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Rev. George Mawson Nelson
Facts and Events
References
- ↑ Lamentable Suicide - On Tuesday last an inquest was held at the Plough Inn,
Boddicote, near Banbury, before Mr. J. Churchill, coroner, on the body of
the Rev. George Mawson Nelson, B.D., late Fellow of Magdalen College,
Oxford, who committed suicide at his residence, Boddicote Grange, by
shooting himself with a gun on the previous day. The first witness who was
examined was William Townsend, footman to the deceased, who stated that he
had been in the service of the rev. gentleman about nine years, and during
the last six weeks or two months he had witnessed a great change in his
conduct. On Monday morning, when he was removing the breakfast things, he
asked deceased how he was, and he said he felt better, but he was afraid he
should soon be as bad as ever. It appears that the deceased subsequently
went into the library, where Mrs. Nelson and other ladies were assembled,
and after remaining there some time he retired to his dressing-room, and was
never seen again alive. Mrs. Nelson went to the dressing-room to see if the
deceased was there, and rapped at the door, but received no answer; and on
one of the servants reaching the window of the sleeping-room by means of a
ladder the deceased was found lying on his side, with his back towards the
door, and a gun and walking stick near to him. There was no doubt that
deceased had committed the rash act, as the door was bolted on the inside
and the gun had recently been discharged. It appeared from the evidence of
Dr. Rye, of Banbury, who had attended the deceased during the past month,
that he had often complained of want of sleep and great difficulty in
arranging his accounts. He was frequently in a very excited state as to
ordinary matters of business, and at the request of Mrs. Nelson he saw the
deceased on Sunday last, after he had been to church, when he found him
suffering under the delusion of his supposed pecuniary difficulties. He
prescribed an opiate, which deceased took with the best possible effect, and
was much better on Monday morning; but he gave directions that he should be
watched, as he thought his excited state of mind was such as might induce
him to commit suicide. The jury, after a short deliberation returned as
their verdict: That deceased shot himself with a gun while labouring under
temporary insanity. The Rev. J. D. Gould, vicar of Boddicote, was present
during the inquiry. The melancholy event has created great excitement in
the neighbourhood. The deceased was a gentleman of large fortune, and has
left a wife and one daughter.
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