Obituary – Mrs Morte – Father escorted Napoleon

December 1902

Mexborough and Swinton Times, December 19, 1902

Obituary – Mrs Morte

The circumstances attending the death of widow Morte last week were very sad, and of a shocking nature to the family.

Mrs. Morte had gone for a short walk as far as the railway crossings, and was returning home near to the old St. Chad’s vestry, when she was suddenly taken ill, and leaned to the wall for support. She was assisted into her home by friends. and promptly attended to. but after once stroking her hand across her face she expired without even a murmur to those around her, death being the result of failure of the heart’s action. From symptoms shown by the deceased recently she seems to have been affected by heart trouble, and a short time ago she was standing at her front door when she was suddenly struck on the head by a stone, and she was rather badly cut. This seems to have affected her nerves, and at the time she was in a serious state, and although she recovered she was visibly affected, and the shock, no doubt, hastened death.

She was interred by the side of her late husband in the Denaby Cemetery, on Saturday, amid tokens of profound regret. She was 63 years of age, and lived but eight months after the death of her husband, who, it will be remembered, died last May.

Mr. Morte’s father, as was stated in these columns some months ago, was a cabin-boy on the English vessel that conveyed Napoleon as a prisoner to St. Helena, and he it was who, at the age of 71, successfully walked a thousand miles in a thousand hours for a thousand dollars.