Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1892-01-30 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

SUICIDE OF MIL HUME WEBSTER.  Mr. Hume Webster. the well-known horsebreeder, and a member of the firm of Hume Webster, Hoare, and Co., chartered accountants, Abchurch-lane, committed suicide by shooting himself at Marden on Saturday. Mr. Webster by 'no means confined himself to the ordinary run of an accountant's business. He embarked in many commercial schemes of very diverse character and various fortune. From the worries of these be sought relief by retiring occasionally to his farms at Marden Park, about two miles from Caterham, where he had a large horse-breeding establishment. On Thursday afternoon Mr. Webster arrived at Marden tnAn London, very calm in manner, but rather dejected in aptrits. Ho complained that he was suffering from a cold in his throat and chest, and told his housekeeper that no caller was to be informed of his arrival, as he wished to spend the evening quietly, and would go to bed early in order to try and rid himself of the cold. Next morning he was up and about the homestead early. Be talked with his farm bailiff about the felling of tree, and with his head groom about his horses. These persons noticed that his manner was rather different from what it was usually, and they subsequently recalled the fact that one hand was kept continually in his overcoat pocket,as if grasping something. Having sent the head groom for the carpenter, he did not wait for the man to arrive, but set off towards the hill beyond the valley is which the stables are situate. The head grown and carp enter did not follow, as they concluded that Mr. Webster had gone to the Hill 'Farm, where he had other thoroughbred stables. This was about half-past 9in the morning. Some time afterwards the head grooal heard three shots fired in the wood on the hill; but this caused him no surprise, because Mr. Webster had given a neighbouring fanner liberty to shoot rabbits there, and this farmer frequently availed himself of the privilege. Mr. Webster was never known to handle firearms. About half-past ii o'clock a clF,rk arrived, wanting to see Mr. Webster, and some of the men about the place began to search for him, lie was not found at the Hill Farm and could not be seen anywhere in the neighbourhood. The grooms and workmen thereupon commenced a thorough search of the wood. At last a boy, peering through some underwood, saw Mr. Webster's body. A shout brought other men to the spot, and then, hiving penetrated the bushes, the men found that Mr. Webster was lying dead and quite cold, with a revolver in his hand. A surgeon having been sent for, the body was slung in a blanket and carried down the lull to the farmhouse.  Mr. Webster was in his 48th year, having been born in Scotland in 1844. He was a son of the late Mr. Robert Webster, of her Majesty's Customs, Montrose. He was educated at Montrose Academy, and commenced life in a Scotch bank; but came to London in 1868, and had for many years been engaged in accountancy and financial business in the City, being a member of the firm of Hume Webster, Hoare, and Co., chartered accountants, of Abchurch-lane. He was a magistrate for Surrey, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, a Fellow of the Statistical and also of the Royal Geographical Societies,and a member of the Cobden Club, and was the owner of the well-known breeding studs of thoroughbred horses and Suffolk horses, and of a breeding herd of Highland cattle at Marden Deer Park. Mr. Webster, who married in 1865, Clare, daughter of the late Sir Edmund Stephen Harrison, (7.11., deputy clerk of the Privy Council, leaves a widow and family. The inquest was held at Marden Deer Park on Monday afternoon by Mr. W. Morrison, coroner for the Croydon division of Surrey. The deceased, it was stated, had complained of general depression, and had suffered from influenza. The success of the Ormonde movement depended largely on him, and that weighed on his mind. The jury found that the deceased committed suicide whilst temporarily nsane.