Edward Louis Wallis 1910 - 1962
Edward Louis Wallis , educ. Downside. Banking (retired) (1939). Poss. Christian names Edward Surname Wallis City Lucknow Location St. Francis College Type of record Register Year 1925 Ref No SF1379 Photo Nos P1020370 Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush Gazette 13 September 1962 Housewife borrowed £1 - to die A 62-year-old woman borrowed £1 from her former employer so that she and her husband could buy a few drinks to pluck up courage before they took an overdose of sleeping tablets at their home in Rivercourt road, Hammersmith At the Hammersmith inquest the deputy coroner recorded a double suicide on the woman Mrs Eileen Frances Wallis and her husband Edward Louis Wallis, aged 52. Mr. Evelyn Bazelgette, of Beckenham, Kent, Mrs. Wallis's son, said his mother's health was indifferent, and from time to time, she was inclined to be a heavy drinker. She had threatened to take her life many times verbally, and in a letter. A childhood illness had made his stepfather (Mr. Wallis) and mother's third husband unstable and unreliable, and not easily employable. He had not seen his mother and stepfather for nearly three years. "My mother was in very low water financially, and up to three years ago when we had a row I answered her frequent appeals for money," he added. Landlady of the house in Rivercourt road, Mrs. Doris Gainsboro, said Mr and Mrs Wallis occupied a bed-sitting room for which they paid £3 10s a week but their rent was somewhat in arrears, She knew that the couple both took sleeping pills. "Very drunk" She last saw Mr and Mrs Wallis about 8:50 pm on August 31 when they both came home very drunk and were abusive. " Mrs Wallis said she would be leaving me on Sunday and her son would pay the rent. "I went out to take my dog for a walk at 5:30 am and saw their light was still on, but thought they were both too drunk to turn it off." Dr. R.D. Teare, pathologist, said both Mrs and Mrs Wallis died from barbirtuate poisoning. Mrs Wallis had taken about 15 tablets and Mr Wallis, between 25 and 30 tablets. Police insp. Colin Richmond said that after being told that Mrs. Wallis's former employer had received a letter from Mrs Wallis threatening to commit suicide, he went to her address in Rivercourt road and found the couple lying on the floor of their bed-sitting room. The man was obviously dead, but as the woman showed signs of life he applied artificial respiration until the ambulance arrived to take her to hospital. He found several bottles of tablets in the room and two letters addressed to Mrs Gainsboro and Mr Bazelgette on the mantlepiece. Mrs Wallis died shortly afterwards in West London Hospital. "Owed money" Mrs' Wallis' former employer told Insp. Richmond that the previous day, August 31, Mrs Wallis went to see her and asked to borrow £1. The following morning she received a letter from Mrs Wallis saying that the real reason that she wanted to borrow the money was to buy a few drinks to pluck up courage before committing suicide. The coroner said it was a sad case of a husband and wife who had died from a substantial overdose of barbiuuate. "We know they were not in a very sound financial position and owed money to the landlady. " It seems that the £1 borrowed from a former employer by Mrs Wallis was so that she could get a few drinks to pluck up courage before taking a massive overdose of pills. I come to the conclusion that these were deliberate acts on both their parts," the coroner concluded.
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| Born: Monte Rosa, Ootacamund, Madras, India, 24th Jun 1910 | Baptised:
| | Died: Rivercourt Rd Hammersmith, London, England, , 31st Aug 1962 | Buried:
| | Family: Wallis formerly of Nun Ormsby |
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