Drama Of Despair

Daily Mirror, Wed 6 Apr 1921 Page 2-3

Murder and Suicide Verdict at Park Inquest – Another Man’s Wife.

There can be no doubt that the man killed the woman in a fit of desperation because he could not marry her, said the Westminster Coroner yesterday at the inquest on Annie Eliza Renouf, aged thirty five of Holland Street*, Brixton, and Samuel Powter, aged forty, of Chester Street, Kennington, who were found shot in Hyde Park.

Mrs Mary Ann Brown, mother of the dead woman, said that owing to his treatment her daughter, with three children, left her husband in Jersey about thirteen years ago. Powter, who had been keeping company with her daughter for seven years had asked her consent to their being married, but this was impossible, as the husband was still alive. In a letter to his sweetheart Powter asked forgiveness for the “nasty things” he had said last time they met, and expressed the hope that they might meet again. The jury returned a verdict of Wilful Murder and felo de se against Powter.

*Holland Street is now renamed as Caldwell Street.

0 Responses to Drama Of Despair

  1. Yvonne Fenter says:

    Annie Renouf lived at 11 Holland Street. She had 3 children … Philip, Percy, and Annie. Percy went on to marry my aunt Georgina (Ena) Graves, who lived at 31 Holland Street from about 1922 until she married Percy on Boxing Day 1937. At the time of their marriage, Percy was aged 33, and Ena 29.
    Sadly, Annie wasn’t the only person in her family to die in tragic circumstances.
    Her mother Mary Ann Brown had remarried following the death in Jersey of Annie’s father Henry Boyce, who “killed himself by administering poison”.
    Annie’s son Percy also died tragically. He and his wife Ena moved to Kesgrave in Suffolk, and only 16 months after their marriage, he was killed in a motorbike accident at Bury St Edmunds, aged just 34. His wife Ena found out through hearing an SOS radio announcement. She never remarried.

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