On This Day: 8th August 1874

Ellen Yates

Ellen Yates was born on 24th April 1852 in Culcheth, Lancashire. In 1874 she was a dye worker at a factory in Birkenhead and she lived with her brother James and his wife Mary Ann at Hop Pole Farm, Croft.

In January 1870, her parents had died within weeks of one another, her mother from Bronchitis and her father from Insanity and atrophy of the liver.

In 1871, Ellen was a witness at the wedding of her brother James to her friend and cousin Mary Ann Whittle. This wedding was held at Cairo Street Unitarian Chapel and not Croft, possibly because they were cousins. 

Marriage Certificate of James and Mary Ann Yates 1871

We know nothing more about Ellen's life after that apart from the fact that she must have been desperately unhappy. She felt so low that on this day, 8th August in 1874, she decided to take her own life.

Her body wasn't discovered until the next day, Sunday 9th August in a Marl Pit in Croft where she had drowned herself.

Death Certificate of Ellen Yates

An Inquest was held on 13th August and a verdict of 'suicide due to temporary insanity' was given as the cause of death.

​Ellen was buried at Croft Unitarian Chapel in grave C6 with her parents and her younger sister Hannah, who had passed away before Ellen was born.

The gravestone reads 'In the midst of life we are in death'.

Grave C6 at Croft Unitarian Chapel

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