On the morning of Thursday 5 November 1908 a man called Ridgeway was walking along the side of the canal at Tinsley. He was passing a keel boat when a cabin window in the side opened and an elderly man, looking extremely ill shouted to him. He begged Ridgeway to fetch a doctor to his six year old grandchild who was ill. The boy was onboard and suspected of suffering from food poisoning. Ridgeway immediately raced back to Tinsley to a house on Wharf Road where he knew a nurse lived called called Sarah James. She hurriedly put on her coat and hat, at the same time instructing Ridgeway to go to the house of Dr Selby and ask him also to attend.
Once onboard, Sarah found an elderly couple William and Frances Hamshaw stricken with ptomaine poisoning (an old fashioned way of saying food poisoning). Also on board was their six year old grandson Jack Hodson who was also stricken. All of them were in a terrible condition. Despite Dr Selby’s assiduous attentions the little boy Jack died. William Hamshaw told Sarah that they had been travelling from Goole to Sheffield on the previous day, when Jack fell ill. Before he could get any medical attention, all three of them were taken desperately ill for the rest of the night. Thankfully, the next morning he had managed to call the attention of a passing stranger, urging him to find them a doctor.
Sadly, William himself died the following day, but by this time his wife, Frances had thankfully recovered sufficiently enough to go home. Accordingly, an inquest on the body of Jack Hodson was due to be held on Friday 6 November 1908 at the Plumpers Hotel, Tinsley. However before it began, the Coroner, Mr J Kenyon Parker was informed of the second death of the child’s grandfather. He was told that he too had been suffering from a serious case of food poisoning, although from where it had originated was a mystery. Mr Parker told the jury that the case of William Hamshaw would be dealt with first.
The deceased man’s stepson, John Hodgkinson was the first witness and he told the inquest that William was aged 63 years and he had always been a very healthy and active man. He stated that his stepfather had been the master of the keel boat for many years and was well known to people living on the canal. Hodgkinson told the inquest that he had last seen William on Monday at Goole and he had been in the best of health on that day. However he had been told that he had been taken ill on the Wednesday night and shortly afterwards his wife and grandson had begun to display the same symptoms.
Dr Selby was the next to give evidence and he stated that he had been called into the case, and in consultation with the Medical Officer of Health, Dr Weatherbe, they had both concluded that William had died from food poisoning. He said that on Tuesday the family had a meal of roast pork and the following night, cold ham and suet pudding. The pork had then been given to a relative, who had suffered no ill effects after consuming a considerable quantity. He said that the meat had been salted, therefore he did not think it could easily become contaminated on board the keel.
The mother of the deceased boy, Maria Hutchinson told the jury that she had identified the body of her son who was born to her first husband. In his summing up, Mr Parker told the jury that both doctors Dr Weatherbe and Dr Selby did not think it necessary to undertake post mortems on the bodies of the grandfather or his grandson. The symptoms from which they both died showed undoubted that they had died from food poisoning. Accordingly the jury had no option but to return a verdict that both deaths were due to gastro-enteritis.