Person:Emma De la Porte (1)

b. Emma Olive Louisa DE LA PORTE, June Quarter 1864, Oxford Registration District, Volume 3a, page 578

Address: 22 Cross Street, Southampton (St Mary), Hampshire
Reynolds A. Walker, head, married, male, 33 [1857/8], Painter, employed, b. Southampton
Olive L. Walker, wife, married, female, 24 [1866/7], b. Oxford, Oxfordshire
Albert E. Walker, son, male, 6 [1884/5], b. Southampton
Henry J. Walker, son, male, 4 [1886/7], b. Southampton
Emma G. Walker, daughter, female, 1 [1889/90], b. Southampton
Ellen Haines, lodger, widow, female, 40 [1850/1], Charwoman, employed, b. Southampton

d. Olive WALKER, December Quarter 1893, Southampton Registration District, Volume 2c, page 17, aged 26 [1866/7]

INQUEST
DEATH OF A MARRIED WOMAN AT SOUTHAMPTON
An inquest was held at the Audit House, on Thursday afternoon, by the Borough Coroner, Mr. W. Coxwell, on Olive Walker, aged 23, wife of a painter, living at 8, Cushen's-court, French-street. - The husband said he could not exactly tell his wife's age, but they were married, he thought, about four years ago. He thought she was 22 or 24. Upon further consideration, witness said he was so worried that he scarcely remembered what he was saying. His own age was somewhere about 30; quite likely his wife was a woman about 28. - In reply to the Coroner, a woman in the Court said that the deceased had told her she was 26. - Witness, continuing, said his wife was confined about five weeks ago with a male child, and was attended by Mrs. Spearing up to nine or ten days after. Questioned by the Coroner as to another point, and asked if time was no appreciable space to him, witness repeated that he was worried by the shock. He went on to state that his wife broke a blood vessel in her leg before her confinement. She also complained of a pain in her side - he could not say which side - after her confinement. He rubbed in tallow, and advised her to have a doctor, but she replied "I don't want a doctor, I shall be better presently." Deceased also had a cough and difficulty of breathing. She died this week. He was fetched away from his work on Wednesday morning. When he left home about 6.20 in the morning to go to work she complained of shortness of breath. She had been ill in the night, and witness got up between three and four o'clock. He called his boy, who lit the fire, for witness was worn out. He told the boy also to give his mother a good rubbing, as he had done before, and he did so, and made a cup of tea. Witness was worn out with excitement; he had suffered with pleurisy, and easily got excited. Perhaps he had taken a little too much. He was in bed all the day before, and had three half pints of beer with ginger and sugar in it. His wife got it for him. She did not complain. There was no doubt she might have been ill. - The Coroner: Which do you think was the worse, she or you? - Witness gave an evasive answer, and the Coroner added "And yet you let the poor woman, who was ill, wait upon you." - Answering further questions, witness said that "Missus" had the money. It was not true that in the evening his wife only had a penny to go out and get bread for the family. - The Coroner: I find in French-street and in that part of the town there is far more drinking going on than in any other part of the town where I hold inquests. - The Foreman (Mr. H. Harris): Quite right. - The Coroner: It is monstrous that the borough should be put to the expense of these inquests solely from the effects of drink, and it ought to be stopped. The Coroner added that he meant to have the truth out if he stopped until midnight, or adjourned the inquiry - Witness, again asked the question, said he did not know where the money came from - it came honest. - The Coroner: What I want to find out is whether you have been drinking while your wife and family have been starving. - Further questions were put to the witness as to his earning, and he said he gave his wife £1 or £1 2s. a week. His average earning was 25s a week (this was elicited by many questions). Witness added that there were six of them in family; his wife drank tea or water, with brandy in it occasionally. - By the July: He came on ill on Tuesday, and was not drunk then. He lost a great deal of time; his pay was 6½d. an hour; if he lost time it was his own fault. - By the Coroner: He had no favourite house. - By the Jury: When he was out of work his wife did a bit of washing. It was not his own fault that he was out of work two months some time ago.
Dr. O'Meara said he was called to see the deceased about eight o'clock on Wednesday morning, and found her recently dead. He made a superficial examination of the body, but could not say positively the cause of death without a post-mortem examination.
The Coroner said he thought that in this case the jury would desire to have a port-mortem examination, and in this the Foreman and Jury expressed concurrence.
The inquiry was the adjourned to Monday afternoon.

SAD DEATH OF A YOUNG WOMAN.
THE HUSBAND CENSURED.
Mr. W. Coxwell resumed, at the Audit House, Tuesday the inquest on the body of Olive Walker, aged 26, a married woman, who had lived with her husband at Cushen's-court, French-street. - The inquest was opened on Thursday and adjourned for a post-mortem examination. - The Rev. S.W. Stevens, rector of St. Lawrence, was present during the inquiry. - Mrs. Mary Spearing, a widow, of Lansdown-hill, stated that she attended the deceased in her confinement, just over five weeks ago, as midwife. She attended her for ten days. In her opinion deceased had not had enough food; the excuse given to her was that the husband had been out of work for so long. Deceased did not complain. On the sixth day of her confinement witness wanted some castor oil, but
DECEASED HAD NOT THE MONEY
to get it. Witness borrowed three halfpence and got the oil and gave it to deceased. She did not speak to the husband and only saw him twice in the house. He might have gone to work, and she was only there in the morning. Later on witness sent down to the deceased to hear how she was, and the answer was that she had had a mutton chop and some stout, and was much better. The room was a very small one, and the children in the room were about six. She had known deceased and knew that she suffered from a dreadful bad cough. She had not attended her in three confinements. She did not think deceased was given to drink; she knew nothing of the husband's habits. She knew nothing of the illness. - Harriet Mason, a married woman of Cushen's-court, stated deceased had been a neighbour of her's for close on two years. The morning she died deceased sent for witness. It was a quarter past seven, and deceased asked for some linseed meal, and she replied that she had none in the house. About five minutes after the boy came in and fetched her, and she went at once. Deceased told her she could not fetch her breath. She was sitting down by the fireplace, and witness told her to get into bed, but she said that she could not. She asked deceased to
LET HER FETCH A DOCTOR,
but she replied no, she did not want one. Witness asked to lift her into bed, and make her some tea, but she shook her head. Witness sent for a neighbour, who came, and they got her into bed between them. The next door neighbour brought some brandy, but deceased's teeth seemed clenched. The doctor was sent for (Dr. O'Meara), and he came later on. There was
A LITTLE FOOD IN THE HOUSE;
about half a loaf of bread, some butter, and some sugar, but she could not say whether there was any tea. There was no firing, until one of the neighbours brought in some coal. Deceased made no complaint except as to her breath, and she made that complaint a fortnight before. She had not spoken much to the husband; she did not know whether he drank. As far as she knew he looked after his wife. The children were very clean. Deceased had not complained of her husband. She did not know what he earned, but she knew that a week before deceased was confined her husband gave her a sovereign. She had never heard any complaints of ill-treatment. As far as she knew he did all he could for her. The husband was never out of an evening. She had seen him send out for half a pint or a pint of beer. Deceased had an ordinary bed, with a pair of sheets and a counterpane, and a coat at the bottom of the bed. - By the Jury: She knew nothing of any complaints in the Courts as to the neglect of the husband. She had not sent any food in for the children; she never heard them ask for any. The husband had been out of work for a long time. - By the husband: I never heard your children ask for bread. I did not know of your illtreating your wife: I never heard of it. I never heard any one kicking up a disturbance. There was no fire the morning she died; there was not enough fuel to light it. There was not a cup, or half a cup of tea on the table. - Dr. O'Meara proceeded to give the result of his post-mortem examination. He found the body well nourished, and all the organs were healthy. Death arose from pleurisy and peretonitis. He could not say that anything accelerated death or that life would have been prolonged by medical attention; she certainly would have been better with it, and suffered less. There was no trace of want of the common necessaries of life; there was a little food in the stomach. - The Coroner
SUMMED UP THE CASE
and went over the points of the evidence. It did seem at first, that the woman had been neglected, seeing the wages her husband earned, but the now heard the medical evidence as to what was the cause of death. It did seem that the husband, earning 25s. a week might have done something to secure medical evidence. - The Rev. S.W. Stevens wished to make an observation, but the Coroner said he could only hear a statement on oath. - The Rev. S.W. Stevens replied that though he could give no evidence as to the immediate cause of death, he could make a statement which might perhaps have explained the cold. - The Coroner said only evidence on oath could be taken at that Court. - The jury then consulted, and returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence. They thought, however,
THAT THE HUSBAND WAS TO BLAME,
and had not shown that care and attention he ought to have done, seeing the delicate state she was in. Out of his income he might have done something more than leave an old woman in charge of the woman, when he was so long away. - The Coroner conveyed this censure to the man, and pointed out how, with his income, he might have secured medical assistance, or, probably, had there been a person there who had a knowledge of nursing, the application of a poultice might have been the means of saving the life of the woman for her children. He urged him to be very careful, and was afraid that he had a failing. - The husband said he would sign the pledge that day. - The Coroner: And keep it, and do see after those poor children who are left. he then asked Mr. Stevens if he wished to say anything; of course they could not hear him earlier, but they did not wish to shut out anything. Mr. Stevens said all he knew was that the woman came to him a week or days before she died, and asked him if he could church her. He saw the very bad state of health she was in, and it was very cold and he told her to go home and not come outside for some time. He understood that the next day there was a service at All Saints, and she attended it and was churched there, the day being a bitterly cold one, and that probably caused her to catch a chill. - The proceedings then ended, it being understood that the husband would leave with Mr. Stevens to sign the pledge.

Address: 107 High Street, Ryde, Hampshire
Sarah Cooper, head, unmarried, female, 38 [1832/3], Dress Maker, b. Chale, Isle of Wight
Ann Cooper, sister, unmarried, female, 44 [1826/7], Dress Maker, b. Chale, Isle of Wight
Henrietta G. Daleprt, lodger, female, 3 [1867/8], b. Southampton
Emma C. Daleprt, lodger, female, 6 [1864/5], b. Southampton