South Yorkshire Times – Friday 27 April 1934
Tragedy of Pain
Conisborough Man’s Suicide
Could Bear It No Longer
The circumstances in which a Denaby man came to drown himself in the Don at Conisborough were revealed on Friday, when the Doncaster District Coroner (Mr. W. H. Carlile) conducted an inquest on Albert Ackroyd (56), blacksmith striker, 27, Rossington Street, Denaby.
Florence Ackroyd, who gave evidence of identification, said her husband was employed at Denaby Main. She last saw him alive at 3-40 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10th, when he was in bed. She had occasion to leave the house and when she returned about 9 o’clock her husband was out. At first she thought he had gone to the Welfare Club but as inquiries failed to trace him she informed the police. Later, she identified articles found on the river bank as belonging to her husband. She also identified a note written in her husband’s handwriting. In answer to the Coroner witness said her husband had been unemployed for about four years and had been in poor health for some time. He had experienced terrible pains in the left side of his body, and as a result had been depressed and unable to sleep. In his note he complained of this pain and said he could not bear it any longer. He was crying at dinner-time on the day he disappeared. She added that her husband had no other trouble.
Matthew Dobson, quarryman, 8, Fitzwilliam Avenue, Conisborough, said he was walking along the river bank to work at 6.45 a.m. on Wednesday, when he found the body about five yards from the Conisborough Viaduct. A hat and a wallet were on the bank. He took a card from the wallet to identify the man and asked several workmen to notify the police.
George Cowdell, 3, Don View, Conisborough, employed by the Conisborough Cliff Co., said that on April 19th he was returning from work, when he saw the body floating in the river towards Doncaster. He got the body to the side with assistance.
P.C. Dobson said he received information of the recovery of the body and had the body taken down the river to the boathouse where it was taken from the water. He examined it and found no marks of violence.
A verdict was recorded of “Suicide while of unsound mind.”