Newspaper Extracts
Death of newly wed - Son of Edward Swift
On Wednesday night a young man, son of Edward Swift of Greasborough, who had been married about three weeks, left home after dark, was going through the fields in the direction of Rotherham to meet his wife. When he got to Bassingthorpe Spring, owing to the darkness, he missed his way and fell into an unprotected pit, a few yards from the footpath. His friends became alarmed at his absence before bedtime and they commenced a search which lasted all night. Early in the morning they discovered his hat floating on the water in the pit. The pit was only a few yards deep, and on further examination they discovered his lifeless body with the feet uppermost. It appeared he had fallen in with the head first, which had stuck fast in the mud.
His wife had been married before to a person called Whitaker, who also lost his life in a pit on St. Thomas Day 1834; belonging to Mr. Chambers of The Holmes who endowed her with maintenance during such time she remained a widow. On the evening her husband had gone to meet her, she had gone to Mr. Chambers at Clough House to return him thanks for his generosity, not thinking that she would become a widow again that evening.
Source: Sheffield Independent.14th November 1839
