William Oliver - Finstock - Attempted Suicide in 1893

jane · Senior Member

RE: William Oliver - Finstock - Attempted Suicide in 1893

Shane Bywaters · Guru

Hi Jane,

Welcome back to the site, good to see you on here again, and as eagle eyed as ever, yes, I think you're right, now you've mentioned it I'd agree that it does in fact say Haulier - umm, a cart hawker, now that would be heavy business!

Interesting reading on the postscript and Maisey and Duff information too, thanks for sharing that.

Quite a mystery on what brought William to the point of attempting suicide, its the only case I've come across in the Oliver family, I don't know how common place it was more generally in society at this time, it was a recognised crime so not that uncommon perhaps?

Okay, speak soon,
Shane

jane · Senior Member

Hello Shane; good to see the Oliver site is up and running again

I've done a bit of digging to see who Messrs Maisey and Duff were, who came to William Oliver's rescue. At around this time there was a Frederick Thomas Maisey in Charlbury who was a surgeon as well as medical officer for the Chipping Norton poor law union (see 1895 directory on the Historical Directories website). JOJ of 18 March 1893 has a reference to a Mr C.H. Duff who was 'assistant to Mr Maisey of Charlbury'.

As a postscript to the story, I see from JOJ of 10 June 1893 that poor William must by 7 June have recovered sufficiently to be brought up before the magistrates at Chipping Norton charged with attempting to commit suicide. The report of the Chadlington Petty Sessions notes that he was discharged, 'his wife undertaking to look after him'.

Re. William's occupation in 1891, doesn't it say haulier, not hawker? This would fit better with the 'cart' that has been written in another hand next to the occupation. (Sorry to pick nits in my first message for ages!)

Jane

-- Edited by jane on Tuesday 30th of November 2010 11:51:54 AM

Shane Bywaters · Guru

Hi Irene,

Yes that would be great if you wouldn't mind quizing Terry to see if he recalls any stories handed down, thanks.

Oh Yes, Amelia is 11 months today so not long until her first birthday Party, the preparations are in full swing already - I can't believe its almost a year already, if the next few years go as fast she'll be well into her into teens and I'll be knocking on the door of the big five zero in no time! arrrh!

Ok, speak soon,
Shane

rene oliver · Senior Member

Hello Shane - Well, this is all news to me. Very interesting. Sorry I cannot add anything at all. I will ask my friend Terry Pratley if he knows of anything. I will be corresponding with him in the next few days.

Will Amelia Grace be having a party?

Regards,

Irene

Shane Bywaters · Guru

Hi All,

As we continue to turn as many stones as possible in the search of new family history I suppose its inevitable that from time to time we'll uncover items that are more sombre than others.

Two such items have come to light recently, one of which is detailed below.

The Witney Gazette of April 29th 1893 reports on an 'attempted suicide in Finstock':

In an attempt to identify who the William Oliver above is and where he fits into the wider Oliver tree I have looked at the census records for 1891 and traced backwards from there.

Here's where I think he fits in:

So, in terms of him fitting in with other Oliver's that we know about, William appears to be the son of John and Hannah (Brice), Shopkeepers in Finstock. Amongst other siblings this makes him the brother of Charles, who we know later went on to marry Charlotte (Langford) and run a shop in Finstock. This would then also make him the uncle of Stephen Oliver who is remembered on the Finstock War Memorial.

From other BMD records we can find that William married Eliza Buckingham in 1877 and per the 1881 census we find then living together in the High Street Finstock, recorded aged 46 and 43, with no children recorded.

1881 Census

So this is the most probable family setting, but I guess you then wonder what may have led William to feel that the attempted suicide was his only available action? - something which at the time of this incident was considered a crime.

In truth we may never know. Looking at the 1891 census we find William and Eliza still married and living together in the High Street Finstock. William's occupation has changed from 'Ag Lab' in 1881 to 'Hawker' in 1891 and his employment status is crossed as 'Neither Employer of Employed', so trading as a hawker by himself I assume.

1891 Census

As a Hawker (sometimes also referred to as Huckster or Pedlar) I'm guessing William would have been travelling around selling various items, possibly quite a tough job without huge financial rewards.

With assistance from Messrs Maisey and Duff however William did survived the attempted suicide, whatever its motive.

1891 is the last record of William in the census as we finding his death registered in 1898. In 1901 we find his wife Eliza has moved back to her native Hailey and 1911, sadly, we find her recorded as an inmate of the Witney Workhouse.

Moving on from 1911 we then find Eliza's death registration in 1916.

I'm wondering if anyone, those down the Finstock line specifically, have come across this incident before in their research or know of any family stories around the incident?, there are one of two out there who come down from this line (Charles = Irene, Alison for example)

As I say, quite a sombre find, but never-the-less it is a fact from the Oliver Family History and may even shed some light somewhere.

Thanks,
Shane