From the Kentish Gazette, 21 February 1843.

GREENWICH.

An inquest was held on Wednesday last, at the "Ship and Billet," on the body of Mrs. Hannah Beale, the wife of Mr. Joshua Beale, of East Greenwich, engineer. Mr. Joseph Appleton, of the Trafalgar-road, surgeon, deposed that he was sent for on Monday afternoon, in a hurry, to attend on the deceased; that he found her in the bed-room, partially undressed, sitting on a chair, supported by her family, and quite dead; he made the usual inquiries as to how she was first seized, &c; Mr. Beale and his daughter suggested the probability of the deceased having taken some essence of bitter almonds, which was in the house, and thereby caused her death, and search was directly made for the bottle; after some time, it was found in a drawer in the bed-room, in the pocket of the dress of the deceased; he instantly made the necessary examination, to endeavour to find if such was the case, but could not discover the slightest smell, which, if it had been used, must have been easily detected; he could not account for the precise death of the deceased without a post-mortem examination; at the same time, he saw nothing to lead him to suppose that she had died otherwise than from natural causes. The servant, having examined the bottle, was of opinion that a small quantity was missing from it; she stated that the essence was used to flavour pies and puddings, but that her mistress had often cautioned her to be very careful in the use of it, as one drop taken pure would kill. Several of the jury having stated that many rumours were abroad that the deceased had poisoned herself, it was, after considerable discussion, decided upon having a post mortem examination, by Mr. Appleton and Mr. Keeble, and the inquest was adjourned.

On Friday evening it was resumed, and the following written statement of the result of the examination, and opinion as to the cause of death, was handed in:- We have made a careful examination of the body, and find the liver diseased, and an effusion upon the brain, which appearances, joined with what we have learnt of her previous complaints, we fully believe sufficient to account for death. We submitted the contents of the stomach to a careful analysis, and the result gave us no indications to prove the presence of oil of kernels.— Signed, Joseph Appleton, Henry Keeble, Robert Hicks."

The professional gentlemen underwent a close examination by the coroner, and the jury ultimately returned a verdict of "Died from serous apoplexy." West Kent Guardian.