Australian Royalty: Genealogy of the colony of NSW

Bennett married three times: on 28 November 1835 to Julian Ludovina Cameron (c. 1820 – 15 June 1846), adopted daughter of John Finnis. She took her own life by taking prussic acid. They had two sons and three daughters

Bennett married three times: on 28 November 1835 to Julian Ludovina Cameron (c. 1820 – 15 June 1846), adopted daughter of John Finnis. She took her own life by taking prussic acid. They had two sons and three daughters

Bennett married three times: on 28 November 1835 to Julian Ludovina Cameron (c. 1820 – 15 June 1846), adopted daughter of John Finnis. She took her own life by taking prussic acid. They had two sons and three daughters

Name: Juliana L Bennett
Death Date: 1846
Death Place: New South Wales
Registration Year: 1846
Registration Place: Sydney, New South Wales
Volume Number: V1846201 149

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE.—Yesterday morning,
an inquisition took place in the residence of Mr.
George Bennett, Surgeon, Elizabeth-street,
touching the death of Mrs. Julia Anne Ludi-
vinia Bennett, his wife, then lying dead in one of
the apartments of the same house. The following
jury was impanelled :—Mr. Thomas Woolley,
foreman, Messrs. G. D. Armitage, J. Spyers,
Godfrey J. Cohen, Thomas Cravan, L. J.
Spyers, Edward Salamon, M. Woolley, J. G.
Colyer, — Rattray, J. Dalgarno, and W. S.
Wall. After the body had been viewed
by the jurors, the following evidence was ad-
duced:—Eleanor Larter deposed, that she had
been a servant in the employ of Dr. Bennett for
six months previous to last Christmas, at
which time she left and went to another place.
She had returned to his service about the be-
ginning of the present month, and still con-
tinued in it ; since her return she had heard
the deceased say there were some bills due by
her, and that she had nothing to meet them
with, on which witness suggested to her to let
the bills she spoke of come in to the Doctor
with the other accounts and he would settle
them as usual with others, but she said she
would not ; these bills seemed to sit very
heavy on her mind, and she seemed very low
spirited for the last fortnight, and particularly
so during the last week ; witness recollected her
going out between three and four o'clock
on Saturday afternoon ; she appeared to be
very high spirited when she came back
about half-past four o'clock ; witness
had observed at different times that she ap-
peared to be very much excited in her mind,—
particularly during Friday and Saturday. As
soon as she returned home on Saturday after-
noon, she came into the kitchen and took a
wine-glass from off a shelf, and returned with
it into the back parlour. In that room there is
a small escrutoire in which the Doctor keeps
medicine and papers. Deceased had not the
key of the escrutoire ; deceased had not left
the kitchen above three minutes when she re-
turned and said, " Well, I will see what good
that will do." She then washed the wine-
glass with some water, which she took either
from the cask, as she was entering the kitchen,
or from the water in the warm boiler, and
placed the glass on the shelf from which she
had taken it. Something struck the witness
that Mrs. Bennett had taken something she
should not have taken, on which witness ex-
claimed, " Oh, my God, what have you done,,'
when deceased said, " Oh, give me a drink of
water,—quick, quick. These were the last
words witness heard her utter ; witness was
not certain whether deceased took the water
which she took in the glass from the boiler, or
from the barrel ; deceased did not take any
water till she had returned to the kitchen with
the wine glass ; when she was returning with
the wine glass, witness saw that she had some-
thing in it, which witness supposed she had
drunk of, and which she threw on the manure
heap ; when witness got the water she gave it to
the deceased, and had barely time to catch her
in her arms, as she was apparently fainting or
in a fit ; witness with the assistance of the
other servant laid her on the floor ; witness
then ran for assistance, and returned in about
twenty minutes with Dr. McFarlane, when Dr.
Bennett also came in : on looking over the
parlour where Mrs. Bennett had gone from the
kitchen, Dr. Bennett pointed out that the lock
of the escrutoire had been forced, the upper
part of the wood into which the bolt shoots
appearing to have been pressed upwards ; he
also showed a small phial, and said he feared
she had taken what it contained ; after the
doctors came there was breath in the deceased,
but she never moved or spoke after, and died
in about two hours after they had been called
in ; when witness first entered Dr. Bennett's
service, Mrs. Bennett occasionally appeared to
be very much depressed in spirits, and for the
last week deceased has very frequently ap-
peared to forget what she had just before said,
by repeating the same thing over and over as if
she had never said it before ; witness thought
she was troubled in her intellect, and at times
did not seem to know her own mind ;
during the last week she used very
often to fret and cry, and appeared
to be very melancholy ; witness thought
she lived from about 5 P.M., till 8 P.M. When
witness told Dr. B. her suspicions of her having
taken laudanum, he opened the escrutoire, and
took out the bottle produced, saying he feared
it had contained what she had taken. The
bottle showed by the doctor was like the one
before the Court. Dr. Macfarlane was the
doctor witness brought with her when she
went for aid. Deceased had previously told
witness that the unpaid bills which gave her
uneasiness were one from Mr. Bourne's, and
another from Mr. Jones's, both of which she
said Dr. Bennett did not know of. Witness
knew that deceased never was in want of
money for the expenses of the family, and wit-
ness knew that deceased always had the care
of Dr. B's money, as she kept the key of the
place where it was deposited. Witness in
order to relieve the mind of deceased, sug-
gested to her either to tell the doctor of Messrs.
Bourne and Jones's bills, or to write to him to
inform him that they were unpaid, but she
always said she would not either tell him or
write to him on the subject. The bills referred
to, were not bills for things supplied for the use
of the house ; she never wanted money for the
use of the family, as all the doctor's money
(to witness's knowledge) was under her charge,
and she took it when she required it.
Dr. John Macfarlane deposed that he was called
in to deceased between four and five o'clock on
Saturday afternoon by Dr. Colyer, who said
he had heard that deceased had taken a fit ;
when witness arrived he found her insensible
and partly convulsed ; soon after her distressed
husband came in, and said he feared she had
taken something, and that he had come to that
conclusion from what the servant had told him
—and that as there was cause to suspect that
she had taken prussic acid, from the phial
being nearly empty, the usual remedies were
resorted to, including the stomach pump, but
without success ; she expired about two hours
after witness had been called in ; just before
she expired she appeared to recover her senses
for about a minute or two ; Dr. Bennett asked
her if she had taken prussic acid, but she
merely mumbled something, which was not in-
telligible. Witness then asked if she had taken
anything from the escrutoire, in reply to which
she gave a nod of assent. From all the symp-
toms while in life, as well as the history of the
case, in the opinion of witness death had been
caused by the deceased taking part of theFix this text
contents of the phial he held in his hand,
which was labelled " poison—concentrated
prussic acid ;" two drops was a medium dose,
six drops of the same acid would cause death.
The Jury immediately found that death had
been caused by the deceased taking poison
while labouring under temporary insanity.