03/07/2025

Calne Curiosities: Beyond the Arsenic: The True Cause of the Shepherd's Demise

An illustration of the huts at the Yatesbury aviation camp


On July 19, 1929, John Maunders, a 48-year-old shepherd from Yatesbury, near Calne, died after a four-day illness marked by severe stomach pains. He lived with his wife and family in a hut that was formerly part of an aviation camp at Yatesbury. Sadly, his sheepdog also died a few hours before him. The Wiltshire Coroner described the case as very mysterious.

The Mysterious Illness and Initial Investigation

Maunders, who was employed by the Co-operative Wholesale Society, suddenly became ill with vomiting on a Sunday night and continued in that state until his death on Thursday evening. The local doctor who attended him was unable to certify the cause of death, and his body was taken 10 miles to Chippenham Hospital for a post-mortem by Professor Walker Hall, a pathologist from Bristol University. Following this, the body was taken back to Cherhill for the inquest.

During the initial inquest, Maunders' widow testified that her husband turned purple in patches towards the end of his illness. An 18-year-old son stated that although sheep were dipped a month or six weeks before his father's death, great care was taken to avoid touching the dip by hand. The son also denied any knowledge of sheep dip or weed killer being kept in the house. The widow and an 18-year-old son also said that five other members of the family partook of the same food as Maunders on Sunday and "suffered no ill effects". The inquest was adjourned multiple times to allow for further examination of Maunders' organs. Maunders' sheepdog, which was tied up outside the hut, died three hours before him.

Resolution and Aftermath

Ultimately, the mystery was resolved when the inquest returned a verdict of "Death from food poisoning." Professor Walker Hall testified that while Maunders' organs contained a quantity of arsenic, from sheep-dipping three weeks prior, it was less than a poisonous dose. He found food poisoning bacillus, which was determined to be the cause of death. The same bacillus was present in the sheepdog, though no arsenic was found in its organs. The infection likely originated from beef eaten the Sunday before Maunders' death, and arsenic was concluded not to have played a part in his death. The Coroner suggested that regulations might be implemented to reduce the chance of absorbing dangerous arsenical compounds, and the jury added a rider recommending more stringent regulations regarding the distribution and use of arsenical compounds.

While unlikely to be a direct consequence of this death, the Pharmacy and Poisons Act was introduced in 1933. This included tighter regulations and introduced a Poisons List. Arsenic, with its various uses including agricultural ones, would have been classified under this system, thereby introducing more structured control over its distribution.