~ Chapter Four ~
The Death of Amy
In 1906, the shop in Margate was doing so well that Charlie was on the lookout for another business, one that would profit direct from the Edwardians’ continued fascination with the seaside. On the morning of Wednesday, 30th May, having seen his three boys off to school and having left Amy to mind the shop, he set off on the short journey to neighbouring Westgate-on-Sea to look into the possibility of buying a seafront cafeteria. By the time he returned home early that afternoon, Amy was dead and Charlie’s life had fallen apart.
This is how the inquest into Amy’s death was reported in Keble’s Gazette, the local newspaper:
This is how the inquest into Amy’s death was reported in Keble’s Gazette, the local newspaper:
Margate Woman's Tragic End
Suffocated in Drunken Sleep
Suffocated in Drunken Sleep
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There is little doubt that Amy was a hard-working, caring wife and mother, who ran a well-ordered household; “one of the best of wives”, according to Charlie. Her children had been vaccinated and they all attended school regularly. Sadly, however, it is also apparent that, like many others of that era, Amy had succumbed to the temptation of gin-drinking.
As far back as 1835, in his campaigning story, Gin Shops, an indignant Charles Dickens attacked gin-drinking as “a great vice of England”, capable of producing “wretched broken-down miserable women”. And at the time of Amy’s death more than seventy years later, the Temperance movement was still working hard in Margate and elsewhere throughout the country to eradicate what they regarded as a working-class disease. In Amy’s case, the “great vice” had affected her appearance, so that she ended her life as the “big, stout woman” described by her own mother; it had ruined her health; and ultimately it had killed her.
One can only imagine the devastation that Amy’s sudden and ghastly end caused to Charlie and his sons, particularly to the six year-old Thomas, who must have been traumatised by the event. Without Amy, life would never be the same for any of them.
As far back as 1835, in his campaigning story, Gin Shops, an indignant Charles Dickens attacked gin-drinking as “a great vice of England”, capable of producing “wretched broken-down miserable women”. And at the time of Amy’s death more than seventy years later, the Temperance movement was still working hard in Margate and elsewhere throughout the country to eradicate what they regarded as a working-class disease. In Amy’s case, the “great vice” had affected her appearance, so that she ended her life as the “big, stout woman” described by her own mother; it had ruined her health; and ultimately it had killed her.
One can only imagine the devastation that Amy’s sudden and ghastly end caused to Charlie and his sons, particularly to the six year-old Thomas, who must have been traumatised by the event. Without Amy, life would never be the same for any of them.