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An illustration of the huts at the Yatesbury aviation camp |
On July 19, 1929, John Maunders, a 48-year-old shepherd
from Yatesbury, near Calne, died after a four-day illness marked by severe
stomach pains. He lived with his wife and family in a hut that was formerly
part of an aviation camp at Yatesbury. Sadly, his sheepdog also died a few
hours before him. The Wiltshire Coroner described the case as very mysterious.
The Mysterious Illness and Initial Investigation
Maunders, who was employed by the Co-operative Wholesale
Society, suddenly became ill with vomiting on a Sunday night and continued in
that state until his death on Thursday evening. The local doctor who attended
him was unable to certify the cause of death, and his body was taken 10 miles
to Chippenham Hospital for a post-mortem by Professor Walker Hall, a
pathologist from Bristol University. Following this, the body was taken back to
Cherhill for the inquest.
During the initial inquest, Maunders' widow testified that
her husband turned purple in patches towards the end of his illness. An
18-year-old son stated that although sheep were dipped a month or six weeks
before his father's death, great care was taken to avoid touching the dip by
hand. The son also denied any knowledge of sheep dip or weed killer being kept
in the house. The widow and an 18-year-old son also said that five other
members of the family partook of the same food as Maunders on Sunday and
"suffered no ill effects". The inquest was adjourned multiple times
to allow for further examination of Maunders' organs. Maunders' sheepdog, which
was tied up outside the hut, died three hours before him.
Resolution and Aftermath
Ultimately, the mystery was resolved when the inquest
returned a verdict of "Death from food poisoning." Professor Walker
Hall testified that while Maunders' organs contained a quantity of arsenic,
from sheep-dipping three weeks prior, it was less than a poisonous dose. He
found food poisoning bacillus, which was determined to be the cause of death.
The same bacillus was present in the sheepdog, though no arsenic was found in
its organs. The infection likely originated from beef eaten the Sunday before
Maunders' death, and arsenic was concluded not to have played a part in his
death. The Coroner suggested that regulations might be implemented to reduce
the chance of absorbing dangerous arsenical compounds, and the jury added a
rider recommending more stringent regulations regarding the distribution and
use of arsenical compounds.
While unlikely to be a direct consequence of this death,
the Pharmacy and Poisons Act was introduced in 1933. This included tighter
regulations and introduced a Poisons List. Arsenic, with its various uses
including agricultural ones, would have been classified under this system,
thereby introducing more structured control over its distribution.
