Stanley Thomas Millward

Stanley Thomas Millward was found dead in the road.

He was found in Church Lane, Perry Bar at about 9.50pm on Friday 5 January 1940.

At his inquest it was suggested that he had been hit first by one vehicle in the road and left lying there, and then run over and dragged along the road by a second vehicle that had discovered his body.

He had lived on Walsall Road in Perry Barr and worked at ICI as an analytical chemist.

His mother said that he had left home on the Friday night to see his fiancee and said that she expected him home sometime between 10pm and 11.30pm but said that at 11pm she was informed that he had been found in the roadway and was lying dead in the General Hospital.

His body was found in the roadway by a motorist who had been driving along Church Lane between 25-30mph who said that as he was driving along, he saw a shadow in the road and then fouled something with his car. He said that he continued along for a distance of 32 feet, carrying the object with him, and that when he got out, he found Stanley Millward's body along with a hat, book and blood in the road.

He said that after that he called the police.

When the police arrived, they found two patches of blood in the road, some considerable distance apart suggesting that he had lain at each place for some time. The police also found marks on the road surface as though his body had been dragged.

It was heard that shortly before Stanley Millward's body was found, a motor lorry was seen to pass along Church Lane in the direction of West Bromwich and the police said that they wanted to speak to the driver of the lorry.

At his inquest, Stanley Millward's overcoat was produced, covered in mud and with gashes in the back. His trilby hat was also seen with a gash in the brim.

The doctor said that he had suffered from extensive bruising all over his body and that his death was due to a fractured cervical vertebra. The doctor added that his injuries were consistent with him having been run over but added that in his opinion it would have needed a much heavier vehicle that that driven by the second motorist to have inflicted some of them.

The inquest returned a verdict of accidental death.