Ruth daughter of Sydney Martin Lampard of The Fold Mayfield Road, insurance official, and Mary Elizabeth (baptismal record)
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Tragic End of a Schoolgirl at Hove.
FOUND DROWNED.
An inquest was held at Newhaven last evening on Ruth Lampard, 16, a Hove schoolgirl, whose body was washed up on the beach on Monday. The girl disappeared from her home on Christmas Eve, and next morning some of her clothing was found on the cliffs.
Sidney Martin Lampard, the girl's father, said his daughter was studying for her matriculation examination, and he had no idea this meant any great effort to her. She suffered from sleeplessness in October, and he and his wife went to see her head-mistress. As a result her work was eased. At the end-of-term examination she again seemed very upset. He thought she was trying to do something more than she had the power to do. She was a very proud child and not wishing to admit defeat turned her head. On Christmas Eve she was upset over having to give up her bedroom to her elder sister. The two girls tossed for it, and Ruth lost. She said to her sister: "I will never go back to that room." Medical evidence was that although the girl had sustained a fractured skull death was in all probability due to drowning.
Returning a verdict of "Suicide while of unsound mind," the Coroner said he thought he was justified in saying that this state of mind was brought about by overstudying due to the girl's anxiety to succeed. He did not, however, wish to criticize the school in any way.
The Devon and Exeter Gazette, Wednesday, 6 Jan 1926, p. 8 (among other newspapers)
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