South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 09 February 1952
Blind Denaby Woman’s Death
Clothes Mass of Flames
A blind Denaby woman whose clothes caught fire was such a mass of flames that they blistered the paint on the back door as she drew the bolt to get out of the house. It was stated at a Doncaster inquest on Saturday on 51-year-old Edith Booth, of Barnburgh Street, Denaby.
The Coroner (Mr. W. H. Carlisle) recorded a verdict of “Accidental death.”
Neighbours described how they heard screams but found her door locked. They looked through the window and saw her in the back kitchen. Her clothes were “a mass of flames.” They told her to unlock the door and when she had done so they wrapped a coat round her to extinguish the flames.
George W. Davey, of Doncaster Road, Denaby, an ambulance man, treated her for shock and she was taken to Doncaster Infirmary where she died a few hours later.
Her sister, Hilda Buckley, of Daylands Avenue, Conisbrough, said Mrs. Booth spoke to her before she died. She told her she had been cleaning up the hearth and a cinder had fallen out and set fire to her clothes.
Dr. P. Feldman, registrar at Doncaster Infirmary, said Mrs. Booth was severely burned all over the body and death was due to shock resulting from burns.