St Mathews Graveyard -Lightcliffe
Here's a sad story about an Anthony Bancroft who committed suicide in 1845.
Anthony was the son of
James [1767-1840] and Sarah Lister [1767-1831]who lived all their
married lives in Lightcliffe, Yorkshire and had 10 children. They
were married on 8th March 1789 at St John's Halifax and
were both listed as coming from nearby Hipperholme and James
occupation was listed as a 'dresser', a textile job that many of his
sons, including Anthony also worked as .
 |
| James & Sarah's marriage record |
Anthony was baptised on
28/12/1803 at St Mathews, Lightcliffe, as were all the other
children.
 |
| Anthony's baptism |
Not much is know about
Anthony's life, and he appears to be missing from the 1841 census,
which is not unusual. We know from newspaper records that his
occupation was a ' cloth dresser' working for a company called Messrs
James Brown & Co at the time of his death. He appears to be
living alone in lodgings and unmarried at the time, probably because
the whole family had separated after the earlier deaths of both
parents. Anthony was not without money and the newspaper report
describes him 'He was a steady industrious man, and had saved
an amount of money, which, for a man in his circumstances,might be
looked upon as a considerable, and which was invested in houses,
valued at between two and three hundred pounds.' It
seems clear from the reports that the poor man had some mental heath
issues at the time of his death.
 |
| Anthony's burial record |
Here
are the reports from two local Leeds newspapers:
Leeds
Intelligencer 03 May 1845
DEATH
BY HANGING.—An inquest was
held on
Thursday last, at the Court House,
Leeds,
before Blackburn Esq., on view of the
body of
Anthony Bancroft, a cloth dresser, in
the
employ of Messrs. James Brown and Co.,
who had
been found that morning suspended
by a
silk handkerchief, in his lodgings, in St.
James’s-street.
The Jury returned a verdict
“that
the deceased was labouring under
temporary
insanity.”
Leeds
Times 03 May 1845
SUICIDE
BY HANGING. – On Thursday last
an
inquest was held before John Blackburn,
Esq.,
relative to the death of Anthony Bancroft,
a cloth
dresser, who had been in the employ of
Messrs.
James Brown and Co.. The deceased,
who was
a single man, 37 years of age, resided
in
lodgings, in St.James’s Street. For the last
fortnight,
he had been labouring under
depression
of spirits, but continued at his work,
up to
the day when the unhappy deed was
committed.
This was on Thursday morning.
The
occupant of the house called him up as
usual
about six o’clock, to go to his work, after
which
he himself continued in bed till about an
hour
after that time, when he got up, and on
going
into the cellar kitchen, was horrified at
seeing
his lodger suspended by the neck, from
a nail
over the kitchen fire-place, which was
used
for roasting meat. Life was quite extinct.
The
deceased had suspended himself from the
nail by
a black silk neckerchief, which had
apparently
broken with his weight in the first
instance,
but he had tried it a second time, and
too
fatally succeeded. He was a steady
industrious
man, and had saved an amount of
money,
which, for a man in his circumstances,
might
be looked upon as a considerable, and
which
was invested in houses, valued at
between
two and three hundred pounds. The
jury
agreed upon a Verdict—That the deceased
had
destroyed himself in a temporary fit of
insanity.
Anthony
was buried with his parents and infant brother Edwin at St Mathews Lightcliffe.
 |
| Bancroft family grave |
In memory of EDWIN
the son of JAMES and SARAH BANCROFT
of Lightcliffe who
departed this life April 29th 1815
aged 3 years and 8
months
Also of SARAH wife
of the above named JAMES BANCROFT
who died July 31st
1831 aged 64 years
Also of the above
named JAMES BANCROFT
who died January
27th 1840 aged 72 years
Also of ANTHONY son
of the above JAMES and SARAH BANCROFT
who died May 1st
1845 aged 41 years
