Philip Angel, a fireman aged 23, was found very unwell in Victoria Reserve off Pirie Street on 14th January 1914.
On the morning of 14th January 1914, Miss McLean heard someone groaning at the back of her mother’s residence in Scarborough Terrace. There she found Philip Angel who was in a critical condition and suffering great pain. He asked or a glass of water and he died before Dr Elliot arrived. Just before he died, he stated that he had taken poison. The police were informed and his body was taken to the city morgue.
Philip was known as a city vagrant and had been living in the Salvation Army Home on and off for the preceding 12 months. At one time he was a member of the Wellington Seamen’s Union.
An inquest was held and Dr Maclaurin, the Government Analyst gave evidence of finding a large quantity of arsenic and other ingredients in the stomach of the deceased. His father said he did not know what would cause Philip to do away with himself. He wondered that the fact he had been fined for vagrancy had preyed on his mind. He had offered to assist him with lodgings. A verdict of death from arsenic, self-administered, was returned.
The first interment in this plot was Philip’s sister, Mabel Evelyn Angel, who died aged 20 on 18th October 1913. Their parents were William and Frances Angel who had emigrated with their three children from Tavistock, Devon in 1909. Minnie Frances Angel was their third child. She died in 1981 in Auckland.
The third and final interment in this plot is Robert Martin Kelly who died in 1948. We can find no connection between Robert and the Angel family.
Plot: *Public 2/O/132
By Julia Kennedy
