Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 08 December 1933
Drank Ammonia
Conisboro’ Girl’s Suicide After Tonsillitis
A verdict “that she poisoned herself with ammonia while of unsound mind” was returned at an inquest conducted by the Huddersfield Borough Coroner (Mr. E. W. Norris), on Monday, on Dorothy Ridgeway (22), domestic servant employed by Mrs. Whimpenny, 209, Scar Lane, Golcar, who died in the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary on Saturday afternoon.
Mrs. Elizabeth Ridgeway, 8, Station Road, Conisborough, the mother of the girl, said her daughter went home about a fortnight ago and returned to her employment last Wednesday. While at home she had suffered from tonsillitis. She insisted on returning to work, however, although her mother asked her not to do so. She had no troubles and was quite happy. When witness saw her daughter at the infirmary on Friday she said that when she returned to work she found she was not as well as she had thought on leaving home.
In reply to the foreman, Mrs. Ridgeway said when her daughter returned to Huddersfield on Wednesday she went to a young man’s home at Kirkheaton, resuming work on the following day.
Mrs. Whimpenny said the girl went home because she was not well, and when she returned on Thursday she was not as well as witness expected her to be. On Friday the doctor who was attending her came and examined her. At about 3 o’clock on Friday afternoon witness left the house, leaving her two children in bed and deceased washing herself. She returned at 5 o’clock and found her lying on the kitchen floor groaning. She was not properly conscious, and she told Mrs. Whimpenny that she had taken ammonia. She had been sick. The police ambulance was summoned and she was taken to the infirmary. Witness added that there had been two bottles of ammonia in the garage.
Detective-officer Nesbitt, who went with the ambulance to the house, said he found the girl lying on the kitchen floor. There were two bottles on the table.
Dr. William Sharpe, house surgeon at the Royal Infirmary, said that the woman was semi-conscious when admitted. On Saturday morning her condition improved, but she took a turn for the worse about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and died an hour later. Death was due to inflammation of the lungs from ammonia poisoning.