A MAN ATTACKED BY AN ENTIRE HORSE
My great great grandfather was John Rimmer, born 6th June 1844 to parents Robert Rimmer and Ellen nee Wright. He married Ann Abram 1'fh September 1864 and went on to have six children with her; JanejJenny, my great grandmother, William, Elizabeth, Charles (Charlie), Robert and Annie. Having searched for the family in the 1891 census, I could not find them. In the previous census John had been living with his family at his in-laws Robert and Ellen Abram. The 1901 census showed his wife had remarried! Luckily my Aunt passed on some details that my Great Uncle Joseph Howard was brought up by Grandma Barrington; otherwise I would still be looking for them.
It turned out that John had died on 3rd August 1884 and after obtaining his death certificate it showed that he had died of blood poisoning caused by injuries inflicted by a horse on 28th July 1884. Thanks to two members of the North Meols Family History Society I found out further information regarding the Coroner's Inquest held at the Shakespeare Hotel on the 6th August 1884.
According to his wife Ann, John had left home on the morning of the 28th between three and four o'clock, and the next time she saw him was in the Infirmary the same day. He and a James Moore, 77, of Lorne Street, were engaged with driving a team of horses to Ormskirk with a load of lead piping. One the horses, belonging to Daniel Keen, Master Carter, had been restive and had tried several times to kick and bite its driver. On the way back, at about four pm, John and James had stopped off at the Alexandra Hotel, Scarisbrick New Road(though another report stated it was the Richmond Hotel) for some refreshment. It was noted that although John had had a glass or two of liquor he was not drunk. He had tethered the horse to the back of the cart, but the horse got loose. John tried to secure him but the horse seized' him by the back of the neck, swung him round and finally knelt on him. A man standing by struck the horse causing it to let go of John and it ran off towards Blowick. After following it, John was attacked again, the horse biting him on the arm and inflicting other injuries that resulted in him being taken to Southport Infirmary by cab where he died a week later.
The Foreman of the Jury, a Mr. Lightweir, said he had heard that the same horse had broken the deceased's leg in two places on a previous occasion, and other witnesses stated the horse was of a vicious ·nature. Another witness, John Farrington, who was present at the events, went as far as to say that if he had had a gun he would have shot the horse. The jury returned a verdict that he had died from blood poisoning due to the bites of the horse and added that it "should not be allowed out unless in charge and under the control of a skilful, steady, and powerful workman, and that even in that case it should be properly and efficiently muzzled."
After 'Googling' I found that 'entire horse' meant that it was ungelded. Ann, his wife, went on to marry another two times, once in 1885 and again in December 1891, but I still am unable to find her on the 1891 census. Perhaps she went on holiday, spending her compensation monies from the death of her first husband!!!!!
