ANinquiry was held at Bromsgrove Police Court into the death of Frances Giles at the Cottage Hospital. He had been receiving chloroform before an operation and had struggled under the anaesthetic, his heart suddenly stopping. His doctor Cameron Kidd told the coroner that the man had had six decayed tooth stumps in his mouth for two years which had been the cause of blood poisoning for some time and the operation was necessary. An inspection of the body proved that the struggle had most likelybeenthecauseof death, causing his heart to give out.

AT Bromsgrove Petty Sessions, William Kemp, 16, of Sidemoor, was charged with using obscene language with a number of little children around him. His father said he had treated him kindly since his mother’s death, but the boy would not work. He had even given him money to go and joint the navy, but the boy had spent the money and come home. The defendant was fined 2s 6d, which he refused to pay.

The father claimed that if he were asked for the money he would sell up and move to the workhouse for some peace and quiet.