Upstream from Keen Edge Ferry
On Friday night, 25th March 1892, a housewarming party took place at The George Inn in Shillingford. The occasion was to celebrate the change of landlord from Edwin Pentycross to Mr G A Mattick.
Among the guests were Charles Clutterbuck, 61, his wife Elizabeth, 47, and their niece Fanny Kate Newland, 8. George had worked as a ferryman for the Thames Conservancy at Keen Edge Ferry for five years. The ferry and cottage stood about a quarter mile upstream from the Wharf, in a field owned by Henry Ashby.
The ferry transported towing horses from Dorchester on the east bank towpath across the river to continue downstream toward Shillingford Bridge.
Around midnight, the couple and their niece left for home, heading down Wharf Road and taking a diagonal path across the fields. As heavy fog set in near the riverbank, they lost sight of the cottage and walked about 50 yards further upstream.
The little girl could see the danger of the riverbank and called out, “Aunty, there’s the water”. She replied, “Oh no, come along and take my hand, that’s nothing”, but then, shortly afterwards, Elizabeth fell seven or eight feet into the river where the water was very deep. Luckily Fanny had refused to take her aunt’s hand and so escaped being dragged in as well. When he heard the scream and splash, Charles ran back to see if he could save his wife and jumped in but they were both swept downstream.
Fanny’s screams were heard by her mother, Elizabeth’s sister, who ran from the cottage with a lamp. She and Fanny were lost in the fog for about an hour before they managed to find their way back to the George Inn in the village.
At dawn, P.C. Smith from Benson organised a search of the river using boats and grappling irons but it wasn’t until the following Tuesday that the bodies were recovered about four hundred yards downstream of the ferry.
The following day an inquest was held in the New Inn. A number of witnesses claimed that the couple were a little worse for the effects of alcohol, Elizabeth more so than Charles. A verdict of “Death by drowning” was arrived at.
Warborough Burial Register 1892
They were buried together in St Laurence Churchyard on the Friday. No headstone has been found.
Researched by Ray Thackrah from an article in The Oxford Times 2nd April 1892