Alice Meakin

Alice Meakin died from an illegal operation.

She had lived at 1118 London Road, Alvaston with her step-father who ran a grocery there and her mother.

She had died from peritonitis which was caused by the use of an instrument for an illegal operation.

Her mother said that she knew nothing about her daughters condition up until two days before she died when Alice Meakin was said to have fallen from a dray whilst delivering groceries which brought about a miscarriage. The mother said that she had not seen Alice Meakin slip from the dray but that she had told her that her foot had slipped from the step of the dray. A person that saw her slip from the dray said that she did not fall heavily and at the time denied that she was injured in any way or shape.

After slipping from the dray she had gone to bed and the next day her mother said she noticed her condition and she had a miscarriage.

The coroner said that it was strange that Alice Meakin had fallen from a dray and not sustained marks of external violence. He also commented that it was strange that her mother knew nothing of her condition until two days before her death.

The coroner had asked the mother if she knew a person who had lived at Carrington Street, a street leading to the Midland Railway, but the mother denied knowing anyone at that address.

Two strange women had been seen in the shop near the time but the mother denied that they had gone upstairs and said that they were looking to buy apples and were drunk and she had to send them away.

When the doctor examined Alice Meakin the day before she died he found that she was deeply jaundiced and suffering from persistent sickness, probably due to acute inflammation of the liver.

A friend of Alice Meakin' who was a clerk said that when Alice Meakin told her about her condition she had advised her to tell her mother but said that Alice Meakin had refused.