Walna Tompson

Ancestors

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Biography

Walna was born 8th December 1924 , the daughter of Walter Tompson and Dorothy Jones. Walna was run over by a car and killed on a Bathurst street on the 1 November 1931. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/216234755/walna-tompson

Sources

• NSW BDM RECORDS
• BIRTH 8 Dec 1924

• DEATH TOMPSON WALNA E 20826/1931 WALTER DOROTHY E BATHURST

• National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW : 1889 - 1954)
• Mon 2 Nov 1931 Page 3 Family Notices
• FUNERAL
• THOMPSON: The relatives and friends of Mr. and Mrs. W. Thompson and family, of 143 Havannah Street, are kindly invited to attend the funeral of their late dearly beloved daughter and sister, Walma, to move from Mr J. Tangye's funeral parlor today (Monday) at 11.30 a.m. for the Church of England portion of the Bathurst cemetery.
• J Tangye, Funeral Director,
• 117 Lambert Street Bathurst, Phone 282.

• https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/160317750/17111006
• National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW : 1889 - 1954)
• Sat 7 Nov 1931 Page 5 KILLED BY CAR
• KILLED BY CAR BATHURST SOUTH FATALITY
• Defective Brakes Alleged
• WAS GIRL ON SERVANT'S KNEE?
• CONFLICTING EVIDENCE
• Because the police were unable to locate a supposed eye-witness, the inquest into the death of Walma Ellen Tompson, (aged 5, whose death occurred following a car accident in Havannan Street last Saturday was yesterday adjourned by the Coroner (Mr. W. S. Bromhead) until Monday afternoon. Olga Ingorsole, a single girl, of Kelso, said she was a passenger in her own Ford car about 5.30 p.m. on Saturday, October 31. She was accompanied by Stanley Williams, who was driving. They had just left the butcher's shop on the corner of Rocket and Havannah Streets, and had crossed Lambert Street travelling in

the direction of the railway station. Mr. Williams sounded the horn before crossing the intersection and the car had not gone far before he commenced to thump on the horn, sounding it two or three times. Miss In-gersole looked up and saw a small child on the crown of the road. Then Mr. Williams' shouted at this child and slewed the car in towards the gutter on his correct side, at the same time applying the hand-brake Then I heard a bump on the car, she continued, and I don't remember any more. I covered my eyes up." The car travelled, she said, about a length and a half after the impact before it was brought to a standstill. The little girl was running across the road and hesitated when the horn was sounded. She ran right into the car and Williams could not avoid her. The car was travelling about 20 miles an hour at the time, but the speed was reduced to about 15 miles per hour, when the child was struck the driver having applied the brakes. The side curtains were up and Miss Ingersole did not see the child until the car was almost up to her. She had had the car about 19 months and it was in good order, thebrakes being always in good condi- tion. When Constable Bennett tested the car some days after the accident there had been no adjustments made to it. She had told Sergeant Rhall and Constable Bennett that the footbrake was not as accurate as the hand brake. She did not say the footbrake was unreliable. Witness said she was not driving at the time of the accident. Sergeant Daley: Were you sitting on Williams' knee at the time of the accident? No, sir, replied Miss Ingersole. She added that Williams had often driven the car before he drove it that afternoon. Walter Tompson, the father of the deceased child, was present in court but when asked whether he desired to question the witness he declined. Herbert Stanley Williams, who said he was a butcher, residing with Miss Ingersole's parents at Kelso told how he blew the horn at the intersection of Lambert Street and a short distance over the crossing noticed a child running into the road from the south side of Havannah Street. He blew the horn and gave every indication of his approach, and the child hesitated, looked at the car and appeared about to stop. Then she again ran forward and Williams applied the brakes. He swerved to the left off the road, but the child had run right in front of the car. I stopped a short distance further on, ran back, picked the child up and carried her into the house out of which she came. I then asked some one standing near me to ring a doctor and the ambulance. The ambulance was a bit long in coming, so I drove up and met the Superintendent in William Street and told him where to go." Williams said he was travelling at about 20 miles per hour at the time and had a clear view of the street. He was about 50 yards away when he first saw the child run into the street. She hesitated about the centre of the road, the car then being within 25 yards of her. When he saw the child on the road he steadied the car down but when she baulked he released the brake pedal. As soon as the girl ran forward he swerved the car in an effort to avoid her. He knew the car well and had driven it often. The brakes were pretty good the hand brake being more severe than the footbrake. At 20 miles per hour it would be possible to stop the car in about 11 yards. The brakes had not been altered since the accident. Williams said he also yelled at the child in addition to sounding the horn. He did not do that because he was doubtful of the efficiency of the brakes. Miss Ingersole was not driving. She was sitting in the front seat on Williams' left side. She was not seated on his knee. Williams added that the child had been struck either by the bumper bar or the mudguard on the driving side. He only felt the one bump and could not say whether the car had run over the child. He pulled up the car a few feet after he struck the child, who was lying just on the edge of the asphalt road when picked up. She did not appear to have been dragged along by the car. Dr. Brooke Moore, a legally qualified medical practitioner, gave evidence that he was called to attend the child. She was just conscious, and was suffering from a multiple fracture of the right side of the skull. The skin was not broken but the fracture could be felt. He sent her to the District Hospital where she died about 1 a.m. on November 1 as a result of the fractured skull. He had examined the child's body and there appeared to be no other injuries. A single blow had probably caused the fracture and there was nothing to indicate that the child had been dragged along the road. Dorothy Tompson, the 11 year old sister of the deceased child, residing with her parents at 148 Havannah Street told Mr. Bromhead that she did not know the meaning of an oath on the Bible and her evidence was taken without her being sworn. Sitting on the Bench beside the Coorner, she said that about 6 o'clock last Saturday afternoon she was crossing the street at the corner of Lambert and Havannah Streets when she saw her sister Walma bending down on the side of the road opposite her home. She was about 7 or 8 yards away. from the gutter.Walma had said she was going to look for a pencil before she left home. She was just off the grass. Dorothy said she herself was with Lily Dunn at the time and was going towards Healers store. She saw Williams' car run over her sister. The girl Ingersole was also in the car which passed her near the corner. She was not sure who was driving. Miss Ingerole was bending over as if she was driving the car, but Mr. Williams was on the driver's side. Miss Ingersole seemed as if she were sitting on Mr. Williams' lap but witness was not sure, although she had told Sergeant Clarke that that was so. Dorothy said her sister was bending down when the car struck her, the wheel going over her head. She did not hear the man in the car shout out or blow the horn. The wheels nearest to the gutter passed over Walmla. The car went a distance nearly from one side of the courtroom to the other before it stopped. Lillian Dunn, a diminutive 15 year old girl, whose evidence was also taken without her being sworn, said she resided with her mother at 9 Russell Street. She was with Dorothy Tompson last Saturday afternoon but saw nothing of the accident to which Walma Tompson was run over. She did not see the car go by. The first thing she saw was Williams carrying the girl across the road. Dorothy said, I believe that's Walma. Dorothy did not say she had seen the car run over her sister. Sergeant Clarke gave evidence that on Sunday last in company with Sergeant Armstrong he visited the scene of the accident and was shown a certain spot on the road by Dorothy Tompson. It was in some barley grass growing about 7 feet from the water table and she said that was the spot where her sister was stooping when the car ran over her. The Sergeant saw a faint wheel track about 3 feet away in the direction of the centre of the road but could not trace the tracks further. On Wednesday last in company with Williams the Sergeant again visited the scene of the accident. Williams indicated that the accident had taken place about 42 feet from the spot pointed out by Dorothy Tompson. Williams also showed him a spot 40 feet away where the car had pulled up and it coincided with the place where Doro- thy Tompcon also said the car had stopped. To where Dorothy Tompson said the accident occurred would be about 80 feet. There was no evidence of a skid near the scene of the impact. Sergeant Clarke said he did not think it possible for Miss Ingersole to be seated on Williams' knee behind the driving wheel of the car. Constable Thomas Bennett stated that on Monday afternoon he had tested Miss Ingersole's car. On an incline similar to the spot where the accident happened the car, travelling at 20 miles per hour, went 54 yards with both brakes applied, before it came to a standstill. On level ground, under similar conditions it travelled 51 yards before stopping. He considered it doubtful whether the footbrake would stop the car at all, as it was in very bad order. Both brakes were defective. If the brakes were effective the car should be pulled up in about 20 feet. Sergeant Daley referred to a statement in a local newspaper (not the "Advocate") to the effect that an eyewitness had seen the little girl rolled over under the car for about 20yards and said that so far all efforts to locate that person had failed. For that reason he sought an adjournment until Monday next at 2 p.m. The Coroner said that any person able to throw light on the accident should come forward both in the interests of justice and to the interests also of the driver of the car. Unfortunately people sometimes rushed in and made statements without attempting to verify their accuracy. He believed there should be no difficulty in obtaining a witness. At the conclusion of the inquest the Coroner inspected the car and satisfied himself by a demonstration that it was impossible for Miss Ingensole to sit on Williams' knee behind the steering wheel.

• https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/160315488
• National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW : 1889 - 1954)
• Tue 10 Nov 1931 Page 3 KILLED BY CAR
• KILLED BY CAR
• Verdict of Accidental Death Defective Brakes the Cause
• "There is no doubt in this case that the brakes of the car were defective, but how far the defective brakes contributed towards the accident, there is no evidence to say,, remarked the Coroner (Mr. W. S. Bromhead) when he found

that Walna Ellen Tompson died on from injuries accidentally received by being run over by a motor car on October 31 The evidence of Williams the driver of the car, is that the child baulked immediately he sounded the horn, and then ran in front of the car, added the Coroner. I cannot say from his evidence whether he could have pulled the car up if the brakes had been effective, or whether he knew that the brakes were defective. Had that point been established, he would have been guilty of man- slaughter. The inquest into the child's death was adjourned from Friday last to enable the police to bring forward an eye-witness, who, according to a local newspaper had stated that he saw the child rolled along underneath the car. The eye-witness was Malcolm Francis Elderfield, a butcher, residing at 210 George Street. He stated that on Saturday, October 31 about 6 p.m. he was driving a car in a westerley direction along Havannah Street towards Piper St., into which thoroughfare he passed. He had a view of Havannah Street for the next block and there he saw a car strike an object. The accident occurred about 200 yards distant and witness drove to the scene. By that time he driver of the car had carried a little girl across the road. Elderfield said he first thought the object which the car ran down was a dog, but later saw it was a child. The car passed over the little girl, who was directly between the wheels, but from his observations she was not dragged along. The car was swerving to the left in an effort to avoid the child. When witness first noticed it. He knew Williams the driver. To Mr. Kenny, who appeared in the interests of the deceased child's father, witness said there was nothing in Havannah Street to obstruct the view of anyone driving between Lambert and Piper Streets. He could not say how far the car travelled after striking he child before it was brought to a standstill, nor could he estimate its speed. Williams was driving on his correct side, the offside wheel of the car being on the crown of the road. The child was not on the grass at the side of the road when she was struck. Elderfield said he was an experienced motorist and believed that travelling at 20 m.p.h. down Havannah Street a car could be pulled up within 12 feet. It would be dangerous to drive a car which could not be brought to a standstill within 50 yards. After the Coroner had returned a verdict of accidental death, Sergeant Armstrong drew attention to a paragraph, which appeared in a local paper, not the Advocate, referring to what had the eye-witness had allegedly seen. There is a big disparity between what appeared in the paper and Mr. Elderfield's evidence here to-day, said the Sergeant. It is to be regretted that these things are not verified before the are published. It is a great pity of course, agreed agreed the Coroner.

• BURIAL Bathurst Cemetery
• Bathurst, Bathurst Regional Council, New South Wales, Australia
• Inscription

(White cross with circle, nothing on it - aged - Walna on plaque at bottom.)

• PLOT CofE, Sec: F, Row: 8, Grave: 21

• MEMORIAL ID216234755 ·

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/216234755/walna-tompson: accessed 18 May 2023), memorial page for Walna Tompson (unknown–1931), Find a Grave Memorial ID 216234755, citing Bathurst Cemetery, Bathurst, Bathurst Regional Council, New South Wales, Australia; Maintained by ! woowoo (contributor 49949980).