13 OCTOBER

1886 At the Toxteth workhouse today, an inquest was held on the body of John Kenington, a painter by trade, aged 49. On the previous Friday he had attended the stoneyard opened by the guardians for the relief of the distress in Toxteth. George Patterson, who had been working alongside Kenington, said he had seen him breaking a large stone on the top of his pile, and splinters were flying about. He heard Kenington cry out and, thinking something serious was the matter, went up to him. Seeing some blood, he lifted up his chin and saw a wound from which blood was gushing as if coming from a leaky pipe. One of the men in the yard brought a handkerchief to hold against the wound. Dr Smart, the workhouse medical officer, who was quickly on the scene, said the wound was a very deep one. It was dressed immediately, and the man seemed to progress favourably, but at about 4 a.m. on Monday morning, he had found him almost pulseless, and saw him die shortly afterwards. A post mortem revealed a large clot of blood about the size of a small orange behind the windpipe, and another clot of blood at the entrance to the windpipe, almost blocking it up. Suffocation from the pressure of this clot on the windpipe was the cause of death.