Wendy Percival

When wandering around any churchyard, it’s always sad to come across the death of a child. But amongst 19th century graves, with its high childhood mortality it’s not uncommon. One in three failed to survive to their fifth birthday in the early 1800s due to diseases such as diphtheria, typhoid, scarlet fever and smallpox and West Worlington churchyard has its fair share.

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But John Edworthy did not die of disease, but in a tragic accident on 18th November 1889, aged only 12 years old.

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John was the third son of Charles and Elizabeth Edworthy. Charles was a thatcher and the family lived in Lower Cottage, which adjoins the churchyard (see watercolour illustration).

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John appears on the 1881 census, aged 4 along with brothers - Frederick 8, William 5, Charles 2, and Harry 6 months. Before John died, another brother would arrive in the household - Ernest, born in 1888.​

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We can only imagine how the accident happened (so far I've not been able to track down the details of the inquest, which took place in 4 days after John's death, or found a report of the incident in the online newspaper archives) but on John’s death certificate the shocking cause of death was recorded as a broken neck as a result of a cart overturning.

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Just 8 years later, John’s father Charles would also lose his life in a horrific accident, aged only 46.

Read about his fate HERE.