KNIGHT’S ORDEAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 711, 10 July 1929, Page 12

KNIGHT’S ORDEAL

SECRET AGONY NEVER REVEALED END OF FAMOUS FIGURE The disclosure that Sir Herbert Austin, the Clerk of the Arraigns at the Old Bailey, London, had cheerfully carried on his work while suffering intense pain, was made at the inquest. Sir Herbert was found shot dead in his room at the Old Bailey. His brother, Mr. Sidney Austin, of Cromwell Road, South Kensington, said that 15 or twenty years ago Sir Herbert had a very serious operation for mastoids. The Coroner: Do you think he was overworked? Mr. Austin: He had been overworking for years. Mr. Joseph Wright, of Camden Square, N.W., an accountant and taxing master at the Central Criminal Court, said that during the last two or three years Sir Herbert had been in intense pain. "He always kept up to the end of the day’s work. After that he was in intense pain, and broke down frequently,” Mr. Wright added. The Coroner: Had this interfered in any way with the carrying out of his duties? Letters Not Read Mr. Wright: Ido not think so. He carried them out perfectly up to the end of his life. He was in intense pain, but he never allowed anyone to know it. Although his work had been increased he had no extra assistance. The Coroner: He would have had a pension?—No, uone. The Coroner: No age limit?—No, l am 69, and I have been there 53 years, but there is no pension. Five letters written by Sir Herbert were produced. The coroner said he did not propose to read them in court, adding: “It is very grievous for the relatives to see family affairs detailed to the world.” Mr. Wright recalled that Sir Herbert had slipped and broken his ankle, hut. insisted on going to the Old Bailey. He went into a nursing home at. night and was carried down to a cab in the morning. “That was the man,” commented Mr. Wright. Jury’s Rider The jury found that Sir Herbert took h:s life, but that there was insufficient evidence to show the state of his mind. They added a rider that private letters to relatives and friends in similar cases should not be read in court at public inquests. “I am pleased to hear that,” remarked the coroner. Sir Herbert, who was 62, was a son of the late Mr. Benjamin James Austin, of Reading. He was educated at Reading School, and entered the Old Bailey as a clerk 46 years ago. He was appointed Deputy-Clerk and then Clerk of Arraigns. He was called to the Bar in 1909 and created a knight in 1924. In 1913 he married Matbilde, daughter of Mr. Godefroi Plume, of Strasbourg. As Clerk of Arraigns, he was present at many famous trials, among them those of Crippen, Seddon, Mrs. Thompson and Bywaters, the “Trunk Murder,” and the Browne and Kennedy case.