Henry Dimes

  General Notes:

Taken from Hampshire Chronicle 25 Nov 1876...

SHOCKING ACCIDENT WITH A TRACTION ENGINE,
Two of the men employed by Messrs Hetherington and Parker, engineers & co. of this town, met their deaths under very painful circumstances on Wednesday afternoon. They had been previously employed thrashing at Ash, Surrey and were on their way to Crondall, their traction engine drawing a thrashing machine and an elevator. When at a place called Warren Corner, about two miles from Farnham, the chains connecting the large wheel with the motive power broke, and the driver lost all control of the engine while descending a hill. A young man of weak intellect, named Dimes, living in that neighbourhood, had taken his place upon the engine a minute or two before, and shortly after commencing the descent he either fell or jumped off, and was run over by the machine, being killed instantly. A young man names Stubbs who was assisting the driver also jumped off, and apparently ran round the front of the engine to tell the man who was steering of their perilous position. He was struck in the chest by some portion of the machinery, and thrown to one side, and shortly afterwards died. The steerer, a young man named Parfitt, then appears to have let go the steering apparatus in the hope of saving his life, when the engine suddenly turned at right angles, and, rushing into a bank, was bought to a standstill, Parfitt was somehow entangled in the machinery, and so severely injured that he dies on his way to the Guildford Hospital.

Taken from Hampshire Chronicle 2 Dec 1876...

INQUEST.
On Saturday an inquest was held at Ewshott on the bodies of Frank Parfitt, steerer, 26; Frank Stubbs, labourer, 21; and Henry Dimes, 26, labourer. On the 22nd a traction engine, belonging to Messrs. Hetherington and Parker, of Alton, with a thrashing machine, was going from Ash to Crondall, in charge of John Hunt, driver, Parfitt, and Stubbs. At Warren Corner they had to descend a steep hill, but the break was not put on, and soon afterwards the driving chain snapped and they lost all control of the engine and the machine attached to it. Hunt jumped off, calling to the others to do the same. Stubbs and Parfitt, on doing so, were run over, as also was Dimes, who had been running by the side of the engine. The jury brought in a verdict to the effect that all three were killed by the engine crushing them, owing to the driving chain breaking; and there should have been greater breaking power; and that none of the men were sufficiently skilled in their duty to take charge of the engine. Further, that Dimes met his death by his own carelessness in not keeping away from the engine after repeated warnings.