©Bryan Phillips June 2024

The Ridout or Rideout family had been living in Milton Abbas for at least 150 years and occur frequently in our Records including prison admission, Overseers of the Poor, Settlement Examinations, when a young Willian Ridout met a sad end.

This is the report in the Hampshire Chronicle 31 May 1884:

DROWNED WHILST BATHING. Mr. J. Drewett held an inquest at the Halfway Coffee house, Boscombe, on Monday, touching the death of William Ridout, a bricklayer, aged 23 years. The deceased, it seemed, had on Saturday swam about for some time, when he threw up his hands and disappeared. Mr. H. Severn, in the employ of the London and South-Western Railway Company, on reaching the spot, swam out, dived, and brought deceased to the surface, but he was too late to save Ridout’s life. His gallant effort, however, received the commendation of the coroner. A verdict of Accidental death” was returned.

William was buried in Milton Abbas and here is the entry in the burial register:

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