Brampton Bryan fatal gun accident — On Saturday last, the 26th of December, an inquest was held at the Oxford Arms Brampton Bryan before HT Finch Esquire, deputy coroner, and a respectable jury on the body of William Hatfield, who, at the time of his decease, lived in the service of the Reverend Mr. Murray as groom. Several witnesses who were examined, deposed as to the deceased having for some time, being in bad spirits. It did not appear that any person was present when the supposed accident occurred. He had borrowed the gun for the professed purpose of shooting sparrows; His head was literally blown to atoms, and his brains scattered about. James Williams Esquire, surgeon of Leintwardine, thought from the position of the deceased and that of the gun when the occurrence was discovered, that it had been quite accidental, and the jury returned a verdict accordingly.
The Hereford Times, Saturday January the 2nd 1847