Frederick Street – 1907
Laura Jarvis, born in 1883 in Rotherham, is my second cousin, twice removed and daughter of Eliza Jane Bowler Crossland and Frank Jarvis.
In 1903, Laura married George Henry Edwards, in Rotherham.
Below are a couple of newspaper articles published shortly after Laura’s terrible death.
THE ADVERTISER, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23rd, 1940.
WOMAN DIES AFTER HOUSE FIRE.
JUMP FROM BEDROOM WINDOW.
Present day location of 98 Frederick Street
“If Mrs. Edwards had not unfortunately gone back for a coat she would not have been burned,” said the Rotherham Borough Coroner, Mr. W. J. Bradford, J.P., at an inquest, held in Rotherham on Wednesday, on Mrs. Laura Edwards (56), of 98, Frederick Street, Rotherham, who died in Rotherham Hospital from the effects of burns sustained in a fire at her home last Saturday.
Dr. J. J. B. Sebastian, of Rotherham Hospital, said Mrs. Edwards was admitted on November 16th suffering from shock and second and third degree burns of the face, neck, chest, back and arms. She died on November 19th from secondary shock due to the burns.
Bramwell Street
Evidence of identification was given by the deceased’s daughter, Madge Batty, married, of 40, Bramwell Street, Rotherham.
The widower, George Henry Edwards, said at about midnight on November 15th, he went to bed with his wife in the front bedroom, leaving a small coal fire burning in the living room. The fire was dying out. At about 7.30 a.m. on Saturday, witness was aroused by his wife and heard loud banging on the back door. They went downstairs and found the living room full of smoke and flames. Witness said his wife was just behind him when she opened the door leading to the shop at the front of the house, but when he turned round she had gone. Witness went out of the front door and got on to the footpath in Frederick Street, when his wife, who was wearing only her night clothes, jumped from the bedroom window into the street.
Rotherham Hospital
WENT FOR COAT.
He thought she must have gone back upstairs to get her fur coat, which was in the back bedroom. When the house was examined after the fire the fur coat was found in the front bedroom, near the window. There was nothing else for which his wife should go upstairs, as witness had the money belonging to the shop in his pocket.
Sergt. J. W. Bartle, of Rotherham Fire Brigade, said the contents of the living room and the bedroom above it were blazing fiercely when the Fire Brigade arrived. The living room was burned out and the contents of the bedroom were severely damaged. The fire had apparently originated in a settee in the living room.
Laura’s grave
Mrs. Edwards had apparently been trapped in the bedroom when trying to retrieve some clothing. She threw herself from the bedroom window before the arrival of the Fire Brigade.
Answering Supt. F. Briddon, the witness expressed the view that had the back door not been broken in and had the door leading from the living room to the stairs been left closed, the fire would have been contained to the living room and would not have spread upstairs.
THE ADVERTISER, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23rd, 1940.
Mr. Edwards and daughters, of 98, Frederick Street, wish to thank doctors and nurses of Rotherham Hospital, also relatives and friends for kind letters of sympathy and floral tributes in their sad bereavement.
WEEK 42 