Catherine Masterton (1827-1881)
Sudden death of dressmaker
Catherine Masterton's sudden death in Gravesend caught the attention of the local newspaper.
Genealogy
Catherine Masterton was the wife of Hugh McDonald Masterton, until his death in 1861. She was also the daughter of Jane Masterton and Thomas Dow. A fuller genealogy of Catherine Masterton (ms Dow) within the Dumfries family group can be found at this link
Gravesend and Dartford Reporter
SUDDEN DEATH. - On Tuesday Mr. W.G. Penman held an inquest at the Town Hall, on the body of Catherine Masterton, aged 55, the widow of a customs officer, of 7, Pilot-place, Bentley-street, Gravesend. - The evidence showed that the deceased woman had been in ill-health for sometime past, and had complained of her chest and heart. On Monday morning her daughter, Catherine Masterton, a young unmarried girl, saw her. She left her mother in about her customary health: but shortly after a neighbour, named Mary Horning, of 5, Pilot-place, went into the deceased's house, and discovered the poor woman dead on the floor of one of the rooms. - Mary Ann Tyler, living in the same house as the deceased, said that she did not hear that deceased had fallen on the floor, although witness's room was just overhead. - Dr. Dunlop said he had made a post-mortem examination. He found, on opening the chest, a tumour the size of an orange. This aneurism had burst, and the loss of blood produced syncope, causing the heart to cease its action. - A verdict of "Death from natural causess" was returned by the jury, of whom Mr. Charles George Allen was foreman.
Gravesend and Dartford Reporter
Saturday, 12th November 1881