Death of Mr. Pocock. Another sudden death occurred on Saturday, May 25th at Hollington, near St. Leonards, touching which a judicial inquiry resulted in a verdict of “Death from natural causes”. The deceased in this instance was Mr. William Pocock, a respected inhabitant of the parish residing at Wilton Farm, and aged 74 years. Being in his usual health, he partook of dinner and went out on the farm. He returned at about 4 o’clock and laid down on his bed to, as was his practice in warm weather. In about twenty minutes he was discovered to be breathing with difficulty, and in another five minutes life was extinct.
Another Sudden Death. On the same day that Mr. Pocock died, the coroner for the Rape of Hastings, held an inquest on the body of Mrs. Sargent, the wife of a labourer at Beckley. She had been seized with sudden illness and died in a few minutes. She was a woman of delicate constitution and had had 17 confinements.
Suicide of Mr. Barnes. On the 12th of August, the lifeless body of Mr. Edward Barnes, foreman of Mr. Hughes’s brickyard, at Bopeep, was found hanging in a hut. The deceased, who lived at Spittleman’s Down, was the father of a large family, two of whom were cripples, and their mother was frequently ill. Deceased had been mentally depressed, and had once before attempted to commit suicide.
Death of Mr. Vickery. The George-street inhabitants and others were grievously surprised on the morning of the 26th of August to learn that Mr. Charles Vickery, a well-known cook and confectioner had suddenly died during the night. Deceased was 47 years of age, and was perfectly well on the preceding day. He had had no medical attendance for six years and had not complained of any illness. Miss A. M. Lock, who, as shopwoman, had lived with Mr. and Mrs. Vickery for 5 years, was called up at 5 a.m. to go for Mr. Underwood, a surgeon, in the same street, as it was Mr. Vickery was dying. That gentleman was in attendance in less than five minutes, but found the patient had just ceased breathing. An after post mortem revealed the cause of death to be the rupture of a blood-vessel on the brain. References to Mr. Vickery as a tradesman, first at St. Leonards, and afterwards at 16 and 50b George street, Hastings, will be found in Brett’s rhymed Reminiscences of Hastings.
The following lines, on the above occasion are supposed to have been writen(sic) by the late W. Glenister, Superintendent of Police.
“In the midst of life we are in death;
Each sigh we breathe may be our latest breath;
Each glance we take may be our last;
And that which is may soon be past;
Time! Time no more, but now Eternity;
Death! Death, yet life! the spirit free,
Seek higher realms, more genial skies,
And upward, onward yet it flies
To meet it. Judge, to hear the word
Pronounced by our redeeming Lord,
That makes us his or drives us from our God. “
