On 24th October 1917 Sarah Petty left a suicide note and turned on the gas in her kitchen at 56 Wornington Road, London. In the note to her sister, she claimed that her husband who had returned from the war shellshocked and abusive was insane, not herself. Sadly her son died but her baby daughter survived. Despite the medical evidence that she was nursing her baby and was possibly not of sound mind (post natal depression?) at the time of the attempted suicide and the evidence of her sister that said she was bruised and battered by her husband, she was convicted of first degree murder. The archive contained all the transcripts of the murder trial.
My mother has tried to commit suicide a few times - mostly by overdose. Not aware of any notes she left but she has left notes and written letters at other times during her depression and psychotic episodes. I remember one incident when I was very young where I was pushed through a back door into the garden and next morning mum had been taken to hospital - possibly sectioned.
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