A Tragic Accident in Sheffield - August 1958

A report in the local paper dated Monday 4th August 1958 stated 

KILLED WIFE WHILE REVERSING VAN by our Sheffield correspondent 

A 25 year old Sheffield Greengrocer knocked down and killed his 35 year old wife while reversing his van yesterday. Police believe the wife Mrs. Sylvia Hill of Poole Road, Sheffield slipped behind the van in the pouring rain. Her husband Donald spent last night at the home of relatives

The couple had just delivered some potatoes to a new shop in Low Edges Road Sheffield into which they intended to move shortly when the accident happened

Another report in the Sheffield Telegraph added some ore detail

A day later on 5th August 1958, the accident featured briefly in The Times

  

An inquest was opened in Sheffield by the Coroner Mr. A. P. Lockwood. Featured below is a report of the case that appeared in that day's edition of the Sheffield Star (Friday, 8th August 1958)    

A report also appeared in the Saturday edition of The Sheffield Telegraph (9th August 1958). 

A verdict of death by misadventure was entered by the Coroner

On Thursday 7th August a notice was placed in the Births, Marriages and Deaths

HILL Sylvia nee Enzer  - dearly loved daughter and sister. Cortege leaves mothers residence 30Hawkshead Road, Grimesthorpe. Cremation City Road 1.00 p.m. Monday 11th August. Cut flowers only please to the above address. So dearly loved

A further report later that year gave details of the late Sylvia Hill's estate

CITY ROAD VICTIM LEFT £6,302

Mrs. Sylvia Hill of Low Edges Road Sheffield who was knocked down and killed on August 3rd last year by her husbands one ton van while he was reversing it left £6,302 (£2.397 net). She died in testate.

The tragic accident had long lasting effects. Nine years later on 3rd August 1967 in the "in Memoriam" section of the Sheffield Star there were two captions inserted one from Sylvia's mother and the other from her brothers and sisters. The former mentioned that Sylvia's father had died just over two weeks prior to the accident. (July 16th 1958).The latter caption gave Sylvia's brothers and sisters names as Dennis, Muriel, May and Leonard. Her maiden name was ENZER. 

Superficially it was one of those tragic accidents that whilst reported and commented upon at the time, gradually fade from people's memory. However this accident was remembered by someone I worked with in the mid eighties. She lived near the shop in Low Edges and spoke of the events that occurred that night. It was quite a shock because it was only a few years earlier that I had been told that my dad had been married before and that his first wife Sylvia had been run over and killed by her second husband in a tragic accident. My dad's marriage to Sylvia had ended in divorce many years earlier.  

My dad never spoke to me about his first wife Sylvia and by the same token his divorce. It was only when we were sorting out his papers and effects  following his death in October 1999 that we came across the cuttings relating to the accident. Since his death bits and pieces have emerged. After separating and divorcing my father Gordon circa 1948, Sylvia reverted to her maiden name ENZER and also adopted the tern MISS. A Kelly's Street and Trade directory of Sheffield 1956 finds MISS SYLVIA ENZER trading as a wholesale and retail tobacconist at 52 Bramall Lane Sheffield. This was the same year that she married her second husband DONALD HILL      

Notes

Sylvia's Family - James had 4 children by his first wife Sarah and 5 more with his second wife May. 

James Leonard (1880 - 1958)

Birth 03 Jan 1880 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Marriage Abt. Nov 1902 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England Sarah Lizzie Yeomans 1879–1910
1903 Age23 Birth of daughter Elsie Enzer (1903–) 30 May 1903 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
1906 Age26 Birth of daughter Clarice Enzer (1906–) 05 Apr 1906 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
1907 Age27 Birth of son Charles Edwin Enzer (1907–) Jul 1907 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
1909 Age29 Birth of daughter Rose Enzer (1909–) 04 Jun 1909 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
1910 Age30 Death of wife Sarah Lizzie Yeomans (1879–1910) 01 Oct 1910 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England

1912 Age32 Marriage Abt. Feb 1912 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England May Turner 1893–1978

1912 Age32 Birth of son Dennis Enzer (1912–1999) 08 Aug 1912 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
1915 Age35 Birth of daughter Muriel Enzer (1915–) Abt. Feb 1915 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
1917 Age37 Birth of daughter May Enzer (1917–1994) 11 May 1917 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
1919 Age39 Birth of son Leonard Enzer (1919–) Abt. Nov 1919 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
1922 Age42 Birth of daughter Sylvia Enzer (1922–1957) Abt. May 1922 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
1957 Death of daughter Sylvia Enzer (1922–1957) 03 Aug 1957 • Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
1958 Age78 Death 16 Jul 1958 • Skegness, Lincolnshire, England 
Burial 21 Jul 1958 • City Road Crematorium, Sheffield, Yorkshire

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