Rotherham Hospital
Thomas Burton, born in 1908 in Rotherham, is my first cousin, twice removed and son of Joseph Henry Burton and Mary Unwin. In 1930, in Rotherham, Thomas married Dorothy Nichols. Together, Thomas and Dorothy issued six children and the newspaper article below pertains to the death of one of their sons who was subsequently buried in Moorgate Cemetery, Rotherham.
THE ADVERTISER, SATURDAY, JULY 2nd, 1938.
TWO-YEAR-OLD BOY’S FATAL SCALDS.
MAY HAVE PULLED GAS RING TUBING.
A verdict of accidental death was returned by the Deputy Borough Coroner (Dr. F. C. Collinson, J.P.), at an inquest on Tuesday on Joseph Burton, the two-year-old son of Thomas Burton, unemployed steelworker, of 42, Browning Road, Rotherham. The child died in the Rotherham Hospital on Sunday as a result of scalds sustained at home on the previous day.
Dr. G. A. Baker, of the Rotherham Hospital, said the child was admitted on Sunday suffering from scalds to the right arm, forearm, right thigh and part of the abdomen on the right side. The child died on Sunday from shock.
Moorgate Cemetery
Thomas Burton said that on Saturday he placed a saucepan of water on the gas ring in order to make some tea. After lighting the gas he went out of the kitchen into the living room to prepare a meal. The little boy had just gone into the kitchen when witness heard a scream. Rushing into the kitchen he found the boy shaking himself and screaming. He had pulled the saucepan over and the water had spilled.
Witness thought the child must have got hold of the gas tubing and pulled it.
WEEK 42 