 3-30 to about 5-10 and then she went again a little later. It was Mrs. Hardwick who found her husband in the canal. She recognised his body floating in the water when she was on Broomhill Bridge. His crutches were reared up under the bridge.
Albert Mapes of 6, Becknoll road, Brampton, described how Hardwick met with an accident while working at Cortonwood Colliery on June 28th when his left leg was broken. C.S.M. Charles Henry Lindley of 162, Railway Cottage, Broomhill said he was on his way to take up duty with the Home Guard about about 5-30 pm last Tuesday when he saw a woman near the canal bridge. She said there was a man in the canal and that it was her husband. He saw the body of a man almost underneath the bridge. A pair of crutches was reared up against the bridge and there was also a jacket, waistcoat and scarf on the bank. Witness pulled the body out of the water. Lindley thought the man was dead but he tried artificial respiration for about 20 minutes. Hardwick did not respond. Lindley then informed the Police.
P.c. P. J. Daly received information from Lindley at 6-30 pm that he had pulled a man out of the canal. He went to Broomhill Bridge, examined the man, and came to the conclusion that he was dead. There were no marks of violence.
Perfectly Healthy
Dr. Gilbert Forbes (Police Surgeon, Sheffield) who performed a post mortem examination said that Hardwick died from asphyxia due to drowning. He was perfectly healthy apart from the fact that recently both bones of the left leg had been fractured, but the break was firmly united and there was no evidence of sepsis. Answering Coun. Bird, Dr. Forbes said that such an injury would have shaken him seriously.
Hardwick left a letter addressed to his wife asking her not to say he was a coward. She had done, he said, all that she could for him and he appreciated her kindness and love.
“It is quite clear to me,” said the coroner, “that his accident had nothing more to do with his death, apart from the fact that for one reason or another he had become obsessed with the impression that at some time or another he would have to lose his leg. He was a healthy man and it was not his custom to be sick and away from work. The result was that he must have thrown himself into the canal deliberately.” He recorded a verdict that death was due to asphyxia due to drowning.