City & Liberty of Westminster
in the County of Middlesex }
to Wit.

An Inquisition Indented taken for Our Sovereign Lord
the King at the Parish of St. Martin in the Fields within the Liberty of the Dean and Chapter
of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter Westminster in the County of Middlesex , the Twenty-
second day of September in the Sixth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the
Third by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith and so forth
before Thomas Prickard< no role > Gentleman Coroner of our said Lord the King for the said City and
Liberty, on View of the Body of William Betts< no role > , then and there lying dead, upon the Oath of Christopher
Sadler< no role > , James Smith< no role > , Thomas Wright< no role > , John Reeves< no role > , Henry Knight< no role > , Charles Rogers< no role > , James Eyres< no role > ,
Samuel Steward< no role > , Charles Harrison< no role > , Richard Cripps< no role > , Samuel Oliver< no role > , Joseph Poynton< no role > , James
Duke< no role > , Ephraim Brooks< no role > and Alexander Hay< no role > , good and lawfull Men of the said Liberty duly
chosen who being then and there duly Sworn and charged to inquire for our said Lord the King, when
how, and by what Means the said William Betts< no role > came to his Death, do upon their Oath
say, That the said William Betts< no role > , William Betts< no role > , not being of sound Mind, Memory and Understanding, but
lunatick and distracted, on the Twentieth day of September in the Year aforesaid, into the
Serpentine River in Hyde Park , in the Parish of St. Margaret, within the Liberty and
County aforesaid did cast and throw himself by Means of which said Casting and
Throwing he the said William Betts< no role > in the Waters of the said River was then and there
Suffocated and Drowned, of which said Suffocation and Drowning he the said William
Betts< no role > then and there instantly died. And so the Jurors aforesaid upon their Oath aforesaid
do say, that the said William Betts< no role > , in Manner and by the Means aforesaid, not being
of sound Mind memory and Understanding, but lunatick and distracted, did drown and
kill himself. In Witness whereof as well the said Coroner, as the said Christopher
Sadler< no role > Foreman of the said Jurors, on behalf of himself, and the rest of his said Fellows,
in their presence, have to this Inquisition set their Hands and Seals, the Day Year and
Place first above written

Tho. Prickard< no role > Coroner

Christ Sadler Foreman