Baby

The body of a newly-born child was found in the River Yare.

It was wrapped up in a flannel petticoat together with a brick which had then been placed in a sack.

The sack was found by a farm labourer from Surlingham who had been out at work on the marsh on the Monday, 12 August 1902, and who went out on the river on a boat that was lying on a dyke near by. They found the sack at the mouth of the dyke and pulled it out.

The body was then taken to the Ferry Inn where a constable came out to inspect it.

The farm labourer said that the sack was not there the previous Tuesday when he had last been at that spot.

The size of the petticoat indicated that it had belonged to a woman of medium build.

A doctor said that the child had been newly-born and had weighed 9lbs which was rather more than the normal weight. However, he said that the body was in an advanced state of decomposition and so it was impossible to state whether the child had had a separate existence. He added that it had certainly not had any attention at birth and that it had been in the river for about six or eight weeks.