Mexborough and Swinton Times July 16, 1926
Denaby Miner’s Fate
Body Recovered from River
The body of Rupert Sykes (54), a miner, of 115 Tickhill Street, Denaby, was recovered from the river Don at Sprotborough on Wednesday night by two Hexthorpe men.
About 8.35 Joseph Pine, of 16 Bridge Street, Hexthorpe, with another man, saw the body and recovered it. It was removed to the Three Horse Shoes Hotel, Doncaster Town End, where Mr Frank Allen, district coroner will conduct an enquiry this morning.
Sykes, it is understood, had drawn his saving from the bank in which to live while out of work, and he wanted a relief ticket, and this proceeding seems to have preyed on his mind, as he had mentioned it to his son, George Rupert Sykes of 1 Trent Terrace, Conisborough. He left home on Wednesday morning, with the intention of visiting the Miners Welfare Hall at Denaby to get a ticket, but he did not go there and was not seen alive again.