History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

Dr Arthur Fuller was called to the Old Bailey to testify about a fatal accident he attended on Maida Vale, around midday on Sunday, September 26, 1909. He said: ‘Birdseye was lying on his back in the roadway, quite dead. The injuries were consistent with the man having been run over by a motor bus’.  At the inquest, the driver of the bus, Sidney John Hughes was charged with manslaughter, ‘the killing and slaying’ of 59-year-old William Birdseye and bailed pending trial at the Old Bailey.  The Victim and the life of a costermonger William was born and bred a Londoner. He lived at several addresses in St Marylebone and by the time he was 28, was working for himself as a costermonger, along with two younger brothers. Costermongers were a common sight on London streets. Their wares included fruit, meat, fish and vegetables sold from a basket or more commonly, a barrow pushed by hand or harnessed to a donkey. William Birdseye sold periwinkles and shrimps from a hand barrow.  E...