Elizabeth Woodcock

Elizabeth Woodcock died from a cerebral haemorrhage caused by an injury received in some unknown manner.

She was found unconscious in her bed on 13 May 1939 at the lodging house that she kept at 9 Wise Street in Leamington and taken to hospital where she later died on 21 May 1939.

A lodger said that Elizabeth Woodcock had been drinking whisky and that when she had got home she had started arguing and had fallen down in the living room and struck herself on the sofa.

Another lodger said that when he heard Elizabeth Woodcock groaning he came downstairs and found her apparently unconscious and said that when she recovered a little he helped her up to her bed where he found her unconscious the following morning.

The Coroner’s inquest also heard that Elizabeth Woodcock had received a black eye two months earlier which was said to have been caused when a lodger had forced open a door when the lock was stuck, and the door had hit her. Elizabeth Woodcock's son said that the lodger had been with them for years and that he had never known him to hit Elizabeth Woodcock.

When the doctor examined Elizabeth Woodcock he said that she had two cerebral haemorrhages. He said that the first had been received some time before and had been the result of violence, noting that it was probably when she had fallen in the street. He said that the second cerebral haemorrhage was caused by the first.

A open verdict was returned.