City and Liberty
of Westminster ,
in the County of
Middlesex .}
to wit.

An Inquisition Indented, taken for our Sovereign Lord the
King at Knights bridge in the Parish of Saint Margaret
within the Liberty of the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster ,
in the County of Middlesex , the Second day of September in the twenty ninth
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 Peter Gurton< no role > then and there lying dead, upon
the Oath of William Hinshelwood< no role > , William Day< no role > , Richard Richards< no role >
James Reading< no role > , Joseph Mathews< no role > , William Jones< no role > , Griffith Harris< no role >
John Marsdon< no role > , Thomas Heath< no role > , Thomas Coward< no role > , William Watts< no role >
and George Grimwood< no role > good and lawful Men of the said Liberty, duly
chosen, who being then and there duly sworn and charged to enquire for our said Lord the
King, when, how, and by what Means the said Peter Gurton came to
h is Death, do upon their Oath say , That the said Peter Gurton on the first
day of September in the Year aforesaid going into the Serpentine River
in Hyde Park in the said Parish of St. Margaret within the Liberty
and County aforesaid, to bathe himself, It so happened that Accidentally
Casually and by Misfortune he the said Peter Gurton was then and
there in the Water of the said River suffocated and Drowned, of which
said suffocation and Drowning he the said Peter Gurton then and
there Died. And so the Jurors aforesaid upon their Oath aforesaid,
do say that the said Peter Gurton in manner and by the means
aforesaid, Accidentally Casually and by Misfortune came to his
Death and not otherwise.

In Witness whereof as well the
said Coroner as the said William Hinshelwood< no role > , Foreman of the
said Jurors, on the behalf of himself and the rest of his Fellows
in their presence, have to this Inquisition set their Hands and
Seals the Day Year and Place abovementioned.

Tho. Prickard< no role > Coroner

Wm. Hinshelwood< no role > Foreman