Norfolk Newspapers
Norwich Mercury
Extracts from January 19th 1867
FINCHAM
An INQUEST was held on Monday evening in this
village, by the Coroner for the Hundred of Clackclose,
on the body of Mr. George Aylmer, jun., who was on
the morning of that day accidentally drowned in the
Lake at Stradsett Park. The particulars of this most
melancholy event are briefly these. Mr. Aylmer with
two young ladies, his relatives, had walked down to
the Lake in the expectation of enjoying a little
exercise in skating. The previous night had been
intensely severe, the thermometer reaching down to
zero, and the morning was bright and beautiful. The
ice however, in the middle of the lake, through which
the water is always more or less current, especially
towards the outfall, was scarcely more than an inch in
thickness. The unfortunate gentleman seems to have
been unaware of this circumstance, and a slight fall of
snow occurring at the time covered the surface, and
concealed the danger. He was suddenly precipitated
into the water. One of his companions (and there were
no other persons on the lake) ran immediately for
help, whilst the other, Miss Wright, of Runcton, stood
nobly by him, and most heroically aided him in
sustaining himself in the water for at least twenty minutes
until she herself was at length immersed with him.
Meanwhile a rope was brought, and thrown to Miss
Wright, by which she was extricated; but Mr. Aylmer
it seems was too exhausted to seize and hold the same
when extended to himself. He sank to the bottom.
Although at least ten persons were now present, it does
not seem to have occurred to any one of them to fasten
the rope to himself, and plunge in to the rescue of the
drowning man. Mr. Aylmer's loss at 34 years of age,
though so young a man, will be long deplored in
Fincham by his clergyman and the poor, as well as by
his family and friends, but more especially by his most
estimable wife. It may be said of him truly that he
was "just and devout," a most consistent and steady
member of the congregation of St. Martin's Church in
Fincham, and an honour, by his good example, to the
parish in which he resided.
See also Other Extracts from Norfolk Newspapers.
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Copyright © Pat Newby
January 2008
