SO RASH AN ACT, COWLEY BRIDGE, 1850.

"On Thursday last week an inquest was held at the Three Horse Shoes Inn, near this city, before F. Leigh Esq., coroner foe the County, on the body of John Wills, about 21 years of age, a corporal in the 9th regiment of Foot who was found drowned on Wednesday morning, in the river under Cowley-house.

"The deceased left his father's house, situate near Cowley bridge, the previous morning, in good health and spirits, and dined with a relative named Shorland, after which he spent some time there playing at cards.

"He subsequently attended a dance at Pitt's public-house, Upton Pyne,  where he appeared to enjoy himself very much,  not leaving until a late hour, when he proceeded in company with several persons towards his father's home.

"After passing over Pynes bridge he left his companions, wishing them good bye, saying they would never see him again, at the same time giving one of them a letter for his father, and returning as if to go back to Upton Pynes, the others proceeding on, nothing being thought of this strange coduct of his.  He was afterwards seen walking to and fro the bridge by some persons passing, and a little afterward sitting by the railings close by.   On the following morning his body was found as described above.

"The letter to his father assigned no reason for his committal of so rash an act, but after stating where they might find his body, concluded by requesting to be buried by the side of his mother in Upton Pynes churchyard.

"The jury, under these circumstances, returned a verdict of felo-de-se, and he was accordingly interred where he requested, at midnight without funeral rights."

Poor Corporal Wills!  A good dinner with an old friend, a game of cards, a jolly dance at the pub and then suicide!  My guess is he suffered more than most the sudden chill ito the pit of the stomach, the grand melancholy that young soldiers often know at the end of a week's home leave.  The thought of rejoining the regiment was perhaps just too much to bear. 

It was not until 2010 that the Church of England allowed full funeral rites to people who had taken their own lives.   There is something particularly callous about these midnight burial denied ceremony.. 

'Three Horseshoes' is a common enough pub name, so called because losing a shoe made the rider seek an inn where there was a smithy.  The name persists here in Exeter for the district but not for the inn:  now it is called, appropriately enough, 'The Stables'.

Source:  The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 19th January 1850.