
On the afternoon of Wednesday 9 May 1923, a tragedy unfolded in Taree Park. A visitor, Phillip William Osborne, committed suicide by ingesting strychnine.1
This event was widely reported, principally because of the strange suicide note found. Phillip willed his body for scientific research, stated that he was highly educated and that a family member had cheated him of his inheritance.2
In reality, Phillip was born in 1886 in Yorkshire, England and educated at St John’s Foundation School which provided free education for the sons of poor clergymen.3 By 1905 his life was on a downwards trajectory when, as a deserter from the Royal Marines, he was found guilty of forging a cheque for over £537 and sentenced to six months in jail.4
At the completion of his sentence and following travels which took him to North America5, Phillip came to Australia, where, in April 1913 he married Enid Myee Medley in Sydney.6 The first of their three children was born later that year.7
By 1921 he was sought for deserting his wife and was noted as “addicted to drink”.8 The following year family members from England appealed for knowledge of his whereabouts, presumably without success.9
It is a mystery (at least to me) why he would have chosen a public space in Taree to end his tragic life.
Author: Penny Teerman
References:
1 Coronial Inquest held in Taree 8 June 1923 (accessed via Ancestry.com.au)
2 Northern Champion Wednesday 13 June 1923 P2
3 1901 UK Census (accessed via Ancestry.com.au)
4 Sheffield Daily Telegraph (England) 10 March 1905 P4 and 20 March 1905 P8 (accessed via findmypast.com.au)
5 Various shipping records accessed via Ancestry.com.au
6 Sydney Morning Herald Saturday 10 May 1913 P18 and Saturday 17 May 1913 P6
7 NSW Births Deaths and Marriages: BDM 48511/1913; BDM 21227/1915; BDM 16262/1919
8 NSW Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime Wednesday 15 June 1921 P349
9 Evening News (Sydney) Monday 20 March 1922 P6