• Born: Abt 1849, St. Erth, Cornwall
• Married: 28 Jul 1876, St. David's Church, Exeter, Devon, England ¹
• Died: 16 Jan 1889, Railway Hotel, East Barnet, London, England ²

  Research Notes:

In 1871 Francis W. West (22) of Phillack, civil engineer, was lodging in 18 Penpoll Gate Row, Phillack.

In December 1879 a charge was brought against Francis William West for the murder of his wife. A lengthy article of the initial hearing was reported in Lake's Falmouth Packet, 27 Dec 1879, p. 1.

In 1881 Francis William West (32) of Hayle, widower, was a convict in H.M. Convict Prison, Chatham, Kent, England.

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Francis William West died aged 40 years. ²

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THE STRANGE SUICIDE AT NEW BARNET.

On Friday, the 18th inst., an inquiry was held at the Railway Hotel, New Barnet, before Mr H. Brabant, coroner for the Liberty of St. Albans, touching the death of Francis William West, who shot himself at the above hotel, on Wednesday, the 16th inst. The following composed the jury:—Messrs. T. H. Doy (foreman), J. Barnes, W. Kilby, S. Huxham, Valenton, H. Waldron, A. Prentice, W. Abbott, W. Brown, Olen, Kierstensen, A. Cooper and Hunter ; P.s. Sheers acting as coroner's officer. The jury having viewed the body, a brother of the deceased was called, who identified it and stated that the deceased was about 41 years of age.—Henrietta Annie Upton, manageress of the hotel, stated that she saw deceased come into the hotel about eleven o'clock on the night of Tuesday, the 15th inst., when he said "Good evening," and went upstairs to bed. Deceased had lodged there since the 3rd of August. Shortly after he had gone upstairs deceased rang the bell and witness answered it, when he requested to be supplied with some hot gin. The deceased was then standing at the foot of the bed. On witness turning to go downstairs the deceased asked if there were any letters for him, and on witness stating there were not, he remarked "They might have had the common decency to write to me." The gin was supplied to deceased. Witness went to bed at quarter past one. Shortly after she had gone to bed she heard the deceased walking on the landing outside his door, and immediately afterwards he came and knocked at her bedroom door. Witness said "What is it?" but the deceased did not speak. He knocked again and then went away, but shortly after returned and knocked with something hard, rather loudly, and said "Miss Hetty, take your death warning." The other servants in the room were frightened and made a noise, but witness told them to keep quiet and she would call Reuben, the coachman, who had just come into the yard with a carriage. Witness dared not go downstairs to let the coachman in, but asked him to get a ladder and get through the bedroom window, and he passed through her room to the room occupied by the deceased. Witness then closed her door and locked it, and heard no more till she heard a pistol shot about a quarter before two. She immediately went on to the landing, and saw Reuben, the coachman, half-way down the stairs. Witness did not go into deceased's room. Deceased had appeared rather strange of late, and seemed troubled about law affairs.—Reuben Cain, coachman at the Railway Hotel, deposed that about ten minutes to two on the morning of Wednesday, the 16th inst., Miss Upton called to him out of her bedroom window and asked him to get a ladder and get in through the window and go to Mr. West. Witness did so and found deceased out of bed and very much upset. Deceased told witness that he had had a great deal of trouble about law proceedings. Witness tried to pacify him, and after quarter-of-an-hour succeeded in getting him to go to bed. Witness then went to bed, and about ten minutes afterwards he heard the report of firearms. Witness jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to deceased's room. There was a lamp burning in the room, and witness went to the bed, lifted up deceased's head, and saw blood oozing from his temple. Deceased appeared to be quite dead, and the revolver produced was lying on his breast. Witness then sent for the police and the doctor.—Edie Osborn, residing at Grove Side, Lytton-road, was then sworn, and deposed that she had been engaged to the deceased since July last, and had known him since the previous March. Witness always understood that the deceased was well off, and had never known him stinted for money. She always thought him eccentric, and in two letters he had written to her he had referred to some trouble he was in, and hinted at destroying himself. Witness and deceased had never had any words, and she believed he was very fond of her. Witness kept him late on the Tuesday night, as she wished to prevent him going somewhere else where he was in the habit of getting drink. The revolver produced was her property ; she had had it for four years. Deceased, some time since, got possession of it, but witness wrote him a very earnest letter, and he brought it back. It was put into her drawer, and the deceased must have taken it out when she gave him some letters to put into the drawer. Witness saw the cartridge in a vase on the mantel-shelf, and had put it into her pocket ; but on pulling out her handkerchief it fell on the floor and he took it, and witness believed that was the cartridge with which he had shot himself.—Dr. Perigal said he had known deceased since the beginning of October. He was called to the Hotel about 2.15 a.m. on Wednesday, and found deceased in bed in the room described as No. 7. Life was quite extinct, and witness found marks of a bullet wound on the left temple. The bullet had entered the left temple region and traversed across the brain, but did not find its exit on the other side. Witness had not seen deceased since the 15th of December, when he came to him and asked him about some law proceedings. Witness advised him to consult Mr. H. W. Poole, a solicitor. Deceased was in the habit of indulging in stimulants ; he had remonstrated strongly with him about taking more than was good for him, and deceased promised to leave it off.—Mr. Poole, solicitor, then requested permission to make a statement, and the coroner allowed him to do so. Mr. Poole said he was the legal gentleman referred to in the evidence, and that Miss Osborn had called upon him, bringing a letter from Dr. Perigal stating that the deceased wished to consult him upon a legal matter. He saw the deceased and found that a writ had been served on him for £150 alleged money lent. Mr. Poole further stated that he had a complete answer to the case, and that it was evidently a try on. The deceased was, however, of a very nervous temperament, and notwithstanding he assured him that there was an ample defence, deceased constantly dreaded that things would happen for which there was not the slightest foundation, and no doubt that affected his mind.—The coroner having briefly summed up, the jury at once returned a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane.

The Barnet Press (London), 26 Jan 1889, p. 3