Somerset House John Doe was a man whose skeletal remains were found near Somerset House on the Victoria Embankment at the River Thames in London, United Kingdom.
Case[]
On January 16, 1866, a group of workers were inside a caisson during the extension of the Victoria Embankment next to Somerset House at the River Thames in London, United Kingdom. During their work, they discovered a human skeleton several feet beneath the river bed. A police constable was informed who collected the remains alongside the items found near the decedent and handed them over to the coroner J.W. Payne Esquire where an inquest was conducted at the pub The Essex Head.
The authorities had recovered a complete set of remains save for a few bones belonging to the hands and feet. Esquire alongside a surgeon named John Walsh determined that the decedent was a male around 50 - 60 years of age and that he was 167 cm tall, it was also determined that the body had been in the water and likely dead for 15 - 20 years, The skeleton also had to wear false teeth and the set of false teeth was recovered at the scene, Despite many news reports stating otherwise the decedent's skull was fully intact and not fractured. There were no signs of violence directed towards any of the remains and a cause of death was unable to be determined. Judging by the nasal cavity the decedent also had a high and large nose in life.
The inquest sought to identify the remains based on the items recovered. Chubb was the name of a key company and questioned John Chubb about the owner of the key. He explained that all keys made were numbered and that the particular key recovered key No. 29 was one out of 30 manufactured and issued to a government office in 1839 although he couldn't recall who had acquired ownership of key No. 29.
A lead on the identity finally came forth when a resident of Whitechapel presented himself to the inquest to report that his 23-year-old brother who had been a heavy gambler went missing an unstated number of years ago and that he had always suspected him to of fallen victim to murder. The press however thought it was more likely that he had committed suicide after losing his money during a night out gambling. Even if he had been murdered though his age and length of time he had been missing ruled him out of the decedent alongside all of the expensive items found in the decedent's possession.
The inquest managed to track down the manufacturer of the false teeth however this lead ended up not being fruitful as the manufacturer only made the false teeth and was unaware as to which dentist set them and to who.
The last day of the inquest was on February 9 and it was on this day that another possible lead presented itself. When a woman named Harriet Elizabeth Clopham presented herself to the inquest to report that her husband a wealthy architect had gone missing in 1851. They had been married for 13 months and had a child two weeks old. Clopham emotionally explained that her husband was last seen near Blackfriars Bridge which was less than a mile east of where the body was discovered.
She was presented with the items discovered by the skeleton to which she gave vague recollections. She thought that she had recognized the pencil case as her husband's but could not be sure, she stated that her husband carried a knife but did not believe it was the one found near the remains, She also was unsure of whether the glasses had belonged to her husband or not. When Esquire asked about the false teeth she stated that she was unaware as to whether or not her husband had worse false teeth. When Esquire stated that she must have known she explained that she rarely actually saw her husband and that he strangely usually kept his mouth closed in a particular way. She also explained that her husband had a high and large nose. Esquire concluded that Mrs Clopham had not identified any of the belongings as her husband's and that she had no knowledge of the false teeth reiterating that she would surely know about this and not buying her explanation that her husband kept his mouth closed in a particular way.
The false teeth were presented to the Dentological Society which made every effort to determine who the false teeth had been set to.
After a brief discussion, the jury returned an open verdict concluding that there was no way of identifying the skeleton or determining how the decedent had come to be dead in the River Thames off of Somerset House. It is unknown what became of the remains.
Characteristics[]
- Has to wear false teeth.
- Had a large and high nose.
Clothing and accessories[]
- The remains of a high quality coat and trousers.
- Military style boots.
- A pair of false teeth set in gold.
- A knife.
- A pair of tortoiseshell glasses.
- A silver pencil case marked with the maker's name, a patent number and date of registration the pen read "John Sheldon, 1184, April 8 " 1842".
- Two half pennies.
- a key marked with the maker's name and address which read "Chubb, St. Paul's Churchyard, No. 29".
Sources[]
- Unknown Newspaper
- Youtube POSTMORTEM WARNING