Baby

The body of a male-child was found on top of a tank in Derby Arboretum on the afternoon of 1 June 1903 near the Reginald Street entrance.

It was found on the Whit Holiday Monday by two girls.

A greengrocer that lived in Stables Street that had been in the refreshment room of the arboretum near Reginald Street at the time of the discovery lifted the child's body out. He said that when he inspected the package he saw tape embedded in the flesh of the child's neck and he immediately informed the police.

The child's body, which was doubled up, had been wrapped up in a paper parcel and covered with brown paper.

When the police were called out they took charge of the child's body and carried out every possible inquiry into the case, but with no result.

When the inquest  on the child was held on the morning of Thursday 11 June 1903 at the Town Hall the Coroner returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person or persons unknown.

The pathologist that carried out the post mortem said that the child had been born alive and had been strangled by means of a piece of tape being tied tightly round its neck.

When the child was initially found it was thought that it had been born premature and that it had been doubtful whether it had ever lived.

Derby Arboretum is noted as being the first public park in Britain, having been deliberately planned as a place of public recreation in an urban setting and opened in 1840.