John Leslie Blackham was born in Ambergate, Derbyshire, on 2nd March 1910, the second child of John Berthel and Amy (née Butler) Blackham (their first child had died in 1908). He was baptised at St Anne’s Church, Ambergate, on 8th April.
Between 1911 and 1921, the family moved to Northumberland, where John’s father was employed as a works manager. However, in 1922 when John was 12 years old, his father died at the age of 40, and he and his mother moved to Derby. In 1933, his mother remarried and together with his step-father, they lived in a terraced house at 14 Goodale Street, Derby.
After leaving school, John first worked as a chemist’s assistant, before joining the Derby Police Force as a constable - he was 6 foot 2 inches (188 cm.) tall - but he resigned from this position to return to his former work as a chemist’s assistant. However, around April 1934 John felt that he couldn’t continue with the job and asked the firm to release him. He expected that he would be released from his work within a couple of weeks, but the firm let John go immediately, which upset him. He became depressed and worried about being out of work, and saw a doctor, who told him that he needed to ‘pull himself together and get a grip on life’. John tried to get his old job back but the firm would not reinstate him.
At about 10 a.m. on Monday 14th May 1934, John left home on his bicycle to look for work, telling his mother that he would be back for dinner: he never returned. John made his way to Bridgwater in Somerset from where, on 16th May, he posted a letter to his mother, which she received the following day. Inside the envelope were two half-crown coins, one shilling, and a 10 shilling Treasury note: John is thought to have sold his bicycle at Bridgwater. The contents of the letter remain unknown.
On Friday 25th May 1934, a decomposed body was found in a field, lying in straw near a barn at Broughton Farm, Stoke St Mary, near Taunton. The field was ‘off the beaten track’ but near the Taunton-Chard main road.
John’s mother Amy travelled with a friend by over-night train from Derby to attend an inquest held at the Ring of Bells Inn, St James Street, Taunton, in the afternoon of Monday 28th May. The inquest heard that two notes were found in John’s coat, one of which read simply:
- ‘No excuses,
‘No publicity,
‘No identity, please.’
The content of the second note is unknown, but began ‘My best action...’. Amy recognised her son’s handwriting.
John’s spectacles and case were also identified by his mother, who noted that he had taken his name out of the spectacles case. All marks of identity had also been removed from his clothing.
The coroner noted that while an examination of John’s body had been made, further analysis was needed, so the exact cause of death was not yet known. However, noting that he understood Amy did not wish to make the long journey from Derby again, he stated that he could see that there was no foul-play and that since Amy had identified the handwriting in the notes as being in John’s hand, he thought it fairly clear that the cause of death was. ‘A small glass tube marked “Poison” had also been found in his mackintosh, and we now know that he was a chemist’s assistant’ 1. The inquiry was adjourned until 9th June, when it was reported that the glass tube had contained potassium cyanide, with one grain being lethal. A pathologist stated that believed death had taken place about 14 days before the body had been examined. A verdict of ‘suicide while of unsound mind’ 2 was returned by the coroner.
John Leslie Blackham died on or around 16th May 1934 aged 24. He was buried at Belper Cemetery on 31st May.
‘Into the sunshine. John Leslie Blackham, Mar. 2. 1910 - May 25, 1934. Also John Berthel Blackham, Jan. 1, 1882 - Dec. 17, 1922. Love never faileth.’
John Leslie Blackham was my second cousin twice removed.
1 ‘Looking For Work’, Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 30th May 1934
2 ‘Mystery Solved at Taunton Inquest’, Langport and Someron Herald, 23rd June 1934